FEATURE
The Hidden Power of Cultural Exchanges in Countering Propaganda and Fostering International Goodwill
The Conversation: Nicholas J. Cull
At a time when China is believed to spend about US$8 billion annually sending its ideas and culture around the world, President Donald Trump has proposed to cut by 93% the part of the State Department that does the same thing for the United States.
RESEARCH AND OPINION
Aging CEOs, Ambitious Nepo Babies and a Tech Revolution: Succession in the Music Biz
The Hollywood Reporter: Ethan Millman
Meet the new boss… same as the old boss? As the industry prepares for the AI takeover, insiders question who’s next in line at the major labels.
AI’s Napster Moment May Be Next
The Hollywood Reporter: Larry Cohen
We’ve been down this road before with Napster. The company launched as a free file-sharing app in 1999. Almost overnight people around the world could download entire music libraries in seconds. It was a groundbreaking use of technology that, at the time, felt too good to be true. And that’s because it was.
AI, bot farms and innocent indie victims: how music streaming became a hotbed of fraud and fakery
The Guardian: Eamonn Forde
Fraudsters use fake artists to juice royalties from streaming services – but real musicians are getting blamed. Might they be better off without Spotify et al?
How NPR’s Tiny Desk became the biggest stage in music
Fast Company: Davis Salazar
It isn’t just emerging acts that totally revamp their sound for a Tiny Desk opportunity. Established artists like Usher, Justin Timberlake, and Cypress Hill have followed T-Pain’s lead and used NPR’s offices to showcase reimagined versions of some of their most popular songs.
Meet the Aussie dancer chosen to run Juilliard’s program
The Sydney Morning Herald: Joyce Morgan
“I still want to live an artful life,” says Melissa Toogood. “But I don’t want to be the one making it all the time any more. I’ll be able to put together all these skills that I’ve already been working on into one job, at a time when I feel more inspired to help other artists with their careers than my own.”
When Robert Rauschenberg Found a Home in Dance
NY Times: Brian Seibert
A Trisha Brown company tour recalls a time when Rauschenberg, one of the country’s most influential artists, was changing and being changed by American dance.
‘Helping people survive’: how creating a hip-hop album supported incarcerated artists
The Guardian: Monica Uszerowicz
Formerly or currently imprisoned artists in Florida came together to create an inspiring album, much of which was recorded under difficult circumstances
NATIONAL
Aristo Sham wins 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
MSN News: Zachary Yanes
After two and a half weeks of performances from 28 of the world’s top pianists, the winner of the 17th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has been crowned. Aristo Sham, 29, won the competition Saturday, following his final concert performance of MENDELSSOHN Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, op. 25 on Tuesday and BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, op. 83 on Friday.
Philadelphia Orchestra Losses NEA Funding for Pride Concert
OperaWire: Francisco Salazar
The orchestra announced the news via social media, noting, “The Philadelphia Orchestra is a nonprofit organization that believes in the power of music to bring people together, create understanding, and speak to the human spirit. Earlier this month, the National Endowment for the Arts rescinded critical funding for our Pride Concert, taking place on June 4.”
Misty Copeland Changed Ballet. Now She’s Ready to Move On.
NY Times: David Marchese
After 25 years with the company, Misty Copeland is retiring from American Ballet Theater. While the departure of ballet’s biggest crossover star is certainly a momentous occasion, it’s also not exactly a surprise.
One product likely to be impacted by tariffs? Ballet shoes
Cascades (PBS): Megan Burbank
Pacific Northwest Ballet goes through thousands of pointe shoes each season, most made overseas. The Trump administration’s new policies could hit hard.
PBS sues Trump White House over executive order to cut funding
LA Times: Stephen Battaglio
The suit from the service that airs “Sesame Street,” Ken Burns documentaries and the “PBS NewsHour” for free to millions of American homes, said that Congress has repeatedly protected PBS from political interference by filtering its funds through the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, which is not a federal agency.
Kennedy Center subscription sales fall 36 percent from previous year
Washington Post: Travia Andrews
“We understand providing information like this can be seen in a bad light,” the current staffer said in a message. “But we feel that it is necessary to show that mismanagement by the new leadership is becoming a real problem for the health of the organization.”
INTERNATIONAL
South Korean maestro Chung will be the first Asian to head Italy’s famed La Scala
NPR: Anthony Kuhn
South Korea’s K-pop artists are on such a roll across the globe that it can be easy to forget their classical music forebearers were rocking the world’s concert halls well before they were born.
Germany orchestrates plans to draw younger, more diverse crowds to opera
Courthouse News Service
Germany’s opera houses have been rattled by aging audiences, diminished public funding and a decline in civic life. Can these institutions survive in a post-pandemic world?
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND MUSIC BUSINESS
Labels in licensing talks with AI music generators Suno and Udio (report)
Music Business Worldwide: Mandy Dalugdug
Bloomberg reported on Sunday (June 1), citing people familiar with the discussions, that Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment are seeking license fees from the platforms plus “a small amount” of equity in both Suno and Udio.
Dancing with robots: IEEE fuses automation and fine arts
Art+Design: Robin Wharton
To most casual observers, medusai — a car-sized sculpture comprising steel panels, colored lights, sophisticated electronics and processors, seven cleverly articulated appendages and instrumental strings — is an object, complex and perhaps even beautiful, but an object nonetheless. PhaeMonae and Nadya Zeitlin, who have spent dozens of hours in a Goat Farm Arts Center studio observing and teaching the machine how to dance, however, refer to medusai as “she.”
Dwindling ticket sales and cancellations: What’s behind the decline of music festivals
CNN Entertainment: Leah Asmelash
The trend has been simmering for years — the longstanding Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago isn’t returning this summer, following similar announcements last year from Atlanta’s Music Midtown and Kickoff Jam in Florida. Meanwhile, festivals like Jay-Z’s Made in America festival and Delaware’s Firefly Music Festival haven’t returned since 2022.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
When music gets weird: 14 gloriously strange concept albums you must hear
Classical Music: Steve Wright
From musical Inuits to four-disc madness, these daring albums stretch imagination with surreal narratives, bizarre sounds, and sheer unforgettable weirdness.
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