A producer created a cover of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” using AI-generated vocals and drums. The remix became the most played song on Australian radio, spent 16 weeks on the charts and hit No. 1 for Australian dance singles. Traditionalists called it AI slop, but the reboot been streamed more than 48 million times. - Washington Post
Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell, and numerous other music publishers have sued Anthropic and co-founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann, alleging the AI lab conducted a “brazen campaign of illegally torrenting, scraping, and downloading copyrighted works.” - TechCrunch
“From Tuesday 1 September, every title in the LaScalaTV catalogue will be available to watch for free, following simple registration – a shift made possible by continued support from the platform’s Principal Sponsor, Intesa Sanpaolo.” - Gramilano (Milan)
It would be an understatement to say that the growing prominence of A.I. music is generating backlash—sometimes it seems this music generates nothing but backlash. - The New Yorker
An effective review offers what the concert can’t: an extra-human perspective. By “extra-human,” I mean going beyond the experience of any one person, beyond the perspective of the reviewer and beyond the specific concert itself. - San Francisco Classical Voice
This year Curtis will have 13 musicians entering school under the age of 18. But even at a place known for prodigies, Olivia is unusual. She is believed to be the youngest student to study at Curtis since 1950, when 6-year-old violinist Diana Halprin matriculated. - Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“The ‘10,000-hour rule’ is one of the most repeated ideas in popular writing about skill and success: put in 10,000 hours of practice, the story goes, and elite performance follows. … A 2019 study … redid the underlying comparison and found practice hours didn’t cleanly separate the best violinists from merely good ones.” - Science Blog
“The organization announced this week that it will offer Los Angeles County residents with active Medi-Cal or EBT cards $10 tickets to L.A. Phil performances at the Hollywood Bowl starting with the 2027 season.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
Titled “Symphony Where You Are,” the C$2.3 million partnership with 407 ETR (the company which operates one of the metro area’s major toll highways) will see the orchestra give performances and music education programs in the satellite cities of Brampton, Markham, and Scarborough. - The Toronto Star
“We are writing to let you know,” said AFM Local 6 in a statement, “that the musicians of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra will not be able to perform on Opening Night, September 12, unless management has reached a fair contract with us before then.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
“It was an innovation with a carrot and a stick for the artists who benefited from the extra exposure. ... But the offering also came with a carrot for consumers … and the corresponding stick was particularly ugly.” - Tedium
In many ways, YOLA was the glory of the “¡Bienvenido Gustavo!” Bowl program 17 years ago, and it proved even more so for the goodbye Gustavo, or more accurately “hasta pronto,” see you soon. - Los Angeles Times
Cultural significance and institutional stability are not the same. Even the most renowned orchestras depend on funding, infrastructure, audiences and collective bargaining agreements. When they lose elements of this institutional backbone, it can imperil even the strongest orchestra. - Washington Post (MSN)
“The Los Angeles-based improviser and former The Late Late Show With James Corden bandleader, who headlined San Francisco's Downtown First Thursday party earlier this year, was taken off the Northern California festival bill … following a recent investigation into allegations involving the comedian and musician's relationships and drug use.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“The trumpets of the pharaoh Tutankhamun!” booms the BBC announcer. A short intake of air and then — the blare of a trumpet which for more than 3,000 years had lain silent inside the boy-king’s tomb. - CNN
