Life's A Pitch

My friend is in Detroit and sent me the following iPhone photo: That would be a Leonard Slatkin's head silkscreened on a t-shirt in a bookstore window. (I thought it was another Slatkin hologram.) Now, I say in the mission statement of this very blog that we should imitate successful marketing trends outside of our industry in classical music - I stand by that and thus don't have a leg to stand on -  but just so we're clear: … [Read more...]

I just re-read a press release I sent out about David, and the "For Immediate Release" in the top left corner of the e mail looks ridiculous. What is that?? Why do we start releases that way? Of course it's for "immediate release"; I'm "releasing" the news right now. Does it come from back-in-the-day when press releases were - what's the word - mailed? So the journalists could tell when the news was actually announced? How many classical music press releases are that time-sensitive, though. Come on now. Anyway, it's irrelevant with e … [Read more...]

'Twas the week before Christmas, and I went to see my friend Rob Moose and his string quartet OSSO perform at (le) poisson rouge in the West Village. They played just after pianist Gloria Cheng, whose program Allan Kozinn from The Times describes:The program Gloria Cheng played at Le Poisson Rouge on Monday evening was drawn from her most recent Telarc recording, a compilation of the complete (if slim) piano music of Esa-Pekka Salonen and Steven Stucky, along with a Lutoslawski rarity, the youthful Sonata (1934). But other threads bind … [Read more...]

If you're in town on January 17th, come keep me company at the Chamber Music America conference; it's really awkward if the PR person doesn't have attendees. I'll be yammering away about good arts marketing and publicity for little-to-no shekels at 1:30 in something intriguingly called the Manhattan room. My points are going to be that this is actually a really easy time to be saving money on arts promotion - there is no way I could have afforded to do artist publicity on my own ten years ago...I don't have company letterhead, I rarely spend … [Read more...]

Here is the first annual Best-of Publicity and Marketing list! I thought about prizes, and it's really only fitting to go meta and make free marketing the prize. So I will ask the boss man if winners can advertise on this blog one week at a time. In some cases it won't be applicable/doable, but...you get the idea. Best Publicity MoveJeremy Denk interviews Sarah Palin. Best ReviewRon Rosenbaum walks out of The Metropolitan Opera. Best Artist InterviewAngela Gheorghiu goes nuts in Opera News.Best Feature StoryMark Swed refuses to talk dirty … [Read more...]

Greetings from the suspiciously balmy Nutmeg State!On Christmas, my dad, sister and I were watching The Dark Knight. I was playing with my phone during this blessed event, and decided to do some research on who the next Batman movie villain(s) would be. According to various bloggers, Johnny Depp and Eddie Murphy are both being considered for The Riddler, and Philip Seymour Hoffman will be asked to play The Penguin. Someone also mentioned Angelina Jolie as Cat Woman, meow, and one very eager lad is pushing Guy Pierce as The Black Mask on account … [Read more...]

There's an episode of Sex and the City where Carrie Bradshaw can't come up with a column topic. Apparently, the previous week she had written about her search for the perfect french fry, and that current week she's considering examining "men as socks". One of her gal pals offers, "Socks in the City!"My biggest fear when starting this blog was not having enough talk about. It probably should have been "getting run out of the industry", but - no matter. Turns out, there is SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT. Too much, in fact. Here's what has struck my fancy … [Read more...]

I went to see the band Letters to Cleo last week. My friend and I had no idea why they were coming to the city; he just saw them listed on a Bowery Presents e mail and bought tickets with-a-quickness. At the concert, the lead singer - no, not "Cleo", "Kay Hanley" - said something from the stage to the effect of, "Well, there's no real reason for these concerts, no new CD or tour. We're not getting back together as a band. We just thought it would be fun."Hmmm: now when have any of my classical musician friends or clients ever done a concert … [Read more...]

THE NOMINATIONS ARE IN! Thanks to all for your submissions. I had to tweak some of the category labels slightly - forgive me, it being first year of the Life's a Pitch Best-of List and all. And here - we - go:Best Publicity MoveJeremy Denk interviews Sarah Palin. Hilary Hahn records something unplayable. Lang Lang performs at the Beijing Olympics. *Super special honorable mention: Alex Ross' 'The Rest Is Noise' multi-year buyer-base-building blog launches his book of the same name to great success. Best ReviewRon Rosenbaum walks out of The … [Read more...]

It's that special time of year: you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a "Best of" something. So let's add to it!E mail me with your nominations for the following in classical music and opera:Best Marketing Campaign (describe)Best Publicity Pitch (describe)Best Feature Story (please include link)Best Review (please include link)Best Artist Interview (link, if applicable, or describe if coming from a journalist) Best Album Art (link or jpeg)Best Advertisement (please include screenshot, scan or jpeg)Best New Music Blog (that would be "new" … [Read more...]

Gawker reports that Mark Pinsky from The New Republic wants Obama to bring back the Federal Writer's Project: The Federal Writers Project operated from 1935-1939 under the leadership of Henry Alsberg, a journalist and theater director. In addition to providing employment to more than 6,000 out-of-work reporters, photographers, editors, critics, writers, and creative craftsmen and -women, the FWP produced some lasting contributions to American history, culture, and literature. Their efforts ranged from comprehensive guides to 48 states and three … [Read more...]

The venerable Jean Sibelius would have turned 143 years-young on this cold day of 8 December. Birthday wishes - what I've been told is her "best reference to the final movement of the Sibelius concerto" - from Hilary Hahn can be found here. I can't say for sure, but I'm fairly to moderately certain that all Jean wants for his birthday is for the Violin Concertos of Schoenberg and Sibelius on performed by Hilary Hahn released on Deutsche Grammophon to win two (2) Grammy Awards. Don't quote me on that, though; he could very well want something … [Read more...]

First, let me express my sincere condolences for friends and colleagues who have lost their jobs, and artists who have lost performance contracts, in this financial mess. I joked when Lehmans closed shop that finally the economics of the arts and the rest of the world had evened out, but...it's all gotten progressively less funny. Though we never had much money to spend in the arts anyway, these months have been especially tough. I touched on some of these ideas back in July here, but, in honor of the recession, let's think about arts marketing … [Read more...]