{"id":250,"date":"2009-05-03T15:12:38","date_gmt":"2009-05-03T15:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=250"},"modified":"2009-05-03T15:12:38","modified_gmt":"2009-05-03T15:12:38","slug":"no_such_thing_as_a_free_ticket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2009\/05\/no_such_thing_as_a_free_ticket\/","title":{"rendered":"No such thing as a free ticket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, Judith Dobrzynski at Real Clear Arts<\/i><\/a> posted this thought:<\/p>\n

With newspapers and magazines shrinking faster than the
\nozone layer, coverage of events like this concert will disappear except
\nfor blogs. And that creates a large problem for arts institutions
\ndependent on the media for free marketing and PR, especially those
\nin the performing arts.  <\/p>\n

I was talking about this very subject last week with
\nthe PR head of an important music institution. Though he hasn’t lost
\ncoverage by mainstream media, he is in a bit of a fix. More and more
\nbloggers are asking for tickets, which are expensive to give away. He
\ncan’t do it, and doesn’t unless they have MSM credentials, too. Yet
\nbloggers may be the only ones writing regularly about the arts in the
\nyears to come, especially outside of New York.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bloggers without publications behind them asking for press tickets – and in my case, asking for interviews with artists  – can be a problem. As Judith says, press tickets aren’t free; those are real seats that can be sold at top prices. In the current media climate, arts organizations aren’t in a position to turn down reviews, and publicists aren’t really in a position to turn down interviews, but where should we draw the line? <\/p>\n

When bloggers I’m not familiar with request interviews with my clients, I always read their most recent entries and then – if their last entry wasn’t from months or even years before – ask them for their daily page views.  That way, I can determine if an interview should be a priority or happen at all. I also do a quick Google search to see how often their blog is linked to by other bloggers. If the blog has a smaller readership but is a consistent source of information for more heavily-trafficked blogs, I take that into consideration. Turning down blogger interviews or ticket requests is not snobbery; an institution or publicist can have a page view cut-off, and inform bloggers of their policy. Ideally, bloggers asking for press tickets would go to organization press departments with their page view and readership information. That in and of itself is always a good indication of professionalism. <\/p>\n

I would also recommend giving many bloggers first chances but not so many second chances. If a blogger with a high number of page views is given a ticket to a concert and then doesn’t review it, it’s fine to turn down their next request as far as I’m concerned. Bloggers aren’t dealing with space constraints or editors, so there’s no excuse for accepting free tickets and then not reviewing. <\/p>\n

When I was covering at a record label in the fall, I worked for one artist who was not familiar with the “blogosphere” and had a history of turning down interviews that were not serious enough. I felt very strongly that interviews on Violinist.com<\/a> and Sequenza21<\/a> would not only be quite serious musically but would really help sell records. Rather than just suggesting these to her manager, also not a blog-guy, and then getting annoyed when he said no, I sent him the following e mail:<\/p>\n

These are the two blogs I think we should focus on for previews of the album. I have worked with both of them before, and find them to be very professional and thoughtful. Blog content from widely-read blogs such as these will be picked up and circulated by other blogs, creating a viral publicity effect. Additionally, the blogs below target readers who are actually interested in buying new music albums, whereas more mainstream press  readers will not necessarily purchase an album or attend a concert.  <\/p>\n

Sequenza21
http:\/\/www.sequenza21.com\/index.php
 
Contemporary classical  music blog written by multiple musicologist contributors, including David  Salvage, Jerry Bowles (editor), and John Clare. 
Regarded as a  community for contemporary classical composers and performing artists who  support new music. 
Topics range from  album reviews and concert previews to profiles of artists and composers.  
8,000 readers per  day.<\/p>\n

Violinist.com
http:\/\/www.violinist.com\/
 
Networking site for  professional and amateur violinists run by Laurie Niles (a violin teacher)  
Includes discussion  boards, interviews, and links to violin shops, teachers, etc. 
6,000 readers per day. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Her manager responded about an hour later with, “Great! What is the next step?” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, Judith Dobrzynski at Real Clear Arts posted this thought: With newspapers and magazines shrinking faster than the ozone layer, coverage of events like this concert will disappear except for blogs. And that creates a large problem for arts institutions dependent on the media for free marketing and PR, especially those in the performing arts.  I was talking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}