an blog | AJBlog Central | Contact me | Advertise | Follow me:
You are here: Home / Archives for finding a new audience

How not to fail

January 17, 2013 by
bailey elgar

How I ended my last post, about a terrible CD cover from Telarc, on a recording of Zuill Bailey playing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Indianapolis Symphony: To erase the big fail here, Telarc, Bailey, and the Indianapolis Symphony should take one of my branding workshops. Seriously! I don't say that just to toot my horn, but because the kind of exercise we do in these workshops would really have helped. I'll explain that in my next post. So now it's the next post, and here's what I mean. In my branding workshops, we try to connect how we … [Read more...]

01/17/13 10:30 AM | filed under: finding a new audience, teaching branding |

Fail

January 16, 2013 by
bailey elgar

Even while classical music changes — see my last post — it keeps showing why it needs to change. Case in point: the cover of a CD that came in the mail: Ugly! And completely unconvincing, if we're supposed to believe this recording is anything we'd want to hear. The conductor looks like he's a stiff 14 year-old. The cellist looks blah. The, um, artistic device of putting the orchestra in black and white while the conductor and soloist are in color doesn't work, because the conductor and soloist don't stand out enough. (And what are the … [Read more...]

01/16/13 1:00 AM | filed under: classical music ideology, finding a new audience, the position of classical music today |

Final mavericks: Jade Simmons and a Go-Go symphony

December 21, 2012 by
jade blog

Well, final only for now. Because, as I said in my last post — where I finished the list of readers' nominations — I'll be continuing this in the new year. So the name to conjure with, maverick-wise — the maverick of the year, if I had to name one — would be Jade Simmons. One look at her website (follow the link) tells you she's different. "Cyber Digs of Multifaceted Pianist Jade Simmons," it says. "Take off your shoes & stay awhile!" I don't know anyone in classical music who's so much at home in our outside culture, who does … [Read more...]

12/21/12 11:56 AM | filed under: changes, entrepreneurship, finding a new audience, Preparing for the future, Uncategorized |

“We personalize what music is”

December 20, 2012 by
ROCO blog

Another maverick, one I've known about for years: The 40-musician River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, in Houston, founded in 2005. This has to be one of the most stunning entrepreneurial triumphs in classical music, since its founder, Alecia Lawyer, created it from nothing, using social contacts at her church and in Houston generally to lay a foundation. And then finding the best musicians she could, from Houston and elsewhere. And then building a large, stable audience. And then making an impact on the city. She was (as I just learned from … [Read more...]

12/20/12 1:59 PM | filed under: changes, entrepreneurship, finding a new audience, Preparing for the future |

Mavericks — continuing

December 19, 2012 by
from readers blog

More classical music mavericks, as submitted by readers: From Geoffrey Jones: The Artists in Residence program at Strathmore [a major concert hall, between Washington, DC and Baltimore], some of them are breaking molds and have huge talents. Three suggestions from Brett Amacher: I think this is a great example of how to "reach outside the classical music bubble": 'The Speedbumps at the Canton Symphony' did that very well, imo (details on the blog post below). http://www.callumndad.com/?p=361 Tonhalle Orchester Zurich's "tonhalleLATE"... … [Read more...]

12/19/12 12:51 PM | filed under: changes, entrepreneurship, finding a new audience, Preparing for the future, Uncategorized |

More mavericks

December 13, 2012 by
from readers blog

More suggestions from the many I've gotten, after I asked who in classical music is doing things in new ways. I'll post all the suggestions I get, though not all at once. The suggestion I posted: Ad Hoc, a chamber ensemble in Rochester. (I'll have more) One thought, before going further. Many people mention performances in clubs. Nothing wrong with that. Classical musicians have been playing in clubs for more than a decade, and clearly they're bringing classical music closer to everyday life. But because this has been going on for so … [Read more...]

12/13/12 10:58 PM | filed under: entrepreneurship, finding a new audience, from readers, Preparing for the future, Uncategorized |

Breaking the mold

December 7, 2012 by
ad hoc blog

I want to talk about people in classical music who break the mold. Leave the classical music business far behind, and do things in new ways. New ways that work! Here's my first nomination: Ad Hoc, in Rochester, NY, which on its website calls itself "an ephemeral chamber ensemble." Though after more than a dozen performances, they've got some staying power. Here's how they describe themselves: You enter a beautiful hall -- acoustically perfect -- where musicians are getting ready to rehearse. You hear the noise of individual warm-ups for … [Read more...]

12/7/12 2:03 PM | filed under: breaking the mold, entrepreneurship, finding a new audience |

Concerts as events

November 27, 2012 by
event blog

Conversation with a friend who works for a big orchestra. We're talking about attracting a new audience. He says they're identifying classically-inclined nonattenders. I say they ought to push beyond that, to attract non-classically inclined nonattenders. That's arguable, of course. Nobody would try to get people who don't now listen to country music to try it. But then country music doesn't need more listeners, as classical music does. Or more people buying tickets to concerts. And the world is full of smart people who are inclined toward … [Read more...]

11/27/12 10:58 AM | filed under: finding a new audience, Preparing for the future |

A challenge!

November 12, 2012 by
austin blog

Austin, TX, bills itself as the "live music capital of the world." That's one thing I learned visiting there last week, to speak to students at the University of Texas School of Music. And — you saw this coming — classical music, including all the concerts given at the school, plays almost no part in Austin's live music scene. Everyone I talked to at the school said this. So there's a challenge for us. If we have a music school surrounded by what might really be the most active live music life anywhere, let's make the school part of … [Read more...]

11/12/12 12:50 PM | filed under: entrepreneurship, finding a new audience, Preparing for the future |

Learning from Taylor Swift

November 8, 2012 by
Swift blog

Or from her marketers. I've said before that commercial marketing has gone in new directions, and that we can learn from that. The Hunger Games film, for instance -- even though it was just about guaranteed to be a hit -- launched an extraordinary campaign to get fans (who already loved the book the film's based on) to promote the movie to each other. Follow the link above for more on that. And now comes Taylor Swift, with a new album, and a marketing campaign based in part on retail tie-ins -- Walmart, Target, Papa John's, Walgreen's. The … [Read more...]

11/8/12 10:35 AM | filed under: entrepreneurship, finding a new audience |
«Older Posts

an ArtsJournal blog