What role do the publishing houses and recording companies play in New Music today?
In my case, I feel very supported by my publisher. They give me a certain sense of stability to develop as I wish to, and to take on whatever projects I feel drawn to. They seem equally fascinated by projects involving new music groups such as Ensemble Modern and BCMG as they are by, for example, a forthcoming project of mine with a pop singer and a writer/cartoonist later this year. What will be intriguing is to see how both publishers and recording labels react in the next couple of years to new technological developments such as the internet and MP3. These are potentially of great consequence to how new music happens, how it finds new audiences, how it develops. Already for many composers the self publishing thing is working, people can download their works in several different forms off the internet. Who’s to say how that will change the institutionalisation of music. Certainly it brings all sorts of grungy, garagey, grassroots implications that could be quite a shot in the arm for
