ORCHESTRA IN A BOX
posted by James Reel
Via Artsjournal.com, here’s a link to a notice of a Knight Foundation study showing that all the trendoid things orchestras have been doing to lure new audiences are basically worthless. Note this:
The report, which is based on both the experiences of participating orchestras and audience research in their communities, isn't all negative. It asserts, for example, that nearly 60% of adults said they had some interest in classical music, and nearly a third said it was part of their lives on some regular basis. Of that 60%, however, fewer than 5% actually patronized their local symphonies. (Even fewer, the research shows, buy the tickets, make the decision to attend, or subscribe--but let's not get bleaker than necessary.)That’s good news for those of us in the radio biz. And, I hate to say it, but we could even get along fine if all the orchestras in the world shut down tomorrow. There are literally thousands of superb performances available on compact disc of the standard repertory and far, far beyond. Now, if orchestras did shut down, we’d have no way of playing new orchestal music on the air, but very few stations do that to any significant degree, so I doubt that anyone would notice. Not that I’m saying that’s a good thing; it’s just the way it is.
So how are those interested adults—the broadest target audience—getting their classical music? More than half of them said they listened to it "at least several times a month" on the radio. They also own classical CDs—16, on average. The single most popular venue for listening is the car, then the home. It's not the concert hall.
