California Attorney General Jerry Brown can’t abide goddamn record companies that fix prices. (Feel free to read that as record companies, straight up.) Anyway, when you bought all those Rico Suave CDs back in the day, you paid too much.
Can I tell you how this all relates to the big scheme of things? No, I get my record co. antitrust lawsuits mixed up. But this whole deal probably had something to do with bad behavior by execs from Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and/or EMI Group.
But that doesn’t matter now. What matters that these melon-farmers are going to own up for past misdeeds by paying for statewide music festivals.
El Protector De La Gente, Jerry Brown:
Check it:
| January | April | July | October |
| February | May | August | November |
| March | June | September | December |
Enjoy.
Brown and Arts Council Host Statewide Music Festivals Funded by a Price-Fixing Settlement
SACRAMENTO -Yodeling, operas, musicals, Japanese drumming and symphonies are among the summer events around the state sponsored by more than a half million dollars from a Department of Justice settlement with music companies in a case of fixing advertised prices.
Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and the California Arts Council today announced dozens of musical presentations during this summer’s festival season and throughout 2010. Visit the California Arts Council’s website for a full listing of concerts and events benefiting from the grants:
http://www.cac.ca.gov/programs/doj/.
“The Attorney General’s office is proud to be part of providing these cultural events that bring people together to experience all types of music. It’s affordable because of our ability to provide discounted tickets,” Brown said, “and these performances are a testament to the incredible richness and diversity of the state’s music.”
The grants support performances and events in 43 of the state’s 58 counties, reaching an estimated audience of 200,000.
All the deets, after the jump
In September 2002, California, along with 42 other states, settled an antitrust case against five of the country’s largest music CD companies and three national music retail chains on allegations of fixing advertised prices for music CDs. In the final settlement, the companies paid a total of $67.4 million in cash and provided $75.7 million in music CDs to schools, universities and libraries nationally, including distributing more than 660,000 CDs in California.
California’s share of the remaining cash, $549,000, was given to the Arts Council to establish a one-time music presenting grants initiative. As dictated by the terms of the settlement, the goal of the initiative is to support a broad range of musical performances across a wide geographical reach. In October 2009, the Department of Justice and the Arts Council announced awards to more than 40 local arts organizations to present free or inexpensive events throughout the state. Many of the artists are utilizing the grants for children’s programs and for performances in front of audiences that otherwise would not have access to live music.
For example, Fresno County public schools are hosting free public autoharp performances this month. In June, school groups will travel to see the musical “Aida” at the Performance Riverside festival, utilizing grant funds for field trip transportation costs that are hard to come by in tough budgetary times. In July, free and discounted performances of Mexican swing music will be presented in Susanville, and in August, there will be free Latin jazz performances in the city of Greenfield.
Live music brings communities together, but high ticket prices can exclude middle and lower income Californians, something the music grants sought to remedy.
“There are 19 musicians in the well-loved band Malo,” said Marie Acosta, the executive and artistic director of La Raza Galeria Posada, a Sacramento nonprofit cultural center that is sponsoring a concert this week featuring the influential Latin rock band headlined by Jorge Santana, Carlos Santana’s brother. “It’s expensive to present a group of that size, but with this funding the musicians are getting paid a living wage and the tickets are affordable, even for low-income Californians.”
A $15,000 grant has allowed the tickets to the Malo performance in Cesar Chavez Park on May 22 to be discounted to $10.
The California Arts Council is a state agency with the mission to advance Californians through the arts and creativity. It was established in January 1976 by the state Legislature and signed into law by then-governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.
For more information about the cultural grants, please contact Mary Beth Barber at (916) 322-6588 or go to http://www.cac.ca.gov/programs/doj200910.php. For more information about the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Law Section, please see http://ag.ca.gov/antitrust/.
You may view the full account of this posting, including possible attachments, in the News & Alerts section of our website at: http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1919
The California Arts Council and the California Attorney General’s Office announced in October that 42 performing arts organizations throughout California received grant funding for music performances in 2009 and 2010 from a one-time music presenting program. Funding for the program was available as part of an antitrust settlement with major music-distribution companies and national retail chains. (See Attorney General’s press release for more details.)
The one-time music-presenting funding will be presented to the following 42 organizations (of the over 160 that applied) for a total of $549,708.
American Philharmonic-Sonoma County (Sonoma County) for free classical music concerts at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa: $15,000
Arts Council of Kern (Kern County) to provide access and discounts to various (jazz, bluegrass, Celtic and Latin) musical performances: $15,000
Calaveras Arts (Calaveras County) for free concerts in public parks of classical, Latin and other styles of music: $15,000
California Autoharp Gathering (Fresno County) for free public performances at rural public schools: $15,000
Chinese Culture Center (San Francisco County) to support the Chinatown Music Festival and its free music performances of traditional, contemporary and experimental music: $15,000
CSU Chico University Public Events (Butte County) for free and discounted tickets for youth to attend mariachi performances: $15,000
CSU San Bernardino (San Bernardino County) for free admission and discounted tickets for brass chamber music performances: $2,600
Del Norte Association for Cultural Awareness (Del Norte County) for discounted tickets to San Jose Taiko performances at the Crescent Elk Middle School in Crescent City: $8,000
EastSide Arts Alliance (Alameda County) for performances during an annual jazz-arts festival: $15,000
El Dorado Arts Council (El Dorado County) to offer free or discounted admission to high school students for the Coloma blues live performances: $15,000
First Night Monterey (Monterey County) for free Latin jazz and related musical performances in the city of Greenfield: $15,000
Golden Gate Opera (Marin County) for a free school performance and discounted tickets to attend Madame Butterfly at the Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium: $15,000
Gualala Arts (Mendocino County) for free performances of mariachi and folklorico dance: $4,400
Guitars in the Classroom (San Diego County) for free guitar performances in a variety of locations: $13,545
Hope University (Orange County) for discounted tickets for contemporary and experimental music featuring artists with developmental disabilities: $15,000
Ink People Center for the Arts (Humboldt County) for free performances in a variety of venues of theatrical and experimental music: $10,875
Inyo Council for the Arts (Inyo County) for free Latin music performances: $15,000
La Raza Galeria Posada (Sacramento County) for free and discounted admission to a popular Latin rock concert: $15,000
Lassen County Arts Council (Lassen County) for free and discounted performances in world, guitar, and Mexican swing music: $7,633
Los Cenzontles (Contra Costa County) for free and discounted access to Mexican, Latin, jazz and bluegrass performances: $15,000
Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles County) for free admission for sacred-music programs: $15,000
Marjorie Luke Theatre (Santa Barbara County) for free mariachi performances for school-age children: $15,000
Modesto Symphony Orchestra (Stanislaus County) for free symphony performances on Friday afternoons: $15,000
Mono Council for the Arts (Mono County) for discounted or free tickets to schools for Native American flute, blues and Latin performances: $15,000
Napa Valley Opera House (Napa County) for school performances by touring musicians: $15,000
Nevada County Composers Coalition (Nevada County) for free performances of new and contemporary music at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley: $6,950
Performance Riverside (Riverside County) for free and discounted tickets, as well as the underwriting of bus transportation for school groups to opera performances: $15,000
Plumas Arts (Plumas County) for discounted tickets to music performances and school Taiko drumming instruction: $15,000
Red Scarf Society (Siskiyou County) for free concerts of Western vocal music at the Siskiyou County Golden Fair: $9,605
San Luis Obispo Symphony (San Luis Obispo County) for discounted and free tickets for a Latin music concert: $15,000
Santa Clara University (Santa Clara County) for free performances by the Santa Clara University Chamber Singers in collaboration with the San Jose Symphonic Choir: $14,000
Santa Cruz County Symphony (Santa Cruz County) for free classical music performances for schools and discounted tickets to family performances: $15,000
Shasta County Arts Council (Shasta County) for free rock, Latin, Latin rock and blues concerts: $15,000
Solano Community Symphony (Solano County) for free public performances of family-friendly symphonic music, big band and musical theater: $15,000
State Theatre for the Arts (Tehama County) for discounted admission to music concerts: $4,600
Stockton Symphony (San Joaquin County) for free performances during Hispanic Heritage Month: $15,000
Ventura Music Festival (Ventura County) for free Latin music concerts for incarcerated youth: $15,000
Yolo County Arts Council (Yolo County) for discounted family tickets to blues, rock, and Scottish musical performances: $15,000
Yuba-Sutter Regional Arts Council (Yuba/Sutter Counties) for discounted performances of lyric opera: $11,000
Touring Program — the following three organizations presented applications specifically to provide free or discounted musical performances in multiple locations as part of a touring program
Cultural Odyssey (San Francisco County) for the touring and free presentation of jazz in San Francisco and Northern California: $15,000
Hmong Cultural Heritage Center (Fresno County) for touring of free performances of traditional Hmong music in Merced, Modesto, Visalia and Tulare: $15,000
Siskiyou Arts Council (Siskiyou County) for a touring program of Taiko performances in rural Northern California counties: $6,500
