Management/Strategy
Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 4:27pm.
I’ve been thinking a lot about our economy recently. I’m wondering how $4 per ga
llon gas, a weakening dollar, the sub-prime mortgage mess, a huge federal deficit, and other economic trends will affect the micro-economy of classical music. The challenge for organizations like the Chicago Sinfonietta is that we make artistic commitments and budget assumptions up to 18 months in advance. Who knew last January when we were finalizing our 2008-2009 season that the stock market would decline significantly and that gas prices would set daily records? Would we have done anything differently had we known that the economy was headed for a downturn? Hmmm….. So,
How do you think will these factors affect attendance?
How do you think funding and sponsorship might be affected?
How should we as arts managers react to uncertain times like these?
What other factors do you anticipate affecting classical music in the future? Maybe I’m a bit pessimistic, but I’m not real happy with what I’m hearing and seeing right now. Can someone talk me down off the ledge?
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The CSO released its Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago CD this week. It is the most recent release from CSO Resound, our in-house recording label. This recording helps to illustrate the full range of the CSO musicians, with music ranging from Prokofiev's Scythian Suite to Bloch's Schelomo, his cello concerto performed with Yo-Yo Ma. But it also includes Harrison's Pipa Concerto that was also featured during 2007's Silk Road Chicago collaboration between the CSO, the Art Institute, Silk Road Project and Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs.
I'm writing not just about this release, but the freedom that the current recording and distribution environment provides to all ensembles. With CSO Resound, we have been able to define our artistic priorities and record what the CSO feels is important. There are many examples of groups looking at music distribution differently. Radiohead's In Rainbows release is one that is often referenced, but it is an outstanding example.
The methods by which music will be distributed in the future are absolutely continually in flux, which makes it an exciting time. We all recognize the shift from physical to digital product, but the digital environment is shifting as well. Where will Rhapsody fit into the mix as its share of the market grows?
We feel there will always be interest in the highest fidelity sound, which is why we released our Bruckner 7 recording with principal conductor Bernard Haitink in SACD Hybrid format. In April, we will be releasing Mr. Haitink's Mahler 6 with the CSO, also in an SACD and traditional format. There may be some opportunities where we cannot have a physical product, such as our Shostakovich 5 conducted by Myung-Whun Chung. But there is still merit in making such an outstanding performance available to the public, which is why this was our first digital-only release. Digital buyers are much more interested in portability than fidelity. It doesn't mean that you have to give up fidelity for portability in all cases. The key is to reach out to as many potential listeners as possible in the formats that make sense to them.
While those strategic decisions need to be hashed-out, the freedom this new recording environment provides is incredibly exciting.
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I recently spent a few days in New York combining business with pleasure. On the business side I attended a meeting at the League of American Orchestras (formerly known as the American Symphony Orchestra League) with colleagues from across the country to discuss issues related to our field. I also spent the better part of three days meeting with artist managers to get caught up on artist happenings and discuss upcoming projects for the Grant Park Music Festival. These meetings are important because direct face to face contact always makes doing business so much easier the next time one finds himself haggling about fees over the phone or email.
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I recently read a fascinating article on Polyphonic.org about “growing” audiences. The marketing consultant Christopher Stager was on a conference audience development panel in London and had some practical advice about how audiences “behave.” He outlined 8 fundamental beliefs he says we should consider when trying to get people into our concert halls.
How many of us think or care about how audiences respond when we plan our seasons? How many of us ask our artistic or music directors for programs with no thought of the marketing and attendance implications?
I am on a list serve discussion group of managers who are members of the League of American Orchestras (formerly known as the American Symphony Orchestra League.) The topic we are currently debating is how music directors, marketing staff and managers should interact and eventually agree on concert programs. The practice in our field varies widely. Gone are the days when music directors turned over programs and said, “Here, go sell it.” Today market pressures require a more collaborative approach.
In my own experience, staying true to one’s institutional priorities, matching those fundamental guiding principles to artistic personnel who share them, and of course employing the art of compromise, all combine in helping achieve those objectives.
The good news as reported by Stager is that overall, repertory is more important than guest artists. That’s good news because guest artist fees, especially for the big names, have skyrocketed past our ability to recoup them at the box office. Stager says the best selling concerts are those that match a big name with a mega popular piece. Yes, Perlman playing the Tchaikovsky Concerto will pack ‘em in.
I always wonder at badly attended concerts why the marketing didn’t work. Then, I realize at all Mozart concerts or when people cram the aisles to hear Boleró that audiences are shrewd, selective consumers. People know what they like and act accordingly. Never underestimate the intelligence of your audience.
Here’s also what I find hopeful: Stager says that “an institution’s unwavering will to present interesting programs – not simply popular ones” builds audiences over time. Great, so we can have our cake and eat it, too, that is, if we do everything else right.
But, since audiences tend to select the familiar and since ticket prices are accelerating beyond inflation, “audiences are less willing to risk the investment in what they don’t know. As ticket prices increase, their trust declines.”
Stager goes on to discuss “where” and “when” we program concerts, with interesting anecdotes to support his opinions. But the most compelling thing he cites as fact is that a solid music education is the main predictor of attendance.
Ta da! Or should I say, “Duh?”
How many of us have asked that question of our audiences? And how many of us are actively marketing to community music schools, conservatory students, or collaborating with those organizations on audience development programs? I don’t do enough of that yet for my organization, certainly at the level the evidence suggests I should.
Stager’s presentation closes on a hopeful note: that Classical music is in transition, not decline. I agree and feel that while our business model may be antiquated and not yet fluid enough to respond to our audiences’ needs, there is a large and loyal market share for our music. The way to reach audiences, the solution, whatever that is, has to be found by each of us on the local level.
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Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Tue, 07/03/2007 - 10:41am.
This week's blog comes to us courtesy of Jean Cook and Justin Jouvenal, and is a continuation of last week's posting Think Digitally, Broadcast Globally. They work with the Future of Music Coalition, an education, research and advocacy nonprofit focused on the intersection of independent music, technology, and policy.
Though interest in podcasts and Internet radio is growing exponentially, these formats have a long way to go before they 
supplant old-fashioned terrestrial radio. Traditional radios are ubiquitous, everyone knows how to use them, and we all grew up listening to them.
More than 275 million Americans listen to radio, and, according to a recent report by the Knight Foundation, radio is the most popular way for classical music consumers to hear the music. Until now, getting on the radio required building a strong relationship with your local station or being a major symphony orchestra or opera company with an NPR deal. But this year, it could also involve owning and programming a radio station in your hometown.
This October, for the first time in more than a decade (and probably for the last time ever), the FCC is giving nonprofits licenses to create and operate new radio stations. In a few years, we'll hear niche music on the radio again, on stations built by a handful of nonprofit organizations. Will yours be one of them?
Owning a radio station can give you the opportunity to bring your programming to an even broader audience, furthering your mission and bringing about many new fundraising opportunities. In Albany, one presenter is already creating synergy between live performances and radio. The WAMC Performing Arts Studio (PAS) brings a variety of music, dance, theater, and film to live audiences in and around Albany, New York, and is operated by WAMC, Northeast Public Radio, which promotes and broadcasts these performances. Recent performers to live audiences in Albany and listeners in the greater Hudson Valley region include jazz guitarist Roni Ben-Hur, reedman David "Fathead" Newman, and gothic cello quartet Rasputina. The PAS also serves as a community hub, with locals attending daytime events such as town meetings, lectures, children's programs, and Sunday matinees. The PAS hosts a youth media project for high-needs urban and rural high schools in the New York Capital District Area and arts-in-education projects with neighborhood elementary schools.
Interested in learning more? Any nonprofit can apply for a radio station. Though the opportunity is limited to smaller metropolitan and rural areas, there are some great opportunities in places like Buffalo NY, Phoenix AZ, Minneapolis MN, Milwaukee WI, Las Vegas NV, Alberquerque NM, Baton Rouge LA, Richmond VA, Huntsville AL, Flint MI, and Canton OH. To find out if you're in one of the 2,500+ qualifying zip codes, visit GetRadio!.
For more about how to apply for a license, check out the Future of Music Coalition fact sheet.
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Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Wed, 06/27/2007 - 1:52pm.
The next two weeks worth of blogs come to us courtesy of Jean Cook and Justin Jouvenal. They work with the Future of Music Coalition, an education, research and advocacy nonprofit focused on the intersection of independent music, technology, and policy. I met Jean earlier this year at a classical music "Think Tank" and was intrigued by her approach to classical music and media.
"If broadcast radio won't provide the eclectic mix that so many young listeners create on their own iPods, then arts organizations will just have to do it themselves." - Marc Fisher, Washington Post 1/21/07
Just a decade ago, options for hearing chamber music, jazz, and world music on the radio were straightforward and rather limited: a local NPR or Pacifica station spinning Beethoven string quartets or Wynton Marsalis on a dial filled with infinite varieties of commercial pop, country, and talk.
But as with many art forms, the Internet has revolutionized how niche music reaches fans. With recording, podcasting and webcasting becoming cheaper every day, traditional radio broadcasts have morphed into dozens of new forms on the web, and - perhaps most importantly - the line between being a performer and a broadcaster has blurred. This new environment offers new possibilities for reaching new audiences, but it requires a new way of thinking about radio.
What is the sound of classical and jazz on the radio today? It's Internet radio devoted to touring artists, contemporary composers, and oboe soloists (among other eclectic topics) reaching their slices of 72 million American web radio listeners last month; it's partnerships with satellite radio forged by leadership organizations such as the Metropolitan Opera and Jazz at Lincoln Center; it's podcasting made more powerful through syndication on traditional public radio networks.
More than a quarter of all Americans tuned into web radio last month. Of that, 25% were tuning into simulcasts of their favorite broadcast stations. But what were the rest listening to? At least 6,000 of them were listening to Wolf Trap Radio, checking out live recordings of classical, cabaret and soft rock from the Filene Center, interviews with performing artists and Wolf Trap staff, and special programming such as music and commentary from jazz pianist John Eaton. Wolf Trap Radio broadcasts 24 hours a day and is accessible via their website, Live365.com, and - perhaps most importantly - the iTunes web radio station directory, filed under "Eclectic".
Or perhaps they were listening to the unique offerings of the American Music Center's newly launched web radio station, Counterstream, which showcases new music by United States composers. Drawing from the AMC's substantial recordings library, the station streams programming remarkable for its depth and eclecticism. The playlist for a recent half-hour included Steven Stucky's "Ad Parnassum" performed by Ensemble X, Earle Brown's "Tracking Pierrot" for Ensemble Avantegarde conducted by the composer, and Ibis Camerata playing Peter Fraser MacDonald's Vocalise - hardly mainstream radio fare. Clicking on each piece provides information on the recording and a link to Amazon.com to buy it immediately. Let's see your terrestrial radio station do that.
If you prefer listening to digital audio in a more portable form, you're not alone. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Strathmore Hall, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Naxos, and Bret Primack, who produced a series profiling tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, are just a few presenters and musicians creating high-quality downloadable audio pieces, also known as podcasts. These podcasters are reaching new audiences as they take the time to introduce, explain and contextualize their work. And business-to-business networks such as the Public Radio Exchange, an online marketplace where podcast producers can syndicate their radio pieces to public radio stations across the country, these pieces can even become a modest income stream.
Radio offers many opportunities for classical music, but the key to finding them is understanding the medium in the Internet age. It requires new partnerships, new thinking, and, in some cases, becoming a DJ.
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Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Wed, 05/16/2007 - 11:54am.
Who says classical music is only for older people?
Check out this article by Richard Alleyne recently published in the UK Telegraph. Listenership is up significantly among the "under 15's" on Britain's Classic FM radio station. Nearly a half-million kids are listening to the station each week according to recent figures.
Darren Henley, Classic FM's Managing Director, said: "These figures prove that today's iPod generation is increasingly turned on by classical music." And I think we may be seeing a somewhat similar rise in popularity here in the U.S. I know from first hand-experience (having survived raising a teenage boy) that today's teens are much less genre oriented and listen to a much broader range of music than many adults might suspect.
Maybe all of the outreach and educational programs provided by orchestras are finally making a difference.
Speaking of reaching out to younger audiences, the Chicago Sinfonietta renews its partnership with "alt rockers" Poi Dog Pondering
for performances on June 4th at Symphony Center and June 10th in River Forest. Themes from Carmen will be played in classical style, and then "remixed" versions will be performed by Poi Dog joined by the Sinfonietta. This should be FUN! Listen to WXRT 93.1 FM for details or check out the Chicago Sinfonietta website.
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Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Wed, 05/09/2007 - 11:25am.
I recently read a quote in an ASOL email about an article written by Grayson Perry (UK Times) about the rise of a “blockbuster” mentality in the arts on the part of audience members, and by extension, arts programmers. Perry wrote, “There seems to be a schism opening up between the idea of attending an event and the actual experience. People appear to care more about gaining evidence of their presence at a cultural landmark than drinking in its pleasures. They want a photograph of themselves in front of the museum or even the star exhibit; they want the souvenir mousemat; in short they want its autograph. The erratic organic memory of looking at beauty seems to have been downgraded to a supporting role.” Perry added: “Blockbusters seem to be pandering to what I call the bungee-jump culture. People are becoming desensitized to the wonder and the sublime in their daily existence ... So it is with art that needs to be ‘once in a lifetime’ or incredibly famous before people feel it is worth seeing.”
Wow! I must confess that I am not immune to the “blockbuster” mentality. I like being at concerts where tickets are hard to get or the performance has generated a lot of buzz. While I don’t usually require proof, it’s nice to “collect” the experience of being at a big event. And as long as I’m confessing, I do encourage Maestro Freeman to program what would be considered (by our modest standard) “blockbuster” concerts in each Chicago Sinfonietta season. Who doesn’t yearn for media buzz, brisk ticket sales, and audience word-of-mouth?
I agree with Mr. Grayson that the “blockbusters” can sometimes make appreciating the smaller artistic gems a bit more difficult. You find yourself engaged in an “arms race” to book the biggest, most buzz-worthy concert or event you can. King Tut, Cows on Parade, The Ring Cycle, and the big exhibits at the Art Institute drive huge numbers of people through the doors.What happens the rest of the time?
What, if anything, does this mean for classical music? Do we need our “blockbusters” or does that type of programming merely lead the “arms race” noted above?
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From time to time a singer will audition and simply blow me away. This happened twice yesterday. In neither case was the singer auditioning for an actual vacancy; we just have open auditions now, so people came and showed their stuff, knowing that if an opening comes up down the road, they will be considered for a slot in the ensemble and will be brought in for a second-round callback at that time.
Twice yesterday, a singer came in and simply took over the room. The two of them were different in temperament. One was supremely confident -- she just exuded that she was in charge, not in an arrogant way, just that she was being asked to be the soloist, and she did. What a treat! The other was a little more shy but no less compelling, with a voice that filled the room and rang and rang, with pure line and terrific emotion and a voice that I didn't really want to stop hearing.
I know I probably sound like an old fart in saying this: it is simply one of the most refreshing things in the world for me to hear a singer who totally knows what she or he is doing. I have taught voice for enough years -- more than ten years now -- to know when someone is the real deal and when someone is not really up to snuff.
I know my auditions are not easy. They are not meant to be easy. They are meant to show the range of what is needed to succeed in Chicago a cappella, in much the way that the SAT test is supposed to predict success in college.
I wish I had done auditions like this from the get-go, fourteen years ago. I am not sure that my hiring decisions would have been different. I do have a sense that I would have gone into a given roster of singers at the start of a season with a clearer sense of what I am dealing with in terms of basic vocal capability and blend. And in some cases I could have avoided some pretty egregious non-blend between two voices; our callbacks take care of that problem very well now.
My faith in humanity is somehow renewed in knowing that there are singers out there who are taking singing so seriously, who step up to the plate every day, and whom I had not had the pleasure of hearing before. Thanks to them, the world is a more beautiful place, at least for me.
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The other day, there appeared in the Dcist an article about how Jeff Beam went to the orchestra for (nearly) the first time. The whole experience really was about taking the “orchestra challenge” Drew McManus set up on his Adaptistration blog site through the April Take a Friend to Orchestra month. Yours truly and a month’s worth of other music professionals wrote pieces about how “ordinary people who love classical music can invite a friend who does not regularly go to hear live music to a concert.” 
The DCist's Jeff Beam, who writes on sports, urban planning and other Washington DC city issues, attended a concert of the Australian Chamber Orchestra on tour. The article goes on to chronicle Jeff’s impressions of the concert.
Arts professionals, take note. I would wager to say that Jeff’s views aren’t so unusual. How we respond is vital to our collective future.
1.) Jeff wasn’t in the mood to go. He didn’t want a “stuffy” Friday evening after a hard week. “I just wanted a drink, a distraction, and my bed, in that order.” Stuffy? Yes, I guess we are a lot of the time, and on top of that, people make choices about how to spend their time, whatever the activity. Cocooning on a Friday night is a very strong temptation. I suggest examining why we present Friday night concerts. At Grant Park, it’s our lightest attended night. The most popular for us is Wednesday. They say Thursday is the new Friday. How many of us would risk the change?
2.) Jeff likes classical music Ok, but was “intimidated by the fact that an aficionado like Charles would be enjoying the concerto at such a sophisticated level while I tried to recall the differences between the viola and the violin.” There we go again, we intimidate people, smart people, who just don’t happen to “get” classical music. So, we need to find ways to make the experience more inviting, relaxed and welcoming. Let’s all re-read Take a Friend to Orchestra.
3.) By the middle movement of the concerto, Jeff remembered “the transformative power that music – any great music – has in a live setting.” I guess once people come, and all the other factors fall nicely into place, it is possible to capture them. I am relieved Jeff warmed up to the experience but wonder, how can we get that message across so more people actually want to attend a concert on their own?
4.) When the concert ended, Jeff promised himself “(again) that I absolutely must do this sort of thing more often.” Awesome! Opportunity is calling, but of course “this sort of thing” might be a play, a poetry reading, or any other art related event. How do we connect with first timers to make sure they are asked back to our institutions?
The article goes on to critique the concert, which is of less interest to me. Jeff, his maiden experience as a “non attender” and how we can grab people like him for the future, interests me much more.
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