I'm all for growing our niche audiences incrementally, using the Grammy awards for whatever they can get us. But we shouldn't be satisfied with incremental growth. We're ready to explode. Let's go for it! I'm surprised -- but happy -- about how much comment my Grammy post got, the post in which I said the classical Grammys didn't matter much. And I got a lot of pushback. Yes, the Grammys matter. They're recognition for recordings that might not otherwise get it (or at least not so prominently). The Grammys help with promotion -- if … [Read more...]
Why the classical Grammys don’t matter
Well, maybe they give their winners bragging rights, or a small -- tiny? -- commercial boost. But in any larger musical, cultural, or commercial sense they don't matter at all. Not because awards shows might be silly, or because winning an award might be no guarantee of artistic strength, or because (as some people might think) classical music itself might not matter. No, the classical Grammys don't matter because hardly anyone -- including classical music fans -- hears most of the recordings that are nominated, so there's no context … [Read more...]
Good news from Toronto
I talk a lot about problems with classical music, and maybe don't say enough that what I really care about is classical music's rebirth. Which -- knock on any wood-like substance available -- seems to be happening. For instance: The Toronto Symphony says it has an amazingly young audience. More than one-third of it is younger than 35! I read this some months ago in a story that appeared late in June, in the Culture Monster page on the Los Angeles Times website. And then was surprised to see that the story -- in journalist-speak -- … [Read more...]
Philharmonic clarification
Turns out that the empty branding of Alan Gilbert -- as a New Yorker, when nothing much about him or the New York Philharmonic says "New York" -- wasn't the Philharmonic's doing. It comes from their chief corporate sponsor, Credit Suisse. I'm reminded of what can happen when, let's say, a pop or classical star has her own publicist, but also works with record labels or performing institutions that have publicists of their own. The publicists don't always agree on what should be done. (And don't get me started on the conductor whose parents … [Read more...]
Empty branding
The New York Philharmonic supports WNYC, New York's public radio station. And so they get little quasi-commercials sprinkled into the station's shows. In which they tout Alan Gilbert as the first Philharmonic music director born and bred in New York. And so now I must tell my friends at the Philharmonic that this is pointless. If Alan Gilbert comes from New York, what difference does that make? Just about none, I'd think. Because it's not as if Alan -- in his work as music director, in his programming, for instance, or for that matter in … [Read more...]
Watch out for packaging
A marvelous comment, on one of my previous branding posts, from Gerald Klickstein. So many thanks for this: In my teaching of music entrepreneurship, I make a distinction between 'branding' and 'packaging.' I.e., in a nutshell, a brand is like a mission or promise - think of the Kronos Quartet - it derives from artists' true values (those 'inner' qualities you refer to). When packaging supports the mission, it resonates; when it doesn't, it confuses or, worse, comes across as shallow. Beautifully put. And likewise this, from Curtis … [Read more...]
More than a haircut
After I taught my class about branding -- using an Apple-gadget charger and some chocolate -- one of my students gave a branding example: Lang Lang's haircut. You know it's him, as soon as you see his hair. And a few commenters here decried branding as shallow, surface stuff. But remember that the chocolates -- with their varied shapes, and varied-color wrapping -- look different because they're different inside. And that's what branding ought to be about: What you are inside. Which then shows on the outside, and makes people remember … [Read more...]
How do we know it’s you?
A brief lesson in branding, as I taught it in my Juilliard class this week. I brought in a Plugbug, and some chocolate. I'd bought the Plugbug in an Apple store, though it's not made by Apple. It's a power adapter for Apple products, and -- unlike anything Apple sells -- can charge two things at once, my MacBook and my iPhone or iPad. Apple's power adapters -- the ones that come with their laptops and i-devices -- are white. And while the Plugbug looks much like an Apple charger, it's red, so we'll know it's different. Now for the … [Read more...]
Why entrepreneurship?
As I said in my last post, I'm stressing entrepreneurship this semester, in my Juilliard course on the future of classical music. And, of course, entrepreneurship is a major buzzword at music schools right now. But why? What's the purpose of this? Well, here's one useful explanation, which surfaced, very helpfully, in a working group I'm part of, in which we're helping to shape an entrepreneurship curriculum at a particular music school. Entrepreneurship, said one of our members, will help students shape their careers in a variety of … [Read more...]
My Juilliard course, updated
Spring semester has started, and that means I teach my Juilliard course on the future of classical music. The link takes you to the class schedule for the course, complete with links to most of the assignments. Which means you can read what the students read, and listen to what the students listen to, and watch the videos I've asked the students to watch, if you'd like to do these things. This, amazingly, is the 16th year that I've taught this course. Which among much else means, as I've said, that we've been talking about a classical music … [Read more...]
An explosion of comments…
…and an apology to everyone. Yesterday, more comments showed up on this blog than every showed up on a single day before. Thanks so much, everyone who commented! I'm thrilled to have sparked such interest. But I have to approve the comments before they go online. And yesterday turned out to be an insanely busy, exhausting day. So I didn't get to the comments till this morning. Which means that so many of you posted comments, and then may have wondered where they were! I do apologize. But remember that I'm a one-man band here, and … [Read more...]
Why don’t we know?
If you look back on my post about David Gockley and the San Francisco Opera -- quoting David's very stark words about the company's financial problems -- you'll see a lively debate in the comments, between Lisa Hirsch and myself. The debate, essentially, is about whether the San Francisco Opera really is in as much trouble as David says. And that disagreement spreads toward other institutions. When the Philadelphia Orchestra announced it would declare bankruptcy, was it really in as much trouble as it said it was? Or, maybe more pointedly, … [Read more...]
Cries of pain
"The reason I subscribed to Capital Public Radio is for classical music," says a subscriber to the public radio station in Sacramento, CA. Which, like many (most?) public radio outlets, has cut back on classical programming. And now, adding insult to injury, is moving its jazz broadcasts to a classical station it runs, displacing classical music even more. "Many classical music lovers feel they have been left in the lurch during their prime listening time at home," says the news story I linked to. "I'm feeling disenfranchised," says the … [Read more...]
Another sign of trouble — and a solution?
The David Gockley statement I blogged about was only one declaration of trouble in classical music that caught my attention recently. Another was a news story about the Colorado Symphony, an institution that feels it needs fundamental change. The emphasis is different here. David talked about the problems he faces. And the Colorado Symphony talks about solutions. But the solutions are needed, the story notes (if only in passing), because the Symphony is "cash-short" -- hurting for money. Which means it has, in essence, the same problem as … [Read more...]
More clouds gather
Here's a classical music leader pointing at dark clouds hovering over our field. I'm talking about an admission of serious trouble, in an extraordinary -- extraordinarily honest and forceful -- statement by David Gockley, General Manager of the San Francisco Opera, and (I'd think by more or less unanimous acclaim) one of the top arts managers in the US. David says that his company is in serious trouble, because of factors that affect all arts organizations like it. He wrote this in the Opera's program book, in November 2010. A friend … [Read more...]