Cast Recording Petition Collects 20,000 Signatures

Defying all expectations, an online petition urging major record companies to continue to record Broadway cast albums has collected over 20,000 signatures since being posted on the morning of Tuesday, August 17.

Joe Drymala, Vice President of Populist Productions, said this evening, "Broadway fans can rejoice.  So many people have decided to stand up and be counted - record companies have no choice but to pay attention."

Drymala continued, "We launched this petition for three reasons - first, to raise awareness for this issue that has received very little attention; second, to force the record industry to address the views of theater fans across the world, and third, to send a signal right from the get-go about the values that Populist Productions will have as a company.  We believe that the future of the industry should come first - before squeezing out profits, before protecting executive salaries, before everything else."

The Cast Recording petition, addressed to the top executives at Sony, RCA Victor, Nonesuch, Atlantic and Hollywood Records, has only been available online to date, and has spread almost entirely by word-of-mouth.

The petition can be found at www.StageSpace.com, a website owned and operated by Populist Productions, LLC.

Drymala and Populist President Ryan Davis plan to forward the petition to the specified record executives in mid-September.

The surrounding text of the petition is as follows:

"Keep Broadway On Record

"For decades, almost every Broadway musical has left behind a permanent legacy - the Original Cast Recording.

"For many theater lovers, cast recordings have been the bridge to Broadway, giving the listener a glimpse of a first class production, no matter what the actual distance to New York. And although shows open and close, the cast recordings have remained, documenting the evolving history of musical theater and inspiring new generations of theater lovers across the world.

"But Original Cast Recordings are on the verge of extinction. More and more record executives consider cast recordings a waste of time and money, and have made it clear that the days of recording Broadway shows are numbered. Robert Hurwitz, president of Nonesuch Records, told a journalist in March 2004 that he will now be recording only two musical theater composers - Stephen Sondheim and Adam Guettel.
"We cannot let the cast album die. This petition is being sent to the chief executives of Sony, RCA Victor, Nonesuch, Atlantic and Hollywood Records, demanding that Broadway cast albums be allowed to survive, for the sake of the industry itself.
"Stand up for Broadway Cast Recordings - sign your name to the petition and help save the future of musical theater."

The petition itself reads:

"We, the undersigned, believe that for musical theater to have a future, the shows of today must be recorded.
"We call upon the recording industry to save Broadway Cast Recordings - and help save musical theater."

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