My first Music Directorship was with the San Angelo Symphony (TX), and there were a lot of trial by fire moments that one can normally expect first time up at the plate. From the very beginning though I had always thought of an orchestra as a community service organization…..
Music Marketing
Plugging the Holes before Filling the Barrel (2009) – When Blank Checks Have No Value!
With hand wringing over empty seats and the “papering” arts organizations do to make a hall look respectable, the phrase “not worth the paper it’s written on” comes to mind. There is a golden opportunity to empower the audience to help recruit new audience members with a free ticket and/or referral program…..
Plugging the Holes before Filling the Barrel (2009) – BOGO
Last year I published 5 posts under the Plugging the Holes category dealing with subscriber retention and audience recruitment utilizing the best advocates of all ….our subscribers and our orchestra! Two articles that I read this week have spurred me to continue the category…..
Speed Dating BSO style and “I see Old people!”….
Is there still a school of thought that says just get them to the hall, you know the young ones and they will be hooked forever? Seems like the Boston Symphony marketing folks are doing their best to prove Einstein’s theory of insanity:
……..doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results…….
To Laugh? To Cry?
It’s a sign of the times, and in any other economic situation I would declare it the rebirth of Reason in the World. Instead it’s just kinda depressing.
The Middle (Golden) Age…..
Some seriously good naval gazing into the future of Classical music is going on over on Greg Sandow’s blog. Really detailed posts (there will be 5 in the series) covering a lot of ground and summarizing in his view where things appear to be headed and what to do about it. I do think though that the issue of the average age of the audience is not as alarming as it appears, and quite possibly is something to celebrate…..
Marketing Managers – Take Note!….
In class last week we discussed marketing to the younger generations. For the those who have read this blog, you will know my feelings on the ridiculous gimmicks and tricks that organizations try to use to get the “young” to concerts. If you don’t know my feelings then click here! My students and I give their take in two clips below…someone airs some frustration, and there are some great ideas particularly with new media….