Funder of free concerts hurt by ailing economy, piracy

Recent headlines have documented the damage done by the economy to orchestras, museums and other arts institutions. The latest wounded body is in the nonprofit sector, where the world’s largest funder of free concerts is a victim not only of a slumping economy but also of recording piracy, an industry representative said.

This year the New York-based Music Performance Trust Fund has had to cut its allocations by almost 40%.

“There will be several thousand fewer concerts this year, or concerts with fewer musicians -- the whole gamut,” said Noel Berman, the group’s trustee. The fund sponsors a wide range of programs, from opera performances in Central Park to shows of patriotic music in Ohio.

MPTF is funded by royalties from the record industry, which are down sharply with declines in record sales. “In the old days, we would take in $18 million a year from the recording industry,” Berman said, referring to the mid-1950s, when production of the vinyl LP was exploding.

For fiscal 2002-03, the fund took in $5.4 million, a decline of $2.5 million from the previous year. The sharp drop-off can be attributed to the irregularity of audit payments from the record industry and an earlier overpayment, as well as slumping record sales because of music piracy, Berman said.

The decline in funding will be felt in Los Angeles, where a MPTF-funded Brazilian group recently performed in Pershing Square and where some of the Central Avenue Jazz Festival on July 26 and 27 will receive MPTF funding. “But it would be true in Chicago, true in New York, true everywhere.” Summer concerts consume more than one-third of the group’s allocations.

“The industry points primarily to piracy,” Berman said. There may be other villains, he said, but there’s no question that “uploading and downloading, the Napster clones” have hurt.

Indeed, a report published last week by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said two of every five cassettes or CDs sold worldwide are illegal. The report estimated the global illegal music market at $4.6 billion.

Since its founding in 1948 as an organization to ensure work for musicians and good public relations for the record industry, MPTF has dispensed more than $500 million for free concerts in the United States and Canada. Nearly all the concerts are put on with a co-sponsor -- often a corporation, foundation or public agency. The fund also underwrites music education in schools and scholarships.

In the 2002-03 year, the fund sponsored about 15,000 concerts in the United States and Canada. In the previous year, some events honored the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, including a chamber music performance by members of the New York Philharmonic and memorials to fallen firefighters.

In the 2001-02 year, the fund and its co-sponsors spent $1.9 million in California, a number expected to decline as the industry struggles.

“So we’re trying to find new ways to raise money,” Berman said. “We’ll be hiring a fund-raiser who will solicit money from the foundations and corporations and government.

“We need to offset the ongoing problem of the industry. This year compared to last year, record sales are down something like 8%. There isn’t anybody who thinks it’s turned around and the sun is going to shine tomorrow.”