While audiences at Broadway‘s “West Side Story” thrill to the on-stage drama, musicians in the orchestra pit are fighting a battle every bit as vicious as the Sharks-Jets rivalry.

This is gang warfare of a high-minded sort, pitting some of New York’s best live musicians against a synthesizer they fear will usurp the job of playing Leonard Bernstein‘s pulsating score.

Sophisticated synthesizers and computer-manipulated recordings are increasingly taking over orchestras. Sounding almost like real players, while costing much less, they’re especially popular with provincial or touring companies.

But until mid-July — when “West Side Story’s” producers announced that a synthesizer was replacing three live violinists and two cellists, or half the orchestra’s string section — staff violinist Paul Woodiel thought that at least the classics would be immune to the trend.

“It was the last straw for me,” Woodiel told AFP.

“I was a student and a friend of Leonard Bernstein and it’s almost certain he wouldn’t have allowed this. This isn’t dinner theater, it’s not Las Vegas. It’s Broadway and Leonard Bernstein was the greatest American musician.”

Woodiel’s own job was spared, but he caused a stir through the tight-knit Broadway world with a New York Times piece denouncing the “inert, artificial” synthesizer invasion.

The producers did not respond to AFP requests to be interviewed.

Synthesizers have in fact been around for decades, notably in pop music. What’s changing is the ability of the machines to enter the far more sophisticated domain of classical orchestras.

“The computer gives you so much more power now. There’s ridiculous stuff,” says Mike Levine, editor of Electronic Musician Magazine.

There are computer programs able to read and play back music scores — a boon to composers who can now hear their work as they write — and software allowing conductors to control the tempo of the machine, in the same way that they direct live players.

“It has gotten very, very good with something like drums and bass and strings,” Levine said. “With piano they can model almost anything.”

Levine said the growing use of synthesizers is positive for basement bands and other music industry start-ups, but a menace to jobs in large, labor-intensive ensembles like orchestras.

“It’s all about money and the producers want to make as much money as possible,” Levine said. “They always did.”

Critics see synthesizers as little better than some barbarian force trampling the classical music landscape.

But one virtual music pioneer, Paul Henry Smith of the Fauxharmonic Orchestra, says the technology will only improve and in any case cannot be stopped.

Smith’s system uses so-called digital sampling, feeding from a store of more than two million individual notes recorded in an almost endless variety of tones and styles. “It’s kind of insane,” he says.

“We don’t quite know what’s going to happen with this, but computer technology is just so malleable that the likelihood of it going away is probably nil.”

Like many new technologies, virtual music poses growing ethical questions.

New York Post arts writer Barbara Hoffman says using a synthesizer in “West Side Story” amounts to cheating theater-goers.

“When you pay over 100 dollars a ticket you should hear real music the way Leonard Bernstein intended it,” she said. “Something as sacred as that score, one of the most beautiful scores ever written — it’s blasphemous.”

But it remains unclear whether audiences around the country realize what’s going on, or necessarily care.

Sarah Franklin, a talented 24-year-old violinist, joined a five-month North America tour for a revival of the musical “Camelot” with an orchestra of just four people.

“There was me on the violin, one cello, one French horn and a conductor with a computer,” she said. The computer, using a software called Notion, played the rest of the semi-virtual orchestra.

Frequently the program crashed, abruptly leaving the three live musicians to play by themselves. But despite the glitches, most audience members were none the wiser, Franklin said.

“When people saw us down in the pit afterwards, they’d say, ‘It sounded like there were so many more of you!’”

The musicians would wriggle out of the embarrassing situation by pretending that the rest of their colleagues had quickly left the theater.

“We got fed up with explaining and we didn’t want to ruin it for them. They didn’t need to know,” Franklin said.

True aficionados can immediately tell the difference between real and manufactured music.

Woodiel compares playing alongside a synthesizer to “making love with a corpse.”

Even Smith readily concedes that today’s virtual instruments cannot match live string players “by a long shot.”

But advocates argue that axing salaried musicians in favor of a machine during today’s economic uncertainty can extend the life of a flagging production, thereby saving many other jobs.

Smith, who studied with Bernstein and researched digital sound at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says the most important benefits are subtle.

He sees virtual orchestra programs as a new instrument in their own right, as well as a tool for composers to “get their ideas into sound” and bring new material to human orchestras — thereby creating work.

“It’s not always a bad boy,” Smith said. “It’s a branching out and expanding of possibilities.”

Peter Reit, who plays French horn in Broadway’s “Phantom of the Opera” — where two strings players have been replaced by a synthesizer — has a more gloomy prognosis in what he calls the “corporate” music landscape.

“You get the feeling that if they had their way, ideally, they would have an entire virtual orchestra,” he said.

“They would have all of us replaced with one electronic instrument, then feed that to the public and make more money.”

Today’s musicians, both mainstream and indie, are using social media to connect with fans, build anticipation, and generate revenue in new and unique ways. The products range from singles to mix tapes to digital six-packs, even oddly shaped USB sticks, vinyl, and the occasional traditional album.

But how are these artists reaching their new fan bases online through social channels? Much like the business world, social media promotion for musicians is still a very new game, with no exact recipe for platinum success.

There are however, some innovations being put forth, and a new connection is being formed between artists and fans — a connection that empowers both to give each other what they are looking for.

Fan-Funded Projects

We have all heard about the success of micro lending organizations like Kiva, which use multiple small payments to contribute to a larger goal. The same process is being applied to creating an album or a music-based project.

One such project is the Washington D.C.-based indie hip-hop group Panacea. The producer/MC duo listed their project on Kickstater, a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers, and others.

The project was posted on the morning of February 26th. According to Jeremy Calvery, the group’s Director of Digital Media and Promotion, “We were at $1,000 before the end of the first day. We had to increase the number of $200 packages from three to five over the weekend because people were e-mailing and literally begging for the chance to ‘buy’ the whole back catalog. Less than five full days from the first e-mail to the list, we had reached the funding goal of $3,800, which was set to be just a bit more than what the minimum press of 250 vinyl copies was going to cost.”

Another hip-hop outfit, the Get Busy Committee, also launched a project on Kickstarter. In their drive to raise $3,218, they included one premium pledge level at $1,000 — an investment that netted the donor a song about him or herself to be included on the record, as well as a platinum plaque. They sold this spot within 24 hours.

Using Video to Create Buzz

Another approach musicians are taking is the use of web video series. Indie pop artist Mike Posner has been telling his story over the course of a video series titled “One Foot Out The Door.” Daniel Weisman, Mike’s manager, stated that he was attempting to create an income stream for Mike while he was finishing college and working on his debut album.

Daniel and his management company Elitaste were approached by the shoe company Puma about integrated artist campaigns. Puma ended up sponsoring Mike’s last semester in college, and provided a camera crew to follow him from classes, to the studio, to shows all over the country.

Daniel wanted to do something special for the Mashable readers when I reached out to him, so fresh off the upload, here is the premier of Episode #10 of “One Foot Out The Door.”

Live streaming has also been worthwhile for big announcements. Underground artists the Kottonmouth Kings turned to Ustream to tell their fans all about their new album and when they could expect it in local stores.

The video was watched live and formatted like a press conference, with fans getting the chance to ask questions and share their feedback. It was a smart way to bring their fans into the experience and give back to the community that has supported them for 10+ years.

Creativity From the Fans

Rob And Kal are a pop/rock act from the UK who are taking fans inside their studio and the music creation process. They call it Mubla 2.0, which Rob defined as “our interactive recording project where we come up with song ideas and you help us develop them with your comments, suggestions and musicianship.”

So far they have five songs in progress with fans like Adam saying, “I just feel the intro has a little too much going on and 2.33 to 2.56 I almost want the piano to play and pull at the heart strings.” Another commenter named Russell gave tips like, “Think drums and a bit more of heavier guitar would go down nicely particularly near end.”

This concept empowers fans and gives them a product they feel responsible for and connected to. The project can only strengthen the bond between fans and artists, and result in an easier sale when the time comes to release an album.

Reaching Out to Non-Music Bloggers

Glasses Malone, a new artist signed with Cash Money Records, is turning to bloggers to get the word out about his new album “Beach Cruiser.” What makes his campaign unique is that unlike traditional artists who look to get their tracks on highly trafficked MP3 blogs and review sites, Glasses and his team are focused on adding value to bloggers whose primary focus is not on music.

A marketing rep for Glasses told me, “These bloggers are more open to running contests and integrated campaigns than traditional music bloggers because they are not accustomed to being pitched by a major label artist. We have found blogs that love unique and fresh content that will separate them from their peers and competition, and it is working out very well for us so far.”

Armed with a research team, they have been targeting biking blogs, college blogs, beach lifestyle sites and more, all with the hope of driving new traffic to Glasses’ site and generating some pre-album buzz.

Conclusion

No matter what the labels and corporations are doing, musicians are taking it upon themselves to use social channels to connect with fans, offer value, and create relationship. This has ultimately led to new business models and revenue streams from sponsorships, touring and live appearances, custom products, and social monetization through advertising.

The blog site Joystiq has a really great interview with Trent Reznor – probably better known as the life behind Nine Inch Nails. Trent has been a forward thinker in the music and new media space for a long time now and certainly hasn’t been afraid to ruffle some feathers along the way. The interview is gaming-heavy (as can be expected) but a lot of the vibe can apply to other areas of media and marketing as well.

See the article at Joystiq.

Digital Rights Management (DRM), at least as it relates to music, is finally taking a dirt nap. Apple’s iTunes Music Store is now 100 percent DRM-free. This morning, when I upgraded to the latest version of the iTunes software to buy the new album by Midival Punditz and Ursula 100, it seems all music is now DRM-free. Apple first announced in January 2009 and said it would introduce DRM-free iTunes in April 2009, starting with 8 million tracks and eventually making the entire library overtime.

All songs I buy from iTunes will play on most of my devices. Such as my Sonos Digital Music System. I think it’s a brilliant and much needed move, though I’m not sure I’m going to spend hundreds of dollars to upgrade to DRM-free version of my tunes. I mean I paid for them once; why pay again? Why not just make existing files DRM-free without making us pay up. It shouldn’t be that difficult to do.

The DRM-free iTunes however has its downsides, because with it has come with variable pricing, which includes paying $1.29 for some songs. These songs don’t have anything special about them, like special artwork or a higher bit rate. They just cost more because music industry executives say so.

See the full article at GigaOM.

The Web has transformed and spread around music content – people can find music at Last.fm, iTunes, and YouTube, among dozens of other services. MySpace has become the epicenter of the music scene and the preferred platform for artist web pages, but it doesn’t bring together all of the platforms for music distribution available on the Web.

Yahoo’s relaunched Artist Pages, however, do just that. From one webpage, users have access to a dashboard filled with content related to their favorite artists. YouTube videos, the iTunes music store, Pandora, Last.fm, concert information, and Flickr photos are all available in one simple and clean interface.

It may not be as flashy or image-heavy as a MySpace Music page, but it certainly gives MySpace a run for its money in terms of functionality and customization, and Yahoo’s plans to open it up to third-parties makes it an even more appealing option to music artists.

The Yahoo Artist Page Interface

The interface bares no resemblance to the old Yahoo Music artist page or even the MySpace Music page. Instead, Yahoo seems to have opted for a cleaner, simpler interface that boxes up the key content.

The top links users to videos, discography, tracks, photos, or concert information, although all of that content is available from the start page. Concert information is viewable via a Yahoo Upcoming widget and vdeos are available in the center column, both from Yahoo and from YouTube, just for starters.

See the full article at Mashable.

Other bands might have been first, but Trent Reznor is about to blow them all way with NIN‘s coming iPhone app, which completely enshrines his place as the Highlander of musicians on the internet.

The apps looks like everything that Web 2.0 was promised to be for musicians, wrapped up in an incredibly slick package. The app seamlessly combines streaming music with custom playlists; a Twitter-like social network within Nine Inch Nail’s own network (that’s location-aware, so you can look up where messages came from in Google Earth on your desktop); fan-submitted images and media from every NIN concert ever (also location tagged); and of course, an iPhone-friendly version of the website within the app.

It sounds a lot like the future of music in a box, if you ask me. The reason he was able to build this, and you don’t see something like it coming from the mainstream industry, he says, is that "anyone who’s an executive at a record label does not understand what the internet is, how it works, how people use it, how fans and consumers interact – no idea."

The app will be free should go live in the next couple of days after it gets final approval from Apple. They’re already working on Version 2.0 for iPhone 3.0, which will include Google Maps integration and Push notification.

Also, if you didn’t know already, he’s on Twitter, and actually writes his own tweets, unlike some celebrities.

See the full article at Gizmodo.

Ticketmaster has been subpoenaed or received other requests for information from the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the New Jersey Attorney General’s office, the company said in an email obtained by an industry blog.

The law enforcement agencies were interested in Ticketmaster’s relationship with its reseller TicketsNow, in particular controversial sales of tickets to Bruce Springsteen shows in New Jersey on May 21 and 23, said the email displayed on TicketNews.com.

"We have received a number of subpoenas and demands for sworn information about TicketsNow and its broker clients," Ticketmaster said in the email.

"These include formal requests for information and/or subpoenas from, among others, the United States Department of Justice, the New Jersey Attorney General’s office, the Federal Trade Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau," the email said.

Ticketmaster confirmed the email was authentic but had no other comment.

Ticketmaster, which is seeking to merge with the world’s largest concert promoting company Live Nation, was besieged by complaints earlier this year when fans of Bruce Springsteen who signed on to Ticketmaster to buy concert tickets were told that they had sold out within minutes. They were instead directed to the reseller TicketsNow which had considerably more expensive tickets.

Read the full article at Yahoo News.

Hot off an announcement that they’d be charging for radio access outside the US, UK and Germany, Last.fm has said that all non-official mobile clients will be banned. This isn’t going over well.

The change comes with a new developer API that will actually make things much easier for other developers, who’ve had to rely on a few undocumented calls up until now. Current licensing agreements with labels—who Last.fm is in no position to alienate—prohibit mobile streaming, though the company’s official mobile radio apps—right now just on the iPhone and Android—will still work fine.

As you could imagine, this kind of blows for a lot of people. Windows Mobile users will no longer be able to use Pocket Scrobbler, Symbian folks will have their beautiful baby, Mobbler, ripped from their hands, and BlackBerry owners will soon find FlipSide, a pay app, rendered silent. And as much as I’d like to, I don’t really believe that we’ll see official clients for any of the platforms, at least not soon.

Article source: Gizmodo.

Sure, rocker Trent Reznor’s example has encouraged plenty of music acts to reject the label system and search for a new industry paradigm using the Web.

Lars Ulrich suggests that Metallica may want to dump its label, and he wants Trent Reznor’s help to do it.

But did anyone expect that among Reznor’s disciples would be Lars Ulrich?

Ulrich, a member of the rock band Metallica and once one of the leading critics of peer-to-peer sites, said during an interview last week with The Los Angeles Times that Metallica no longer needs the backing of a big record company and suggested that the group may be ready to go independent.

"The primary–not the only, but the primary–function of a record label is to act as a bank," Ulrich told the Times. "When you’re fortunate enough to be successful and so on, you don’t need to rely on record companies as the banks…We’re doing a bunch of shows with Trent this summer in Europe. I look forward to sitting down and talking to him about what’s on his radar."

Because of Reznor and efforts by Radiohead, which also dropped its label and has since used the Internet to market itself directly to fans, Ulrich told the Times "there’s nothing but possibilities."

What’s the significance here? To many music fans Ulrich became the hated symbol of anti-innovation, anti-technology, and heavy-handed copyright owners when he was among those who tried to sue Napster–and indeed file sharing–out of existence.

Now, a decade later, even he wants to sit at the feet of Reznor.

Reznor, leader of the band Nine Inch Nails, has won accolades from digital-music fans for attempting to make music more affordable for the public while helping artists earn a living. He’s done this by rejecting the major-label system and distributing music via the Web directly to the public.

Ulrich’s nod to Reznor is, at the very least, an acknowledgment that digital distribution is here to stay and that the best way to survive as a music act is to understand it.

Original article: CNET News.

Performers often scalp tickets to their own performances, using TicketsNow.com and StubHub.com as outlets, says Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor in a blog posting.

With the face value of tickets for the best seats so much less than what high rollers and avid fans are willing to pay, performers have to choose between letting scalpers reap the profits of their work or cashing in themselves, said industrial rocker Reznor in a blog posting on Sunday.

"The venue, the promoter, the ticketing agency and often the artist camp (artist, management and agent) take tickets from the pool of available seats and feed them directly to the re-seller," wrote Reznor, who has a long history of battling the music industry.

"I am not saying every one of the above entities all do this, nor am I saying they do it for all shows but this is a very common practice," wrote Reznor. "StubHub.com is an example of a re-seller/scalper. So is TicketsNow.com."

Reselling may disappear and the face value of tickets go up if U.S. Justice Department antitrust officials allow the planned merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation Inc, Reznor predicted.

See the full article at Yahoo News.