After taking Mark Swed to task for his “greedy musicians” remark, there is news to shed light on the facts. Indeed, the musicians were not to blame for the fact that the opening concerts weren’t streamed over the internet.
Although the Pacific Symphony has a radio broadcast agreement with their players, they had no clause in their contract to provide for internet streaming. The orchestra’s president admits that he and his staff were so busy preparing for the new Segerstrom Hall opening that “it just slipped through the cracks. It wasn’t that the musicians asked for something unreasonable.”
Obviously, people other than me were upset at Swed’s comment. A recent LA Times article set the story straight, while not specifically mentioning their staff writer.
NPR will broadcast, over the air and on the internet, the original gala concerts on October 1 and October 8, under a separate agreement between NPR and union musicians nationwide.