NY Times Rant (Again)

[al76slc]

I love the Times. But I've often felt the editors go to great lengths to change the story ....

The point of the story is that if all $200,000 worth of tickets are sold, only $8000 goes to Haiti relief. The performers are donating their time. Among the expenses, $13,785 goes to Carnegie Hall, $42,535 goes to stagehands and $52,000 GOES TO THE NY TIMES FOR ADVERTISING (which you will discover if you read down to paragraph 807.

But would you guess from the title of the story who comes out profiting the most? Or this line "If anything, an examination of the Carnegie Hall concert’s finances demonstrates just how expensive it is to make music in New York, especially at the hall."


More Cash to Go to a Hall Than to Haiti
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: March 17, 2010

Lang Lang, the celebrity pianist; Christoph Eschenbach, the conductor; and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra are taking the stage at Carnegie Hall on Sunday night in a concert trumpeted as a fund-raiser for the earthquake-ravaged Haiti. But what ticket buyers may not realize is that far more of their dollars will go toward concert-hall rent and marketing than to anyone in Haiti, with the biggest chunks going to stagehands and newspaper advertisements.

Christoph Eschenbach will conduct Sunday at the benefit featuring the Chinese pianist Lang Lang, top, and Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra.

Even if the event’s nearly $200,000 worth of tickets sell out, less than $8,000 from the sales will go to the cause. The concert, though, is expected to raise some money, thanks mainly to a $50,000 subsidy by the Montblanc company and $10,000 by CAMI Music, the concert’s presenter and Mr. Lang’s management agency. Montblanc had promised to help pay for the concert well before it was transformed into a benefit, a decision made at Mr. Lang’s request. The performers, including Mr. Lang, are waiving their fees.

Officials of Unicef, the actual aid recipient, say that no matter how much money is earned, keeping Haiti in the public’s consciousness after the earthquake headlines have faded is invaluable.

“It’s an enormous profile raiser,” said Christopher de Bono, a Unicef spokesman in New York. “The fact that the donation may not have six zeros after it doesn’t mean it’s not worth making, that’s for sure.”

Unless it is to raise money for their pension funds, orchestras — nonprofit organizations that are generally short of cash — don’t often go in much for benefit concerts. Recent exceptions included events to help the Louisiana Philharmonic after Hurricane Katrina had hit New Orleans. On a different front, a number of orchestras are conducting a nationwide food drive, now in its second year, led partly by the League of American Orchestras. This project was propelled by the movie “The Soloist,” about a homeless musician in Los Angeles.

No hard and fast guidelines exist on how much money raised in a benefit should go for expenses, and it is not unusual for galas to raise little money or even lose it.

If anything, an examination of the Carnegie Hall concert’s finances demonstrates just how expensive it is to make music in New York, especially at the hall.

In an accounting provided by CAMI Music, the costs will total $181,590. If the hall sells out, box office proceeds will total $189,793, excluding complimentary tickets. About three dozen comps, for $74 seats, have been set aside, but some of those could be returned to the box office, the organizers said. The tickets are not tax-deductible.

As of midday Wednesday, the music agency said that $111,521 worth of tickets had been sold. The organizers expected a large last-minute turnout, particularly from patrons of Chinese origin, said Anastasia Boudanoque, the concert’s producer for CAMI Music, an affiliate of Columbia Artists Management. (Mr. Lang is a hero in his native China.) Ms. Boudanoque added that a social services organization in Chinatown, the Chinese-American Planning Council, had raised $5,000 for the cause.

Overhead at Carnegie accounts for about one-third of the expenses. The hall costs $13,785 to rent. Then there is $6,315 for ushers; $2,300 for security; and $42,535 for stagehand labor, long recognized as a major cost of doing business at the institution.

Other expenses include $70 for a press representative; $100 to establish a discount ticket system; $210 to place inserts in programs; and $750 for box office operations. Some costs are estimates, the presenters emphasized, and could be less.

Carnegie is donating the $1,875 cost of a sound system and $780 for other audio equipment, both added when Wyclef Jean, the Haitian musician, agreed to join Mr. Lang in a duet. Most of the other expenses are for marketing, publicity and transportation.

Marketing costs include $52,000 in advertisements in The New York Times at discounted nonprofit rates, Ms. Boudanoque said. The Times, a spokeswoman said, does not comment on advertising rates because of the many variables involved.

Jean-Jacques Cesbron, CAMI Music’s president, predicted in an e-mail message that the concert would raise “tens of thousands of dollars” for Haiti, despite the challenges of “high stage labor and marketing costs.”

Mr. Lang, in a telephone interview from Berlin on Tuesday evening, said that despite the costs of the benefit, the organizers would “absolutely hand a good check to Unicef.”

The concert “will bring a lot of awareness” to the suffering in Haiti, he said, adding that he would join Ann M. Veneman, Unicef’s executive director, in making an appeal from the stage.

Witnessing the suffering from a 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, Mr. Lang said, moved him to react to the quake in Haiti. “I know how children suffer,” he said. “We need to really help them.”

Mr. Lang is an official Unicef goodwill ambassador, and agency officials said he had worked hard to raise money for its work. They listed at least 20 events he had taken part in since 2004, including fund-raiser concerts, a trip to Tanzania, talks and media appearances.

Montblanc, for its part, has long been a major supporter of Unicef. And it was already a sponsor of Mr. Lang’s tour with the Schleswig-Holstein orchestra before the concert became a fund-raiser. Mr. Lang serves as chairman of the company’s cultural foundation.

Mr. Eschenbach will conduct the orchestra in Beethoven’s “Leonore” Overture No. 3, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 and Piano Concerto No. 3. The orchestra serves in residence at the Schleswig-Holstein festival, in northern Germany, and as a training vehicle for musicians under 27. Leonard Bernstein founded the festival, modeling it after Tanglewood.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/arts/music/18benefit.html?src=me&ref=arts

[POS]

From what I can tell, most of these "fundraisers" done by the socialites are a collossal waste of time and money for "the cause". They'd all be better off just taking a collection and paying directly rather than have catering, music, party setup, etc. But if they did that, then they wouldn't get in the magazines or social pages.

Hypocrits, and the NY Times isn't exempt.

[Brian Carlton]

Originally Posted by al76slc

I love the Times. But I've often felt the editors go to great lengths to change the story ....

The point of the story is that if all $200,000 worth of tickets are sold, only $8000 goes to Haiti relief. The performers are donating their time. Among the expenses, $13,785 goes to Carnegie Hall, $42,535 goes to stagehands and $52,000 GOES TO THE NY TIMES FOR ADVERTISING (which you will discover if you read down to paragraph 807.

But would you guess from the title of the story who comes out profiting the most? Or this line "If anything, an examination of the Carnegie Hall concert’s finances demonstrates just how expensive it is to make music in New York, especially at the hall."

Over $63K goes to Carnegie Hall in some fashion............more than the advertising fees.

Chastising the Times for the title because it's hitting on the most significant cost.............???

Hello..........???

[al76slc]

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

Over $63K goes to Carnegie Hall in some fashion............more than the advertising fees.

Chastising the Times for the title because it's hitting on the most significant cost.............???

Hello..........???

Largest single line item is the Times.

Besides, would you have guessed from the title, or until you read most of the way through the article, that the Times was such a major piece of the action?

I give them some credit for writing a story about it, although by doing so, they're providing some further (free) advertising. Not necessarily positive however ....

[Brian Carlton]

Originally Posted by al76slc

Largest single line item is the Times.

Besides, would you have guessed from the title, or until you read most of the way through the article, that the Times was such a major piece of the action?

I give them some credit for writing a story about it, although by doing so, they're providing some further (free) advertising. Not necessarily positive however ....

The largest single line item is the costs for the hall.

Of course, if you wish to break the costs down for the hall..........and not add them up..........you can manipulate the data to draw any erroneous conclusion that you wish.

[Kuan]

Stagehand labor is union. There's no way you can get out of that.

[cmbdiesel]

Originally Posted by Kuan

Stagehand labor is union. There's no way you can get out of that.

IATSE Local 1. One of the oldest and most powerful unions in the city. Although Carnegie Hall has a special contract with their labor which is even sweeter than the typical Local 1 gravy train....

Guess the Times is smart enough not to point their finger in that direction....