And so -- resuming my October theme, of building our own audience -- how, exactly, can we do it? (Well, it's November. But of course my schedule was upended by our lovely baby: here and here.]  Let me start with some optimism. If you have any audience at all, you can make it bigger. If you believe in yourself, that is, and (of course) if other people want to hear your music. But don't assume they won't! You never know how big an audience you can have until you try to build one. And if you don't believe that anyone wants to hear you, why are … [Read more...]

In my last post, I got up on a soapbox and orated, about classical music -- in practice pretty much a lily-white art -- claiming special privileges (lavish funding, school programs devoted to it) in an age of growing diversity. That seemed ugly to me, and, in the long run, not sustainable. But there's a simpler, less polemical way to look at this. Yesterday, perusing the business section of the New York Times (and in the print paper yet; how old-fashioned of me!), I came across a column that started this way: "Advertisers are increasingly … [Read more...]

At the end of my last post, I asked why we're not finding ways to reach the audience of people just like us, who don’t happen to listen to classical music. And why, instead, we put so much effort into education and outreach (often to people not like us). My answer was that we don't believe we can do it. Or at least we're acting that way. We're acting as if we don't think there's an audience we could reach in direct and passionate ways. Which, in my view, condemns classical music to death, for reasons you can read in that previous … [Read more...]

On Twitter I got a passionate objection to my previous post, in which I said that outreach and education -- as a focus for all of us in classical music -- should be replaced by a direct and passionate search for a larger, younger audience. The objection, from a terrific musician in the alt-classical world, was that by going into schools, and otherwise reaching younger people, we can show that being passionate about something, anything really - can change your life. It's about setting an example of passion-driven learning and hard work - and … [Read more...]

I hope this post gets some reaction. It's an important challenge -- or at least I think so -- to something many people in classical music deeply believe. We take for granted, in the classical music world, that we need to do outreach. That we need to go into schools and communities, and bring classical music to those who don't normally hear it. We also take for granted that we need to do education, that we need to educate the rest of the world about our beloved art. I won't say these things are bad. And they're certainly fundable. You may … [Read more...]

More testimony to the power of what we've been talking about here: Lara Downes, a pianist, posted a comment, sharing her experience raising money on Kickstarter to fund what seems like a terrific CD. Again, it's a story of communication and community, with warm benefits for everyone involved. Thanks, Lara! Here's what she wrote: The experience of running a Kickstarter campaign last winter to raise funds for my new recording “13 WAYS of Looking at the Goldberg” taught me so much about channeling the creativity that goes into developing a new … [Read more...]

In the past week, people from two orchestras -- one in person, one by email -- have told me about a problem they've had. Both orchestras had some good news, something they felt (and rightly) was truly notable. But they couldn't get press coverage. One orchestra is one of the largest in the US, the other is smaller. I'm not mentioning their names, or what the good news was, because what these orchestras think internally is their own, private business. Their dilemma, though, is something everyone can think about. My answer, to both, was … [Read more...]

My last few posts -- about musicians marketing themselves by using their core values, and about musicians finding their own audience -- have developed into lively conversations, as people comment. If these subjects interest you, and you haven't looked at the comments, you might want to do it. You'll find ideas, experiences, suggestions, and -- because there's more than one way to do all this -- disagreement. I've learned from all of it. And maybe what I like most is that people are sharing their experience. Which gives us case studies, about … [Read more...]

How it usually works in classical music: You (a soloist or member of an ensemble) don't have direct contact with the people who come to hear you. The groups that present you find your audience. How it should be: You find -- and build -- your audience yourself. Or play a big part in doing that. Then you'll have an audience that's really your audience -- fans who'll reliably come to your concerts, donate money, and buy your recordings. Msybe they'll even finance your recordings before you go into the studio. And once you have fans like … [Read more...]

Here's a project I'd like to do, with classical soloists or ensembles. I'd like to help you brand yourselves, and then figure out a marketing strategy based on your branding. But here's the key to this -- your branding and marketing have to be based on who you are, in your deepest core. Let's bury forever the idea that marketing is about bullshit, about finding some lowest-common-denominator version of yourself that you can get people to buy. That'll just destroy you. This is the start of something I want to stress on my blog this month: … [Read more...]