Should Tony Awards telecast be added to the database?

ciao wrote on May 26, 2021

They're basically like the thousands of concert telecast we have in the database. And if Tony is allowed, then there's Olivier, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and a dozen more. Should we add those as well?

ciao wrote on June 24, 2021

Bumping this. Also what do people think about adding TOFT videos (New York), V&A archive videos (London), WAPAVA archive videos (Washington DC), and Goodspeed archive videos (Connecticut)? Are there any more archives out there?

hitormiss wrote on July 4, 2021

This database is focused on recordings that collectors can actually get a hold of, so I don't think TOFT videos (or other archival recording not freely available) make sense to add. A case could be made for entering the Tony Award broadcasts because they're basically concerts with musical performances.

ciao wrote on July 4, 2021

If this is open for discussion (if not, I respect your decision), personally I find it helpful to have all these information in one place, so researchers or scholars etc. know something exists and can request to view it at the libraries. Sure they can go search at each library's website, but first they need to search at multiple websites, second those systems are just not as flexible as castalbums, where we could click on a performer to see all his works in one place. Also there are a lot of these videos, but not that a lot. These cost money, each year only a dozen or two musicals get filmed for TOFT, even less for other archives. I don't think it'd "pollute" the main focus of the database, definitely not as much as the tens of thousands of standard jazz vocal albums where there's only one qualified track that is not even written for a musical, but was used in an old MGM movie, and has been covered by thousands of artists.

ciao wrote on July 4, 2021

Btw I draw the line at archives that are not open for public viewing. The 4 I mentioned above can all be accessed for research/academic purpose by anyone. I could be wrong but I think V&A in London doesn't even require that, one friend who watched a video there told me anyone can just walk in and request to view it. I don't intend to include some theatre's private archive recordings, besides there's no way for us to know what they have anyway.

Also interestingly, there are audio recordings that are intended only for the cast that are present in this database. So we kind of already crossed that line.

Rodolfo wrote on July 7, 2021

I'm with hitormiss on this. The site is for collecting, not cataloguing everything ever recorded. Also, collections like TOFT are pretty heavily guarded. It's probably not the best idea to advertise that you have a copy of something you most certainly shouldn't. ;-)

ciao wrote on July 9, 2021

I often use it as the most complete catalogue of musical recordings on the Internet, not just to track my collections. Obviously one shouldn't ​mark TOFT videos as collected, unless by "collected" you mean you have "watched" it at NYPL. I would love to see them here, but this website is not for me alone, haha. I respect you guys' opinions. So is this the final decision? No TOFT archive and the likes, but awards are OK.

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