This Week’s Top Audience Stories: Crowdfunding And Leaving Your Audience In The Dark

This Week’s Insights: Why crowdfunding might not be the answer… Will audiences buy tickets to orchestra programs they don’t know about?… No surprise: audiences want to see themselves onstage… Should every performance be “relaxed”?… An iTunes model of microfunding for public radio?

1. Is Patreon Propping Up A Bad Artist Support Model? Wired published an excellent account of what the artist crowdfunding site Patreon is trying to do. Essentially the site is attempting to create a seamless way for fans to support artists they love. And some artists have been very successful at it.. But the story argues that for all the good Patreon is trying to do, it is propping up a terrible model on YouTube, Spotify etc. in which artists are under-compensated for their work. We live in the era of direct fan suport – for podcasts, subscriptions for news sites, etc. On the one hand, it seems clear we have to broaden support from corporate advertising. But is a model in which consumers pay most of the bills feasible for culture that can easily be traded?
2. Surprise! Here’s What We’re Going To Play For You Tonight: An orchestra in Arkansas says it won’t announce its season programming but instead will “surprise” its audiences with what it will play with each program. “We want to announce little nuggets at a time and build as much excitement as we can,” says Arkansas Philharmonic executive director Jason Miller. A good idea? On the one hand, the orchestra is trying to take some of the predictability out of the formal orchestra concert experience. On the other hand, it puts itself at a disadvantage. The proposition is roughly this: trust us – whatever we play, you’ll like. But will it be? And isn’t it a disincentive to buy the entire season if I’m trying to make the calculation of whether it’s worth it or not?
3. Study: Audiences Prefer Actors With Disabilities To Play Characters With Disabilities: “Findings from the Ruderman Family Foundation’s just released effort, Disability Inclusion in Movies and Television, show that … 55% would like to see characters with disabilities portrayed authentically. … [The study also found that] viewers rank ‘diversity’ in the top five most valuable characteristics for content when disability is included in the definition.” Not a surprise – audiences increasingly want the artistic work they see to authentically represent the communities they portray.
4. “Relaxed” Performances: Events labeled “relaxed performances” are ones where it’s okay for the audience to move around, make noise, leave and return to the auditorium if you need to, etc.; there’s usually one per run of a show (if that) and they’re aimed at neuro-atypical people, children, and so on. But why shouldn’t more performances be cast this way? A shift from the formalities of yesterday to something new?
5. Micro-Funding For Public Radio? Ira Glass is on a campaign. The host and creator of This American Life has recorded five spots urging people to become donors to their public radio stations at about the lowest possible rate. Like $1 a month. Why? Basically, for the same reason that iTunes priced tracks at 99 cents.