You want all my love, and my devotion

Can there be viral marketing when most classical concerts are one-night-only events?

I went to the high-flyin’-larious play Boeing Boeing on Broadway last week, and took a gander at my call log today: I sent three texts at intermission and another two while walking to the subway. “Definitely go see Boeing Boeing.” “Boeing Boeing is funny stuff.” “Loved Boeing Boeing even though my beloved Josh Lyman isn’t in it any more.” Assuming others had as much fun as my friend and I did, Boeing Boeing got good press on the SMS airwaves that night. And, if the people I texted trust my opinion, there is time for them to buy tickets and go see the play themselves.

I also loved the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Pierre-Laurent Aimard concert last night and, as per my usual, texted a few inquiring minds just that. But…how does that help anything? My friends can’t go see the same concert I saw after my text recommendation, because it won’t exist again. They could see Aimard perform somewhere and something else in the future, but that’s a far less immediate marketing effect: “my friend loved this concert in this location, I’ll buy tickets now” is just more managable than “my friend loved that concert in November, I should see that artist when he’s in town again.”

Sure, orchestras have soloists play the some concerto three, four nights in a row sometimes, but even that is not ideal. If I text someone to see Lang Lang with the Philharmonic, they only have the next two nights and maybe an afternoon to make that happen. With movies and plays, and sometimes non-classical concerts, though, you have weeks, months, sometimes even years (in the case of plays, and I suppose, movies on DVD) to see them, so a positive review – via text message or otherwise – isn’t wasted. [This also brings up the topic of venue exclusivity rules in classical music, which I think is another post for another time, but, something to think about when we’re talking about word-of-mouth marketing and PR.]

And speaking of reviews: a rave from The New York Times about a play or movie can really help ticket sales, but a review of a fantastic one-night-only classical concert? What does that actually accomplish? A Times rave generally raises an artist’s “profile” and is nice for me to slap on a quote sheet – all good things – but no tickets are sold because of the review. “The concert was awesome – sorry you missed it, suckers!” That’s why it’s curious to me that there are so many more concert reviews than album reviews in the arts sections of major publications these days. Reviews can actually help album sales! The problem is, arts writers increasingly need a strong local angle for coverage, so a stand-alone CD review is often a hard-sell to editors. My personal ideal media coverage is an album review couched in a concert preview. That is, a writer reviews an album and then adds where and when that artist will be performing live, locally.

All that said, the one-night-only fact of classical life is also what makes the concerts in our industry very special. Seeing a performance that will probably never be repeated in your city is exciting, especially when the concert is amazing. A good critic can almost/sometimes/really capture that for those who weren’t there in a review, but so often reviews somehow miss that opportunity.