January 30, 2023 Oscar nominee ‘Tár’ continues to be the talk of the town, with the Los Angeles Times’ Mark Swed jumping in with a scathing argument as to why this film is so bad for classical. Catch up here. +++ In today's email:
CLASSICAL CHARTS THE BIG IDEA What’s behind the music publishing rights boom?At 28, Canadian pop idol Justin Bieber is making headlines with the sale of his entire publishing catalogue to Hipgnosis Songs Capital in a deal reported to be worth $200 million. The purchase covers all 290 titles in his catalogue (as of December 31, 2021). It’s said to be the largest such deal for anyone under pensionable age — and it’s the biggest deal ever for Hipgnosis. He follows a long list of music luminaries, such as Glenn Gould, Justin Timberlake, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Bieber’s deal is rare because his catalogue isn’t that old, as compared to many of the musicians and other rights holders who have taken the plunge. What are they selling?The artists in question are selling the rights to their work — in other words, to collect royalties largely from the streaming of their back catalogue. That’s become more and more important as statistics show, people consume more older music than new. When Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill took the world by storm more than 35 years after its original release via Netflix’s Stranger Things TV series, it only accelerated an ongoing phenomenon. About 70% of the music consumed today is older music, leaving only 30% of the pie for new artists and material. It makes that existing music all the more valuable. When a company buys the rights, the revenues from the music in question go into a kind of mutual fund. Investors purchase shares in the fund, and profit when the songs are streamed. Next stop: the futureAfter investing in yesterday’s catalogues, the next stop is the future — or rather, a futures index. It would mean that investors could put their money on which songs would become the next streaming stars. Chicago-based company Clouty — “at the intersection of data, music and finance, re-imagining the value of music by making it a tradable asset” — introduced the world’s first music trading index, MUSIQ™, launched in the summer of 2022. Because of online streaming, metrics are now readily available to measure and analyze activity in the music sector. It’s led to the next step of the company’s vision, which is the release of the MUSIQ 500 composite index that will track various genres of music and their current market value. The company uses a proprietary method with multiple inputs to calculate the value of the top 500 songs at any given time. Clouty is currently looking for an exchange-traded fund to make it easy for investors to jump into the game. Futures could be linked to specific genres, artists or even songs. The push to introduce music futures funds follows a couple of years when so-called music funds have been spending billions of dollars on acquiring the ripe back catalogues of artists and producers. More than popSo far, the list of artists and rights holders who’ve cashed in has been dominated by pop stars, but the long list (>100) includes some interesting names. When it comes to classical music, it’s composers and record labels who might be positioned to take the plunge.
The value of the above deals is undisclosed. Music — the consumption of it, not the live aspect of it — is virtually recession-proof. Consumers have proven that their music listening habits are not affected by economic downturns in the same way that other industries are. Industry business analysts are calling for double-digit growth into the 2030s. “Music is an asset class that’s hiding in plain sight and hasn’t been unlocked,” said David Umeh, founder and chief executive of Clouty said in an interview with the Financial Times. Is it just us, or did it get a little cold in here? CHART If you were to guess which state in the United States trended the highest for classical music, which would you choose? New York City and California are good bets. According to Google Trends, Massachusetts has been ground zero for classical music in the USA since 2004. Really, though? THE LATEST Big Events: A dive into what music will be played at King Charles's Coronation Concert in Windsor Review: Yuja Wang sweeps through a Rachmaninoff marathon Violin: World champion says Rubik’s Cube and violin go hand in hand Awards: Controversial film Tár’ receives 6 Oscar nominations Entertainment: 9-year-old violin prodigy plays Max Richter’s thrilling take on Vivaldi ‘Summer’ in talent show finale Orchestra: The complex history behind a Vienna Philharmonic tradition Opera: Ukrainians will not perform in Wiesbaden May Festival if Anna Netrebko performs Opera: Arts Council England plans independent analysis of opera BOOK New book offers updated advice for touring musiciansMuch has been written about what is being called a mental health crisis in the music industry over the last few years. From 2022 into 2023, the concept rose to the spotlight after a string of concert cancellations by high-profile pop artists, including Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes and American singer-songwriter/producer Santigold, among several others. Each of them cited the gruelling demands of touring and its effects on their mental health as one of the major reasons for their decisions to pull the plug. A book set for release in 2023 looks to give touring music artists a helping hand. Touring And Mental Health — The Music Industry Manual, published in the UK by Omnibus Press, is set for release on March 23. The collection of essays covers a gamut of topics aimed at helping touring artists preserve their mental and physical health on the road. It looks at managing crises as they come up (and they do), dealing with anxiety and depression, and maintaining physical health and well-being. The book incorporates personal anecdotes from a who’s who of the British music industry at all levels, including Nile Rodgers, Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden, and Philip Selway of Radiohead. “I wish this book had been around when I first started touring”, says Selway in a media statement. “Touring And Mental Health can really help us all navigate the darker moments and the bumps in the road out on tour. The insights, wisdom and strategies from the mental health and medical experts, the tour crew, and musicians in this book are invaluable. It should be the first thing we all pack when we head out on the road.” From promoter to psychotherapistTouring And Mental Health was compiled and edited by Tamsin Embleton, a one-time music industry promoter turned psychotherapist. It was her experiences in the industry that led her to pursue a role as a mental health professional. She went on to help found an organization called Music Industry Therapists Collective (MITC), where she is now director. MITC is behind the book’s genesis. In an interview with IQ Magazine, Embleton says the mental health toll of touring has always been around, although in previous eras, it was called “exhaustion” and other terms that deflected the true nature of the problem. And, the data about the disproportionate rate of psychological problems among artists has been well-documented for decades. It took the latest push from organizations like Help Musicians to finally bring about the impetus for change in the UK. Musicians and mental healthTo an outsider, the life of a musician on the road is a kind of modern-day ideal — life in hotels and restaurants, the glory of cheering audiences… Certainly, popular movies have done little to break the mystique. The reality, as always, is much different, and hits artists on many levels:
COVID-19 and the long lockdown have added to a general level of anxiety, and pressure to make up for the lost time in the performing arts field. Economic insecurity, coupled with galloping inflation, adds more stress to the mix. Stress attacks the body as well as the mind, disrupting sleep and creating physical problems. For popular artists, too, the media can often enter the picture and may make matters public before anyone is ready for it. As Embleton told IQ Magazine, “You’re always ‘on’ — expected to deliver to exceptionally high standards night after night, no matter what role you’re in — and that’s hard to maintain. There are great soaring highs (when performances go well) swiftly followed by lows — a roller coaster people are rarely adequately prepared for. It starts off as very exciting, but as Nile Rodgers said to me, it can be gruelling.” She advocates for support from within the industry, including mentorship programs, which can be difficult to sustain. The 600-page book includes practical insights from performance coaches, psychologists, therapists, and other health professionals, as well as artists who have firsthand experience to share. Topics covered include dealing with performance anxiety, addiction, keeping group dynamics positive, and others relevant to travelling artists. The book is endorsed by UK music charity Help Musicians, among many others, and is available for preorder. Certainly, there is more to be done to support musicians worldwide. SCIENCE ASKS Could music be used to treat COVID-19?It seems ironic that music, one of the fields hardest hit by the global pandemic, may be an effective treatment specifically for COVID-related inflammation, according to a study published in the academic journal Music & Science. Researchers at the University of Florida, Gainesville, referenced 84 research studies in their analysis, dating from 1964 to 2021. Their paper is titled Therapeutic Potential of Music-Based Interventions on the Stress Response and Neuroinflammatory Biomarkers in COVID-19: A Review. Even as it has faded from the headlines, COVID-19 infections have risen over the last few months, and long terms effects are also a concern. In particular, the researchers were concerned with COVID-19’s capacity to trigger inflammation. They also made the connection with a growing body of research that points to the potential for music therapy to have an impact on the body’s inflammatory response. It may, in other words, help to reduce inflammation. Music and inflammationThe authors mention engagement with music, which could take the form of listening, learning or playing. Previous research shows that engaging with music can:
Music has been part of traditional medicinal practices around the world. It is known to affect the body’s physiological responses and emotions. It can be used in the treatment of high blood pressure and pain, for example, as well as depression and anxiety. When we engage with music, our body responds in various ways, including at the chemical level. The paper points to the effects of music on psychoneuroimmunology, which links behaviour, the nervous and endocrine systems, and the body’s immune response. COVID and inflammationExposure to COVID-19 causes the body to launch an immune response via spike proteins — a type of protein that allows the virus to enter the body. So it’s that first attack that most therapies target. As the virus disrupts normal function, the body’s immune responses get out of control, which causes some of the worst symptoms of the disease, as well as hyperinflammation. For example, many so-called long COVID patients have shown inflammation of the heart muscle, and prolonged hyperinflammation can damage the body’s major organs, including the lungs and kidneys, as well as the brain. ConclusionThe researchers conclude by noting that many of the specific pathways activated by exposure to the COVID-19 virus overlap with those affected by exposure to and participation in music. They cite blood flow to the brain as an area of particular focus. Can music have a direct effect on those processes? More research is needed to explore that potential. AROUND THE WEB 📅 On this day: French composer and pianist Francis Poulenc dies, age 64 ✏️ From our Toronto blog: Norman Lebrecht reviews Maria Milstein & The Phion Orchestra,s Devout Take On Prokofiev Concertos 🦁 Curiosity: See what dancers look like practising the Lion Dance without the costume and the head 🖥️ Neat: Everything you wanted to know about Web3 explained 🎤 Listen: Hear 10,000 Japanese singers sing Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ 🎥 List: The 50 amazing movies that are turning 50 this year 🦨 Aww: This baby skunk does the cutest little stomps HISTORY OF THE WEEK Mozart's birthplace in Getreidegasse 9, Salzburg The Mozart family resided on the third floor from 1747 to 1773. Wolfgang A. Mozart himself was born here on 27 January 1756. How did you like today's email? |