Last week, I walked by an Abercrombie & Fitch store, stopped, turned right, and started to walk inside. What the Joshua Bell is wrong with me, I thought: I don’t like Abercrombie clothes, I’m already late for a meeting, and there’s no obligatory hot preppy “greeter” guy at the door. It just felt so cool to walk in.
Literally cool. The doors were wide open and the store was pumping AC into the street. Fancy hotels pull similar stunts in the winter: you’ll be hustling along, face-in-scarf, and then, all of a sudden, angels are singing and you’re briefly under heat lamps. Yes, maybe I will stay at The Plaza tonight, it’s warm, here is my credit card.
So after narrowly avoiding Abercrombie I thought, when have I ever passed a performance venue and had a desire to go inside? I walked by Carnegie Hall every day on the way to work at IMG, and never once did I see, hear or feel anything that made me want to go into that lobby. I walked by the Miller Theatre yesterday, or, at least I think I did, since I didn’t actually notice it in the mass of Columbia. There’s no effort toward creating a sensory experience: nothing to turn my head, let alone my feet. Moving beyond heat lamps and AC, what can venues do to get people in the door?
Give us some idea of what’s going on in there, most basically and importantly. It’s “Carnegie Hall” ((jazz hands)), but do people know the range of artists Carnegie presents? The posters wrap around the building, so unless you’re circling the block, you’re going to miss a lot of information. What needs to be pumped into the street outside Carnegie and any music venue, is, errrr, music. If I was walking along 57th street and heard past performances playing under Carnegie’s awning, I would stop and listen, probably every time. Ideally, there would be a screen outside the doors detailing who/what/when you were listening to, along with another screen scrolling the upcoming performances. Obviously, the rights for such a project would be a mild to moderate nightmare, since a lot of artists only allow their live performances to be recorded for archival purposes. If you can’t play concert recordings, work with the record labels and play CDs from the artists on the season. Play stock music – just connect with the hundreds of people who walk by your building every day. (Incidentally, our cool friends at Abercrombie & Fitch are also known for blasting music inside and outside their stores.)
Another not-rocket-science idea is simply having screens in front of the hall playing concert video footage on loop. It would be amazing to see both historic and contemporary performances, and would really give the public a sense of the scope and legacy of the institution. It seems a bit counterintuitive not to include sound here (a la the ads at city bus stops), but we’re all so video-obsessed that it probably wouldn’t matter.
TV at the bus stop and dance music at your clothing store. Cookie-cutter poster of artist holding violin at Carnegie Hall. Which will get my attention?
Note: I’ve been told video screens are going to replace the banners at Lincoln Center when the renovations are complete, but I just spent the past 00:02:14 watching the “Lincoln Center Promenade Animation” and saw no such thing. The ticker of upcoming performances on the steps is pretty nice, though.
(Hi – Glad to have found your blog and looking forward to following it.)
There’s a beautiful logic in what you suggest re venues playing music, except…
What about those of us who refuse (or at least avoid) going into those stores that are blasting music, especially outside? I personally find it offensive (regardless of what the music is) mainly because it’s almost impossible to shop thoughtfully when there’s a racket in the store and you can barely hear the sales assistant for the music. I’m nowhere old enough to be a fuddy duddy, but that’s one thing I refuse tolerate and those sorts of companies lose my custom.
Then, what about the diversity of a major venue like Carnegie? A good retailer ultimately has one “look” and the clever Muzak programmers (and they are brilliant) can match a musical track to the image. But a venue that hosts many different kinds of artists and ensembles and presents a whole range of repertoire? How can you encapsulate that in a track that says, subliminally: this is what we are and this is what you’ll get inside?
The other challenge that music presenters face is that they’re promoting a way of experiencing music (listening) that goes against the grain of the other – more prevalent – way of experiencing music (background smush). A clothes store playing music is simply providing aural wallpaper. But the music isn’t their “product”, it’s simply playing a function. What message is sent if the “product” (in this case a musical listening experience) is treated like wallpaper?
Finally, and this is less to do with Carnegie Hall during the day, trying to catch passers by, and more to do with Carnegie Hall when the performances are on: there is probably nothing worse than a venue that plays music in its foyers and surrounding spaces before/in the middle/after musical performances. Perhaps it could be done if exquisitely and imaginatively programmed, but it never ever is. You come out of a concert – your head full of music and are confronted with something else at a time when what you might really want more than anything else is silence. Tricky that.
Like I said, there’s tremendous logic in your suggestion. At one level it makes so much sense. But if you’re trying to attract people who will enjoy listening to music, chances are these are people who will also object to having music forced on them at times and places they’ve not chosen. Perhaps that’s the reason it’s not being done much, or done only very discreetly (the Sydney Opera House, for example, has outdoor screens that play clips and audio but they’re small and you can only hear them if you’re within 2 metres).
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All valid points. Let’s see…the diversity of programming at Carnegie, yes: that’s why I think the audio and/or video material should be on loop all day, with the iPod-esque screen. Maybe it would be beneficial to have the previous and upcoming tracks also listed on said screen, so even if folks only stand in front of it for a few minutes they get some sense of the range of performances:
JUST MISSED IT: Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Judy Garland, April 23, 1961
NOW PLAYING: Goldmark Violin Concerto – Hilary Hahn and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, February 15, 2007
UP NEXT: Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Rufus Wainwright, June 14, 2006
Indeed the music is annoying in stores, but with music outside Carnegie, you wouldn’t have to go inside (with stores, if I want that pencil skirt I have to deal with the newest Umbrella remix); if it’s not your thing, just keep on walking.
Re: music before/during/after concerts, I would tend to agree with you, but Bradley Bambarger from the NJ Star-Ledger reviewed one of our Wordless concerts in January, and said it was refreshing to go to a concert that had aural and physical atmosphere. So I suppose, like most things, when done tastefully and thoughtfully, it can work.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments. -AA
“TV at the bus stop and dance music at your clothing store. Cookie-cutter poster of artist holding violin at Carnegie Hall. Which will get my attention?” My answer is: None of the above. And, like the previous commenter, I usually find the use of recorded music/video outside live performance venues tacky and distracting. Is Carnegie Hall really having that much trouble selling tickets? Seems like they are often sold out or nearly so if I swing by at the last minute for a performance. It’s the rest of the classical music presenters I’m worried about.
Anyway, I totally agree with you that their marketing materials (like those of almost all such organizations) are old-fashioned and unenticing, and I’m looking forward to following your blog for your observations on new and exciting directions in arts marketing.
Now, if Carnegie will start serving free champagne and croissants round-the clock out on 57th St., I’d consider taking a closer look at their roster. Cheaper than paying artists’ rights for broadcasting recordings?
Martin
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I’m fairly certain that free champagne and croissants at all classical music venues would solve this thing for good. Mission accomplished, time to shut down the blog! And no, I’m sure Carnegie Hall isn’t sweatin’ it, but I pick on them because they have the profile to set an example. -AA