The World will Always have Entertainment, but will it always have Orchestras

By -

The survival of the orchestra in its current form is in question -- not the music they play, just the form of the orchestra, and its role in the concert hall.


Orchestras are struggling for money, but the problem isn't the music they play; it's how they market themselves. They are approaching pops audiences with the same approach as they do lovers of Mozart or Beethoven. Summer concert goers are drastically different from the regular season audience as are the way orchestras play/perform their Summer shows verses their Winter ones. New forms of communication and media are being given the same marketing brush as previous forms of printed media. But, like the difference between Summer and Winter, the audience is different.


Studies show people under the age of 40 are 80% more likely to get their news from the internet than they are from printed media. Less than 5% of the people under the age of 30 even list printed media as a source for their news. When choosing what restaurants to go to, and what concerts to attend, social media plays a huge role in the decision process. Social media allows people to, at a glance, to not only see what's available (and there are LOTS of choices), but to see what other's think. Feedback from the "average Joe" has more weight than a critic's review. As a reviewer, I hate to think my days are numbered - but honestly, the younger crowd is more interested in how many people like something than what one particular person says.


What this means is orchestras need to engage with their target audience --Social media is the tool(s) of choice. But are they really engaging their target audience?


Posting a news release to their facebook page or tweeting the same information is just attempting to deliver the same message they've been sending out for years in a new media. Even if an orchestra has 10k followers on twitter, the chances of any of these users actually re-tweeting any of the "press release" type-tweets to their audience is pretty slim. Users on Twitter value personal information and a 'peek behind the curtain'. Press releases they can see on their news feeds.


Over the past month I've been watching what orchestras say on Facebook and twitter. Few are saying anything other than marketing-speak. Some of them even go so far as to publicize events 2, 3 & 4 months from now. While, yes, it's a good idea to get the word out early, social media is a very "now" form of communication.


It's also social, which means to get people engaged orchestras need to engage with users. IF someone says something nice on twitter, re-tweet it with a thank you. Get people IN the organization involved chatting about events, both before and after. The more people talk about something, the more people will be talking about it.


Marketing is changing, however, I don't see many orchestras changing their message. Yes, they're using new forms of media but they aren't saying anything new or engaging in a new way. If the audiences are dwindling, it's time to change the message, join the conversation and engage.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more