Oh, noooo:In an effort to reduce the numerous emails the League of American Orchestras sends its members, early in 2009 we will launch The Hub, the go-to source for orchestra news. Media View (formerly known as In the News) will cease as an e-newsletter and move to The Hub, a new page on the League's website, where it will be updated daily. The Hub will also contain everything you need to know about what is happening in our field, new appointments, and the essential information and services the League provides. As previously stated, … [Read more...]
I refuse to make a “how do you get to Carnegie Hall” joke [here]
I'm flattered/horrified that so many people e mailed and asked what I thought of the YouTube Symphony project. It doesn't exactly BLOW MY MIND, but it's not a bad thing.Some thoughts: The London Symphony Orchestra Master Classes are amazing. I am so impressed that all the musicians took the time to tape them. This is something I've been trying to get my artists to do for a while, but I could never figure out the format. Should the master classes be sold on iTunes, should they be subscription podcasts? Given away for free on an artist's site or … [Read more...]
(Martha) Graham (Cracker) -ies
The big news from my colleagues in Europe who wake up before me is that both The King's Singers and Hilary Hahn are nominated for GRAMMIES. We have Hahnda Accord in Best Classical Album and Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra), and All The King's Singers' Horses and All the King's Singers' Men in Best Classical Crossover Album. Now let's see...six Singers plus one Hahn times two tickets each minus four managers minus one mother minus wives and children...yeah, there's no way I'm getting to that ceremony. … [Read more...]
I’d like to buy a vowel
From The Boston Globe last week:In an extremely rare public flare-up in the outwardly genteel world of major symphony orchestras, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, the 77-year-old maestro who is one of the last living links to a golden era of Russian music, has pulled out of the entire run of four concerts he was scheduled to conduct with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which began on Thursday...The trouble began on Wednesday during a rehearsal break, when the conductor and his wife took a stroll around Symphony Hall. They came upon a promotional poster … [Read more...]
For Sale
Who wants to buy Time Out (New York AND Chicago, 2-for-1 recession special)?One clever commenter on Gawker writes, "and too late for inclusion in their cheap holiday gifts issue, too. what a shame." … [Read more...]
Peer Pressure
My college roommate was in town this weekend and informed me about the completely nauseating Wal-Mart stampede incident. "I read it on the Times site this morning," she said. "It was in the 'Most E mailed' column; that's how I get all my news." Now, this is a girl who's getting her PhD in East Asianist History at Yale, so I strongly doubt the "Most E mailed" column is her one source of current event intel. That said, I see a "Most E mailed" list and I generally read through those articles/blog entries first, whichever site I'm on. Most … [Read more...]
Couples Counseling
I'm enjoying the growing list of what me and my people do wrong in the comments section of this post. To re-cap, journalists don't like it when publicists:...use ALL CAPS in the subjects or bodies of their e mails....mail discs with no liner notes/track listings/context of any kind....blindly send press releases to journalists who have no history of writing about that artist/concert/repertoire/genre....don't include audio or video clips in their press releases....act all lover-scorned when editors aren't interested in their clients....send … [Read more...]
Scariest day ever
One topic of conversation at the Turkey Day table yesterday afternoon was how early everyone was getting to the Short Hills Mall, Kohl's and Best Buy today, destination preferences delineated by expected gender and age stereotypes. That in mind, my first order of business this morning was to do some serious Google work on Black Friday classical music sales ((nerd)). Do any orchestras have discounted tickets tonight? Does ArkivMusic have a Black Friday CD sale like Amazon does? Are there any afternoon chamber music concerts advertised as … [Read more...]
Let us review Lesson Eleven, paragraph two – axion seven
Atlantic Records' digital sales beat physical sales, so says The New York Times and lots of research-y people. HOWEVER:This performance is sharply at odds with the trends in the music industry over all, where data show that sales of compact discs still account for more than two-thirds of music sales. Forrester Research does not expect digital music to reach 50 percent of the overall pie until 2011.Fear not, gentle readers, Atlanta Records President Julie Greenwald has "figured it out", "it" being, presumably, how to sell records in 2008?"I … [Read more...]
READ THIS NOW
From: a New York City classical music and dance writerTo: Me, just nowI would like to take a moment to thank you for never sending me emails with all caps subject lines. It is an affliction of many publicists, and actually makes me less likely to want to read the email.I also assume that marking all your press releases "High Importance" gets pretty annoying to writers. And including huge attachments, I would imagine. Calling all journalists! What do publicists do that annoy you the most?[Some comique is probably going to say "blog".] … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
Talk to me about journalism school
Most Fridays, I post an interview with a certain someone far more knowledgeable than myself on specific marketing and publicity subjects. This week, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism masters student Devin Dwyer on learning how to broadcast himself, the shrinking journalism market, and why this isn't a good interview. Devin Dwyer is a multimedia journalist with a background in public radio broadcasting. The Minnesota native is a graduate of Dartmouth College and candidate for a master of science in journalism from the … [Read more...]
How not to handle bad reviews/how to handle crazy people
From Playbill.com: Perhaps the most famous incident of his career was instigated by New York Shakespeare Festival impresario Joe Papp. In 1973, when Papp learned that Mr. [Clive] Barnes had given a poor review to David Rabe's In the Boom Boom Room -- Papp's choice to open his reign as the new director of the Lincoln Center Theater program -- Papp called the critic at home at 11:30 PM and cursed him, yelling into the phone, "You think you're going to get me? Well, I am going to get you. I am going to get you." That might have been the end of the … [Read more...]
If that’s your girl you better watch your back
Today we learned that Lang Lang is one of the Sexiest Men Alive, or so says People Magazine.Now, I like Lang Lang a lot, but I have to ask...of all the men...alive...is he really...the superlative of sexy? David Beckham...Lang Lang...David Beckham...I didn't get a sociology/biology degree between his Sexiest Man Alive status being declared this morning and the present moment, but I do know that "sexy" is in the eye of (body of? pheromones of?) the (be)holder. Who am I to say who/what's sexy to someone else? Who is People Magazine, for that … [Read more...]