the mandate of shirling & neueweise is to:
- disseminate an understanding and appreciation of a variety of æsthetic, socio-philosophical and other interests of a musical nature through the promotion of works exploring and articulating these preoccupations, and of works by composers having an involved commitment to the betterment of the contemporary situation of New Music on an international level;
- contribute to the development of a fortuitous relationship between the music of these composers and the general public, by providing optimal conditions through which the musician encounters the music (the highest quality of musical typesetting; efficient and sustained service and public relations);
- ensure that as diverse a network of musicians and public as possible continues to have a high level of accessibility to all works represented by SN, by providing them with a flexible range of options and distribution solutions, from print scores, to cost-efficient PDF scores to PDF perusal scores;
- contribute to a generalized improvement of the understanding and appreciation of New Music on an international level, through educational ventures such as a periodic newsletter, and an online Library established on the website, freely available to the general public, offering:
- a focus on the work of our represented composers;
- articles and analyses by composers, musicologists and other arts professionals.
- contribute to the development and sustenance of a socially-responsible international New Music community.
distribution and promotion
One of the principal distinguishing features of this publishing house is its willingness to directly address and take advantage of the various implications of the Internet and the general public’s increasing access to digital technologies. Production costs are radically reduced through partial distribution of scores as PDF files and promotion via over the Internet due to the virtual elimination of printing and distribution costs in such cases. This not only helps maintain reasonable prices for print materials but also allows SN to concentrate greater resources on the quality of the scores and on maintaining and developing its contacts with associated ensembles, performers and the general public.
The inherent limitations and problematic aspects of this relatively new — and continually-evolving — technology have nonetheless not been ignored. sn continues to maintain awareness of the developments of the various alternative protocols which have been proposed in recent years (notably Copyleft, and the Creative Commons). While no single model for distribution and assignment and control of rights can be said to be perfect, each has its own specific advantages, and the protocol being developed by SN is in essence a flexible composite of the more interesting aspects of the various models.
The current (and traditional) dominant market economy distribution methods are clearly outdated and inadequately-equipped to address and respond to many of the drastic changes which have occurred to the international New Music scene in the last 50–60 years. Composers represented by SN will greatly benefit from the fundamental restructuring of existing distribution and promotion paradigms as proposed by SN.