£750 Million Government-backed Insurance Scheme boosts Live Events Sector
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a £750 million insurance scheme, in a move that will support the beleaguered live events sector as it recovers from the effects of a year of lockdowns.
The government has partnered with Lloyd’s to deliver its new Live Events Reinsurance Scheme, which will see the government act as a ‘reinsurer’, meaning it will step in with a guarantee to make sure insurers can offer the products events companies need.
Bundeskartellamt: Thomann und Co. erhalten Millionenstrafe
Hersteller und Händler von Musikinstrumenten haben nach Angaben des Bundeskartellamtes jahrelang Preise zum Nachteil der Verbraucher abgesprochen. Sie müssen nun 21 Millionen Euro Strafe zahlen – darunter auch das Musikhaus Thomann aus Burgebrach.
Hersteller und Händler von Musikinstrumenten haben nach Angaben des Bundeskartellamtes jahrelang Preise abgesprochen – zum Nachteil der Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher. Wie die Nachrichtenagentur AFP mitteilte, habe das Kartellamt Geldbußen gegen die drei Hersteller Yamaha, Roland und Fender sowie gegen die beiden Händler Thomann und Music Store verhängt. Sie alle sowie verantwortliche Beschäftigte zahlen insgesamt 21 Millionen Euro Strafe.
Bundeskartellamt: Thomann and Co. receive millions in fines
According to the Federal Cartel Office, manufacturers and dealers of musical instruments have agreed on prices for years to the detriment of consumers. They now have to pay 21 million euros in fines – including the music store Thomann from Burgebrach.
According to the Federal Cartel Office, manufacturers and dealers of musical instruments have been colluding on prices for years – to the detriment of consumers. According to the news agency AFP, the Cartel Office has imposed fines on the three manufacturers Yamaha, Roland and Fender as well as on the two dealers Thomann and Music Store. They all, as well as responsible employees, will pay a total of 21 million euros in fines.
Poussé par les confinements, un nouveau public franchit les portes des magasins de musique
Ils ont commencé à s’intéresser à la musique pendant les confinements, et souhaitent s’y mettre plus sérieusement. Des seniors débutants mais aussi des jeunes, de 18 ans notamment, qui investissent les 300 euros de leur pass Culture dans un instrument.
Olivier Guilleminet l’a bien constaté. Dans son magasin Direct Music, dans le 14ème arrondissement de Paris, la clientèle a pris un coup de jeune : “Cette nouvelle clientèle de jeunes passionnés musiciens, je la ressens indéniablement. Jeunes, et très motivés pour pratiquer la musique.” Des jeunes qui ont commencé à s’intéresser à la musique pendant les confinements, des autodidactes qui ont appris les bases grâce à des tutoriels sur Internet et qui veulent s’y mettre plus sérieusement.
Leurs instruments de prédilection : la guitare, le ukulélé ou le piano numérique. Et c’est bien parti pour durer. “Ils reviennent me voir, achètent l’ampli, le complément, d’autres instruments”, note Olivier Guilleminet. “Il y a une bonne dynamique, pourvu que ça dure. Il y a tellement peu de vertus à ce Covid, je suis content de participer à l’une d’entre elles : la reprise de l’envie de faire de la musique. Je pense qu’à moyen terme ça donnera de très belles choses.”
Driven by the lockdown, a new audience is coming through the doors of music shops
They became interested in music during the lockdown, and want to take it more seriously. Senior beginners, but also young people, especially 18-year-olds, who invest the 300 euros of their Culture Pass in an instrument.
Olivier Guilleminet has noticed this. In his Direct Music shop in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, the clientele has become younger: “I can definitely feel this new clientele of young, passionate musicians. Young, and very motivated to practice music. Young people who became interested in music during the lockdown, self-taught people who learned the basics thanks to tutorials on the Internet and who want to take it more seriously.
Their favourite instruments are the guitar, the ukulele or the digital piano. And it’s all set to last. “They come back to see me, buy the amp, the complement, other instruments”, notes Olivier Guilleminet. “There is a good dynamic, as long as it lasts. There are so few virtues in this Covid, I’m happy to participate in one of them: the resumption of the desire to make music. I think that in the medium term this will lead to some very good things.”
Getting an Orchestra Gig Is an Olympian Achievement
Need a job? The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is hiring, but only if you can navigate a hiring process that is time-consuming, costly, intense, and, in the words of one survivor, “unbelievably neurotic.”
The PSO currently has 13 openings among the strings, woodwinds, and percussion and can fill ten under its current collective-bargaining agreement. This number of vacancies is high, due in part to the inability to hold any auditions during the pandemic. “There’s [also] this generational shift happening in orchestras around the country,” said Melia Tourangeau, the orchestra’s president and CEO, explaining that many musicians hired during the 1970s – the first generation to receive fulltime tenured positions – are now retiring.
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