Hopefully, this analysis - and there's more on the nuts and bolts of our method below - sheds some factual light on the claims and counter-claims that are paranoically sweeping across the music industry establishment, not least that put forward by the singer Lily Allen in this paper recently - and the BPI - that artists are losing out as a result of the fall in sales of recorded of music. [...] The most immediate revelation [...] is that at some point next year revenues from gigs payable to artists will for the first time overtake revenues accrued by labels from sales of recorded music. Why live revenues have grown so stridently is beyond the scope of this article, but our data - compiled from a PRS for Music report and the BPI - make two things clear: one, that the growth in live revenue shows no signs of slowing and two, that live is by far and away the most lucrative section of industry revenue for artists themselves, because they retain such a big percentage of the money from ticket sales. [...] It's interesting too that, overall, industry revenues have grown in the period - though admittedly not by much - which arguably adds strength to the notion that, when the BPI releases its annual report claiming how much `the music industry' has suffered from the growth in illegal file-sharing, what it perhaps should be saying is how much the record labels have suffered.
[...]
The most immediate revelation [...] is that at some point next year revenues from gigs payable to artists will for the first time overtake revenues accrued by labels from sales of recorded music.
Why live revenues have grown so stridently is beyond the scope of this article, but our data - compiled from a PRS for Music report and the BPI - make two things clear: one, that the growth in live revenue shows no signs of slowing and two, that live is by far and away the most lucrative section of industry revenue for artists themselves, because they retain such a big percentage of the money from ticket sales.
It's interesting too that, overall, industry revenues have grown in the period - though admittedly not by much - which arguably adds strength to the notion that, when the BPI releases its annual report claiming how much `the music industry' has suffered from the growth in illegal file-sharing, what it perhaps should be saying is how much the record labels have suffered.
Some of the analysis is based on guesswork, so it can use some further review.
I doubt somehow that Mozart made more from sales of recorded music that from fees for live performances. Does anybody know more or less from when recorded music sales overtook revenues for live music for the, er, first time?
Mozart did in fact make some money from printed music sales.
Achieved without violence, the fall of the Czechoslovak communist regime had none of the usual arousal associated with revolutions. Journalist Jiří Peňás presents a psychoanalytic interpretation of the events of 17 November 1989. Down with false modesty! Let's examine the naked truth of the Velvet Revolution. In laying bare the facts, perhaps we can explain why the end of communism proved to be so unsexy. One of the remarkable aspects of the events of November 1989 in the future Czech Republic, and also in Slovakia, was the virtual or complete absence of any sexual dimension. There were none of the sexual expressions that usually accompany revolutions and the collapse of regimes: no orgies, no exhibitionistic women, and no men desperately attempting to lay hands on them in public. No doubt, the chilly temperatures of the Central European autumn did much to negate any excess of libido in what proved to be a surprisingly straitlaced insurrection, but that is not the whole story. The truth is that the issue of sexual freedom was simply postponed, or at least set aside until the dust had settled. So the question is: what became of the sexual liberation which could reasonably be expected after a prolonged period of pious oppression? This image of unwavering propriety does not square with the he fact that most participants in the events of the revolution were students, who are usually enthusiastic proponents of sexual freedom. Whereas the campaign for greater sexual liberty played a key role in in the 1968 student riots in the United States and Western Europe, no such demands were voiced by Czech and Slovak students: there was no petition that concerned any indicator of sexual freedom, from access to pornography to contraception, not to mention guaranteed orgasms for everyone. And certainly there was no question of mixed showers in university hostels.
Achieved without violence, the fall of the Czechoslovak communist regime had none of the usual arousal associated with revolutions. Journalist Jiří Peňás presents a psychoanalytic interpretation of the events of 17 November 1989.
Down with false modesty! Let's examine the naked truth of the Velvet Revolution. In laying bare the facts, perhaps we can explain why the end of communism proved to be so unsexy. One of the remarkable aspects of the events of November 1989 in the future Czech Republic, and also in Slovakia, was the virtual or complete absence of any sexual dimension. There were none of the sexual expressions that usually accompany revolutions and the collapse of regimes: no orgies, no exhibitionistic women, and no men desperately attempting to lay hands on them in public. No doubt, the chilly temperatures of the Central European autumn did much to negate any excess of libido in what proved to be a surprisingly straitlaced insurrection, but that is not the whole story. The truth is that the issue of sexual freedom was simply postponed, or at least set aside until the dust had settled. So the question is: what became of the sexual liberation which could reasonably be expected after a prolonged period of pious oppression?
This image of unwavering propriety does not square with the he fact that most participants in the events of the revolution were students, who are usually enthusiastic proponents of sexual freedom. Whereas the campaign for greater sexual liberty played a key role in in the 1968 student riots in the United States and Western Europe, no such demands were voiced by Czech and Slovak students: there was no petition that concerned any indicator of sexual freedom, from access to pornography to contraception, not to mention guaranteed orgasms for everyone. And certainly there was no question of mixed showers in university hostels.
When a French-Senegalese author became the first black woman to win France's most prestigious literary award, it seemed like the perfect example of the model of integration championed by Nicolas Sarkozy, the president. Unfortunately for Mr Sarkozy, Marie NDiaye, who won the Prix Goncourt, for Trois Femmes Puissantes (Three Strong Women), a story about the interweaving lives of three women set in France and Senegal, also has strong opinions about how life in France has changed since he was elected in 2007.An outspoken interview she gave to cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles last summer, before she won the award, has resurfaced after it was attacked by Eric Raoult, a deputy from the governing centre-right UMP party, last week. Ms NDiaye, who moved to Berlin just after the 2007 election, told the magazine she left France partly because of Mr Sarkozy's election. She described France as "hideous", and went on to say the country now had the "atmosphere of a police state". She added: "For some time now, I have found the climate in France to be quite depressing and morose."
Unfortunately for Mr Sarkozy, Marie NDiaye, who won the Prix Goncourt, for Trois Femmes Puissantes (Three Strong Women), a story about the interweaving lives of three women set in France and Senegal, also has strong opinions about how life in France has changed since he was elected in 2007.
An outspoken interview she gave to cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles last summer, before she won the award, has resurfaced after it was attacked by Eric Raoult, a deputy from the governing centre-right UMP party, last week.
Ms NDiaye, who moved to Berlin just after the 2007 election, told the magazine she left France partly because of Mr Sarkozy's election. She described France as "hideous", and went on to say the country now had the "atmosphere of a police state". She added: "For some time now, I have found the climate in France to be quite depressing and morose."
At least feudalism was honest about repression. Heck, the way things are going in europe and America we are gonna think of Louis 14th as something to aspire to. keep to the Fen Causeway
Rejecting the advice of the city attorney, two Los Angeles City Council committees voted today to scrap a proposed provision that would have banned the sale of medical marijuana. The controversial measure, first proposed a year and a half ago, delayed deliberations as council members debated the wisdom of ignoring the opinion of the city's top prosecutor. But about four hours into a raucous hearing, council members made it clear they were ready to move on. "When can we finally stop the merry-go-round?" said Councilman Dennis Zine, who kicked off the City Council's consideration of the issue in 2005 when concerns about dispensaries first surfaced. He proposed an alternative provision that would allow dispensaries to accept cash for marijuana as long as they comply with state law. William Carter, the chief deputy city attorney, repeatedly argued that state law and state court decisions make it clear that collectives can cultivate medical marijuana but not sell it. "We're stuck with the current law," he said. But Zine urged the council members to adopt an interpretation of the law that would not upend how dispensaries operate in Los Angeles and most of the state. "I'm saying let's push that to the edge," he said. .... Four years ago, when the City Council first began to look into regulating dispensaries, there were four. A year later, there were 98. In 2007, when the city adopted a moratorium, 186 dispensaries were allowed to remain in business. Now, the city attorney's office estimates there could be as many as a thousand spread throughout the city, and heavily concentrated in some neighborhoods.
"When can we finally stop the merry-go-round?" said Councilman Dennis Zine, who kicked off the City Council's consideration of the issue in 2005 when concerns about dispensaries first surfaced. He proposed an alternative provision that would allow dispensaries to accept cash for marijuana as long as they comply with state law.
William Carter, the chief deputy city attorney, repeatedly argued that state law and state court decisions make it clear that collectives can cultivate medical marijuana but not sell it. "We're stuck with the current law," he said. But Zine urged the council members to adopt an interpretation of the law that would not upend how dispensaries operate in Los Angeles and most of the state. "I'm saying let's push that to the edge," he said.
....
Four years ago, when the City Council first began to look into regulating dispensaries, there were four. A year later, there were 98. In 2007, when the city adopted a moratorium, 186 dispensaries were allowed to remain in business. Now, the city attorney's office estimates there could be as many as a thousand spread throughout the city, and heavily concentrated in some neighborhoods.
The collision of a large extraterrestrial object with Earth almost 2 billion years ago may have stirred the seas worldwide and delivered a small but crucial serving of oxygen to the deep ocean. The Sudbury impact, named after the Canadian city located near the center of what remains of the ancient crater, happened around 1.85 billion years ago (SN: 6/15/02, p. 378). Despite erosion since then, the impact structure --at least 200 kilometers across -- is recognized to be the second-largest on the face of the planet, says William Cannon, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Va., and coauthor on a paper in the November Geology. The event fundamentally affected the concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the deep sea -- enough to almost instantly shut down the accumulation of marine sediments known as banded iron formations, report Cannon and coauthor John F. Slack, also of the USGS in Reston. Banded iron formations, massive deposits rich in iron oxides, have accumulated at several periods in Earth's long-distant geological past, mostly when atmospheric concentrations of oxygen were low (SN: 6/20/09, p. 24). One extended episode of banded iron formation (or BIF) buildup suddenly -- and without an obvious explanation -- ended about 1.85 billion years ago, says Cannon. Over a very short interval, he notes, "the environment shifted from one happily making banded iron to one that wasn't." In northern Minnesota and other areas nearby, the formations lie directly underneath a thick layer of material only recently recognized as ejecta from the Sudbury impact. Mark Jirsa, a geologist with the Minnesota Geological Survey in St. Paul, was a member of the team that identified the ejecta layer. "We intuitively connected the Sudbury impact with the shutdown of BIF accumulation," he says. "But now [Slack and Cannon] have come up with a model for how that might have happened." About 1.85 billion years ago, Earth's now separate landmasses were joined in a single supercontinent. That also means there was one large ocean, says Cannon. Many scientists suggest that the object that slammed into Earth then -- probably an asteroid abut 10 kilometers across -- splashed down in that ocean, in waters about 1 kilometer deep on the shallow shelf surrounding the supercontinent. Models hint that the tsunami spawned by the event would have been 1 kilometer tall at the impact site and remained at least 100 meters tall about 3,000 kilometers away, Cannon adds. Those immense waves and large underwater landslides triggered by the impact stirred the ocean, bringing oxygenated waters from the surface down to the ocean floor, the researchers propose. Sediments deposited on the seafloor before the impact, including BIFs, contained little if any iron in its Fe(III) form but were high in Fe(II), a sign that most parts of the ocean were oxygen-free. But marine sediments deposited after the impact included substantial amounts of Fe(III) but very little Fe(II) -- and, therefore, sizable amounts of dissolved oxygen. The team's analyses suggest that after the impact, dissolved iron spewed into the deepest parts of the ocean by hydrothermal vents would have reacted with oxygen within a day or so, thereby choking off most of the supply of Fe(II) to shallower waters where BIFs typically accumulated.
Banded iron formations, massive deposits rich in iron oxides, have accumulated at several periods in Earth's long-distant geological past, mostly when atmospheric concentrations of oxygen were low (SN: 6/20/09, p. 24). One extended episode of banded iron formation (or BIF) buildup suddenly -- and without an obvious explanation -- ended about 1.85 billion years ago, says Cannon. Over a very short interval, he notes, "the environment shifted from one happily making banded iron to one that wasn't."
In northern Minnesota and other areas nearby, the formations lie directly underneath a thick layer of material only recently recognized as ejecta from the Sudbury impact. Mark Jirsa, a geologist with the Minnesota Geological Survey in St. Paul, was a member of the team that identified the ejecta layer. "We intuitively connected the Sudbury impact with the shutdown of BIF accumulation," he says. "But now [Slack and Cannon] have come up with a model for how that might have happened."
About 1.85 billion years ago, Earth's now separate landmasses were joined in a single supercontinent. That also means there was one large ocean, says Cannon. Many scientists suggest that the object that slammed into Earth then -- probably an asteroid abut 10 kilometers across -- splashed down in that ocean, in waters about 1 kilometer deep on the shallow shelf surrounding the supercontinent. Models hint that the tsunami spawned by the event would have been 1 kilometer tall at the impact site and remained at least 100 meters tall about 3,000 kilometers away, Cannon adds.
Those immense waves and large underwater landslides triggered by the impact stirred the ocean, bringing oxygenated waters from the surface down to the ocean floor, the researchers propose. Sediments deposited on the seafloor before the impact, including BIFs, contained little if any iron in its Fe(III) form but were high in Fe(II), a sign that most parts of the ocean were oxygen-free. But marine sediments deposited after the impact included substantial amounts of Fe(III) but very little Fe(II) -- and, therefore, sizable amounts of dissolved oxygen. The team's analyses suggest that after the impact, dissolved iron spewed into the deepest parts of the ocean by hydrothermal vents would have reacted with oxygen within a day or so, thereby choking off most of the supply of Fe(II) to shallower waters where BIFs typically accumulated.
