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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Analyzing the decline of symphonic music in the United States: public relations strategies to attract Millennials

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Analyzing the decline of symphonic music in the United States: public relations strategies to attract Millennials

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Content 1 ANALYZING THE DECLINE OF SYMPHONIC MUSIC IN THE UNITED STATES: PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGIES TO ATTRACT MILLENNIALS by Justine Saquilayan A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) May 2015 Copyright 2015 Justine Saquilayan 2 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the support of an incredible group of people. First and foremost, I’d like to thank Professor Burghardt Tenderich for believing in this project (and me) and for providing me with great mentorship over the past year. Thank you also to Dean Rob Cutietta and Professor Jennifer Floto for the valuable insights that helped make this paper come together. I am grateful for my Mom, Dad, sister, and all my friends and family. To Tim: there is absolutely no way I could have completed this without your constant encouragement. I’d also like to extend my appreciation to all the wonderful, selfless, dedicated music educators I’ve had the privilege of learning from over the past 24 years. This paper is a product of your lasting impact on my life. 3 Abstract This paper explores the evolution of public relations and marketing for symphonic orchestras in the United States over the past two decades. Currently, major industries are experiencing seismic shifts in the ways they reach their key audiences. As the Baby Boomers and members of Generation X grow older, the focus of the communication function now turns to the “digital natives” of today, otherwise known as “Millennials.” This young group interacts with society in a radically different fashion than its generational predecessors. They are faced with more choices, resources and opportunities than ever before, thanks in part to their embracing of social media and technology. The challenge for symphonic orchestras is the struggle to redefine and re-contextualize symphonic music to encourage acceptance and viewership among Millennials, who are predisposed to other forms of entertainment. The purpose of this paper is to examine the key issues that orchestras must overcome to take centuries-old music and make it relevant to young adults. In-depth analysis of the history of the symphonic orchestra, statistical data on arts attendance and participation, insight into other popular brands, as well as best practices public relations will all help determine recommended strategies and tactics to attract Millennials to attend the symphony. 4 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 ABSTRACT 3 INTRODUCTION 5 DEFINITIONS 8 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10 CHAPTER 1: HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF ORCHESTRAS IN THE UNITED STATES 12 CHAPTER 2: THE DISEASE-RIDDLED BUSINESS MODEL 16 CHAPTER 3: THE CURRENT STATE OF THE SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA 19 CHAPTER 4: OPERATIONALIZING DECLINE 23 CHAPTER 5: THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE OF ORCHESTRAL DECLINE 32 CHAPTER 6: MEET THE MILLENNIALS 36 CHAPTER 7: THE CHALLENGE OF MARKETING ORCHESTRAS 42 CHAPTER 8: CONTENT ANALYSIS OF ORCHESTRA MARKETING STRATEGIES 47 CHAPTER 9: RECOMMENDATIONS 68 CHAPTER 10: FORECASTING THE FUTURE 78 CONCLUSION 80 APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW #1 82 APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW #2 90 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW #3 95 BIBLIOGRAPHY 102 5 Introduction Classical music is an art form that has persevered through significant events in history -- the transition to industrialization, the spread of democracy and increased globalization through technological advancements. The works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms still remain a vital part of the classical musician’s repertoire, even amidst the fact that not one of the aforementioned composers has actively produced work since the late 1800s. To audiences, perhaps niche groups, the performing arts have managed to live on despite the circumstances that threaten and endanger their future. This precarious nature of the arts and their contributions to society make them one of the most intriguing aspects of American culture. Symphonic music has been noticeable in pop culture over the past century, yet the frequency in which it is mentioned has arguably dwindled in the past decade or so. In 1946, Looney Tunes character Bugs Bunny performed a rousing rendition of Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in the short film Rhapsody Rabbit. 1 Just a few years later in 1961, Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin took classical music to outer space when he sang fellow countryman Dmitri Shostakovich’s song “My Homeland Hears” over the radio to flight control. 2 Mozart’s overture from Marriage of Figaro even found its way into Willy Wonka’s magical world in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. 3 The New York Philharmonic and its conductor, Alan Gilbert, made a cameo appearance in Tina Fey’s hit sitcom 30 Rock, as the character Tracy Jordan endows the orchestra with a substantial sum in exchange for a slight 1 Rhapsody Rabbit. Perf. Mel Blanc. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1946. Film. 2 "15 Incredible Classical Music Facts." Classic FM, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. <http://www.classicfm.com/discover/music/incredible-facts/yuri-gagarin/>. 3 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1971. Film. 6 change in programming – a four-hour loop of the Sanford and Son theme instead of the planned pieces of Debussy and Rachmaninoff. 4 How is it, then, that the symphonic orchestra’s future remains so unclear? The very content performed by these orchestras is easily found in other branches of entertainment, yet the vessel by which the content is delivered has not solidified a permanent position in pop culture. Though the public relations function cannot determine which pieces of literature constitute the “masterworks,” it can help bring light to the various programs and events offered by orchestras. Public relations (PR) protects the reputation of the organization, and marketing provides the outreach to attract potential customers. Especially within groups with limited resources and varied organizational structures, the PR and marketing roles are often blurred. Most orchestras are classified as non-profit, meaning that their governance restricts them in the ways they re-invest and solicit money. So, this means that while the rock bands and pop starlets of the world rely on extravagant marketing and public relations budgets from their respective music labels, the symphonic music industry finds itself attracting a much different crowd with a comparatively restrictive pool of finances. In a world where dollars largely influence advertising, smart, resourceful marketing strategies are no longer an option: they are a necessity. The focus of this in-depth study is the next generation of potential orchestra-goers: the young people of America. Though the labels continue to undergo change, the title of “Millennial” has been examined and accepted adopted by several organizations, including Pew 4 Dave Itzkoff. "The Big One: Alan Gilbert Conducts the ‘Sanford and Son’ Theme For ’30 Rock’." The New York Times 16 Nov. 2012. The New York Times Company. Web. 7 Feb. 2015. <http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/the-big-one-alan-gilbert-conducts-the-sanford- and-son-theme-for-30-rock/?_r=1>. 7 Research Center, Time Magazine and Ad Age. As will be discussed further in the body of this paper, their participation in orchestral activities is paramount and vital to the future of these performing arts organizations. They single-handedly represent the largest group in human history and are soon due to surpass the buying power of any other generation in the world. The paper analyzes this key audience group while maintaining a healthy respect for symphonic music as a fine art. Without redefining the programming of the typical orchestral concert, how can arts administrators break past historical communications barriers and push the art to the very edges of public relations and marketing? While understanding the inherent business problems of the art, can these two functions help symphonic music establish footing in today’s socially, digitally and interactively obsessed culture? These are just a few of the questions this study explores in hopes of finding innovative, modern-day solutions to the age-old problems that have riddled the industry of classical music. 8 Definitions For the purpose of this paper, two important distinctions need to be made in order to understand the full context of the subject area. The term “Classical music,” as stated by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, “can be used in two ways.” 5 The capitalized version refers to “a historical period (c. 1730-1820)” which represents “the time of Mozart and Haydn.” 6 This particular definition speaks more to a specific artistic period of music, as opposed to describing the whole range of music typically played by classical instruments with classical instrumentation. In this sense, Classical music would be appropriate in describing works by Mozart, but not appropriate in labeling the work of Johannes Brahms, whose music is considered “Romantic music.” Alternatively, the term “classical music,” as it is referred to most prevalently in this work, adopts the following definition set forth by the Los Angeles Philharmonic: “The other meaning of ‘classical music’ is much broader, covering the entire canon of Western art music, from Gregorian chant to Philip Glass and beyond.” 7 For the sake of clarity, the majority of works performed by orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony or the New York Philharmonic can be considered classical music. This should be differentiated from music that falls under the “pops” or “popular music” umbrella. Therefore, because instrumentation can vary for different pieces of repertoire (for example, quartets, chamber orchestras, etc.), the topic at hand will be limited to “symphonic music.” According to Grove Music Online, the “symphony” is “now normally taken to signify an 5 "Frequently Asked Questions." LA Phil. Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. Web. 4 Nov. 2015. <http://www.laphil.com/visit/faq>. 6 ibid. 7 ibid. 9 extended work for orchestra.” 8 Additionally, “the adjective ‘symphonic’ applied to a work implies that it is extended and thoroughly developed.” 9 Thus, as referred to in the body of this paper, symphonic music refers to the repertoire performed solely by symphony orchestras. 8 Jan Larue, et al. "Symphony." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press.Web. 13 Nov. 2014.<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.libproxy.usc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/2725 4>. 9 ibid. 10 Research Methodology For the qualitative research found in this paper, a series of interviews was conducted with experts who are active in the field of symphonic music and who could speak to the challenges the industry has faced over the past few decades. Interviewees included Keitaro Harada, Associate Conductor of the Richmond Symphony and Associate Conductor of Arizona Opera, Mark Swed, Pulitzer Prize-nominated classical music critic for the Los Angeles Times and Kenneth Foster, Director of the Arts Leadership Program at the University of Southern California. The interviewees each offered a different perspective on the field, as well as insight into major orchestras across the United States. The author also conducted a content analysis of news articles about five major United States orchestras: the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony and Chicago Symphony. Each of the orchestra names was entered into a Google News search with dates limited from January 1, 2013 to January 1, 2015. Of the thousands of results, the author manually selected articles pertaining to marketing strategies relevant to Millennials. These selections were based on an understanding on strategies typically used to attract the Millennial segment, including incorporation of interactivity, social events, multimedia and storytelling. Quantitative research for this paper includes a sentiment analysis of headlines mentioning “symphony,” “orchestra,” or “philharmonic” from January 1, 2005 to January 1, 2015. Through a search on the database LexisNexis Academic limited geographically to the United States, the results yielded insight into the media’s treatment of the symphonic music. Headlines not directly pertaining to symphony orchestras or symphonic music were discarded from the data set. Using this data, the author categorized the headlines based on positive, negative or neutral sentiment. 11 These categorizations were determined through analysis of words in the headline. For example, headlines containing descriptive words such as “magical” were labeled as positive, while words like “mixed-results” were labeled negative. The purpose of this quantification was to determine whether or not some of the stereotypes of classical music were perpetrated because of a lack of a strong media relations function. Secondary research consisted of articles, books, press releases, government documents and websites related to the topics of Millennials or symphonic music. This research was pulled from major news publications, reports from leading arts organizations and books from prominent leaders in classical music and economics. 12 Chapter 1: Historical Context of Orchestras in the United States The symphony orchestra has a history rich in the culture and traditions of the Europeans who immigrated to the United States. As the colonies in North America became more developed and sufficient to establish daily living routines, the arts scene began to flourish. By the 1750s the North American colonies of New York, Philadelphia and Charleston boasted small orchestras.” 10 Once these performing arts groups were established, the rapid growth and acceptance of the symphony orchestra continued due to “immigration, urbanization and the accumulation of wealth in the 19th century.” 11 Orchestras signified the coming-of-age of different municipalities, and they symbolized much more than artistic achievement. Professor Kenneth Foster, Director of Arts Leadership at the University of Southern California, said that European immigrants established orchestras out of their “desire to have markers of their arrival and of their cultural awareness.” 12 He likened the desire to the motivation wealthy businessmen and financiers like J.P. Morgan felt towards collecting art and breaking ground on the first American museums. 13 Over the remainder of the 20th century, this was “the same impulse that led people to create the symphony orchestra.” 14 Only the most civilized, highly cultured cities could sustain institutions of fine art and provide this type of refined, creative showcase for its publics. Retrospectively, this series of events symbolized the essence of Americans’ insatiable need to bring the work of distant, more established lands in order to prove their own self-worth. 10 John Spitzer and Neal Zaslaw. “Orchestra.” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 7 Nov. 2014. 11 ibid. 12 Kenneth Foster. “Kenneth Foster Interview.” Personal interview. 20 Jan 2015. 13 ibid. 14 ibid. 13 First proclaimed in orchestral world in the late 1950s, the “Big Five” emerged, representing the most-heralded orchestras in the United States, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra. 15 Quantifying which groups belonged in the top tier relied primarily on examining the non-artistic activities of the orchestra. Though it is reasonable to think that the public assessment of a performing arts group would be determined by the quality of performance, New York Times music critic James Oestreich writes that the criteria “included size of budget, number of recordings, amount of touring (especially stops in New York), presence on radio and television, and number of year-round musicians.” 16 This distinction implied that the financial resources behind the orchestra would be the greatest indicator of high quality artistry. These markers of success worked under the assumption that these specific characteristics of finance and exposure translated directly to the overall performance of the orchestra. However, just a few decades later, the term was widely considered to be inaccurate and outdated. The year 1965 marked the beginning of exceptional proliferation and opportunity for symphony orchestras in the United States. Still “considered the largest single action in the history of organized philanthropic support of the arts,” the dynastic Fords of automobile fame awarded a staggering $85 million to ensure financial security specifically for orchestras around the country through its Ford Foundation. 17 Using an inflation calculator, that sum, adjusted to 15 James Oestreich. "The Big Five Orchestras No Longer Add Up." The New York Times 14 June 2013. The New York Times Company. Web. 15 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/arts/music/the-big-five-orchestras-no-longer-add- up.html?pagewanted=all>. 16 ibid. 17 "Timeline." Ford Foundation. Ford Foundation. Web. <http://www.fordfoundation.org/about- us/timeline#default>. 14 2014, totaled approximately $640 million. 18 By today’s standards, the social and financial implications of an award of that magnitude would still be enormous. This philanthropic gift thrust the symphony orchestra into the public limelight and gave organizations the financial boost they needed to expand, pay their musicians and place focus on the art. In the 1980s, America began to shift in its ideology, and the demographics of the country also underwent a massive transformation. Foster added that “the idea that a western European art form that is grounded also in a particular type of structure and dynamic – a single leader leading a bunch of people into a shared endeavor – is…now running counter to the way our country is, and the way we understand ourselves.” 19 He continued by stating, “ironically enough, it started in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected President, and the whole shift began away from this idea of doing things for the public good and towards this idea that I should do what's right for me.” 20 Adding context to the changing landscape of the United States in the 1980s is a simple look at the new, increasingly non-Western-European faces of America. During this decade, an estimated “eight million immigrants came from Latin America, nearly equal to the total figure of European immigrants who came to the U.S. during the first decade of the 20th century.” 21 There was also a surge in immigrants arriving from Asia - so many so that the overall Asian population increased by 70% to a population of 6.5 million. 22 These numbers signified the need for the modern orchestra to be as culturally diverse as the changing constituencies around them. The 18 CPI Inflation Calculator. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. <http://data.bls.gov/cgi- bin/cpicalc.pl>. 19 Kenneth Foster, 2015. 20 ibid. 21 "Immigration from Latin America and Caribbean." Latin America Curriculum. Harvard University. Web. 22 Dec. 2014. <http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~gstudies/latin/lacurriculum.htm>. 22 Felicity Barringer. "Asian Population in U.S. Grew by 70% in the 80's." The New York Times 2 Mar. 1990. The New York Times Company. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/02/us/asian-population-in-us-grew-by-70-in-the-80-s.html>. 15 challenge was determining how to most effectively speak and market to immigrants who may otherwise be unfamiliar with orchestras as sources of entertainment. Though diversity is a topic that should be taken into consideration, this paper will not explore cultural issues, but rather the generational issues that affect orchestral attendance. Meanwhile, previously dismissed or ignored West Coast orchestras like the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony began the push to be included in the top tier. San Francisco’s “creative programming, tight links with living composers, and large-scale audience- building projects” gave reason to include the symphony and its well-regarded conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas, into the mix. 23 In the mid-90s, executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Ernest Fleischmann was quoted as saying, “In budget size we're one of the big five or six…In playing quality, it depends on any night. I've heard dreadful performances in Boston and Chicago in recent years…I don't think we ever sink to that low standard.” 24 The orchestra that first arrived in the United States from Europe was forced to adjust the way it thought about its previously homogeneous audiences. The struggle to attract and retain audiences is a problem that persists today. 23 David Weininger. "Michael Tilson Thomas Celebrates 20 Years." The Boston Globe 13 Nov. 2014. Boston Globe Media Partners. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. <http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2014/11/13/michael-tilson-thomas-celebrates-years- with-san-francisco-symphony/WJtyExbRfi1G0zSomUBwxJ/story.html>. 24 Mark Swed. "The Maestro of Managing." Los Angeles Times 3 Oct. 1993. Los Angeles Times. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://articles.latimes.com/1993-10-03/entertainment/ca-41534_1_los- angeles-philharmonic/2>. 16 Chapter 2: The Disease-Riddled Business Model From an operations standpoint, the business model of the orchestra has historically been a point of contention within the performing arts industry. In his analysis titled The Perilous Life of the Symphony Orchestra, Robert Flanagan includes the following The New York Times quote regarding the fundamental problems of the performing arts business model: “There is always a deficit, which public-spirited guarantors are called upon to pay year after year. A permanent orchestra, it seems pretty well established by American experience, is not at present a paying institution, and is not likely immediately to become so.” 25 That quote, seemingly summing up the concerns found today in the classical industry, was published in the paper in 1902. 26 Even in the year 2015, its sentiment remains both relevant and worrisome for orchestra administrators. In the 1960s, economists William Baumol and William Bowen presented their groundbreaking findings on the economics of orchestras in a paper entitled Performing Arts - The Economic Dilemma: A Study of Problems Common to Theater, Opera, Music and Dance. 27 In this study, the term “cost-disease” was coined, and it has been used to describe the perpetual problems plaguing the industry. 28 Below is an excerpt of his paper: “It is a thesis of this study that the root of the cost pressures which beset the arts is the nature of their technology. For the economy as a whole, productivity (output per man-hour) has risen at a remarkably steady rate of roughly 2x/4 percent per 25 Flanagan, Robert J. The Perilous Life of Symphony Orchestras: Artistic Triumphs and Economic Challenges. New Haven: Yale UP, 2012. 6. Print. 26 ibid. 27 William Baumol and William Bowen. "Performing Arts - The Economic Dilemma: A Study of Problems Common to Theater, Opera, Music and Dance." College Music Symposium 7 (1967): 127. JSTOR. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. 28 ibid. 17 year over the last half-century, and there is every reason to expect that the discovery of new knowledge and the invention of new techniques of production and capital accumulation will yield comparable increases in production per man per hour in the future. But the technology of live performance leaves little room for labor-saving innovations, since the end product is the labor of the performer. While increases in money wages in an industry such as auto manufacturing are offset, either partly or in full, by increases in productivity, the corresponding increases in salaries in the arts are directly translated into higher costs. The more successful such industries are in keeping up the rate of increase in their productive efficiency, the more will the cost of the living arts rise relative to costs in general.” 29 In summation, the cost-disease refers to the structure of the business itself. The orchestra’s product, as stated above, “is the labor of the performer.” 30 While other businesses are able to optimize their businesses to increase more output with less employee input, the opposite is true in symphonic music. The work of the orchestra requires all players be present at the time of the performance, and even at the rehearsals leading up to the concerts. Because of this, it is impossible to lower cost considerably, as all active participants must contribute to each stage of the process. In addition, orchestras do not and cannot abide by the laws of supply and demand. There is a point when the business and the art do not always align, and the cost-model presents an issue worthy of serious conversation among industry professionals. 29 William Baumol and William Bowen, 1967. 30 ibid. 18 Theoretically, the cost-disease does appear to present financial challenges for the modern-day orchestra. However, this model should bear little to no meaning to the marketer. Financial decline is only one measurement of success, but it is not necessarily indicative of the orchestra’s ability to appeal to various targeted audiences. The purpose of this paper is not to change the business model of the orchestra, or even to restructure the organizational structure mentioned. The brief historical context provided above serves to highlight instances, which may have once affected public perception of orchestras. For example, the now widely rejected label of the “Big Five” orchestras may have influenced what many Americans consider to be the image of an orchestra due to their higher visibility and broader reach. 19 Chapter 3: The Current State of the Symphonic Orchestra As recent as October 2013, the League of American Orchestras reported that there were over 1,800 active “symphony, chamber, collegiate, and youth orchestras” in the United States. 31 Of the nearly two thousand operating in America today, the organization estimates that 350 to 400 are considered “professional orchestras,” meaning musicians are paid wages for their work. 32 In terms of performances, the orchestras above put on nearly 36,000 concerts yearly, and almost one third of those concerts were free of charge. 33 However, it is important to note that the figure reflects concerts put on by collegiate and youth orchestras, which may offer free performances for students, parents or children. For the purpose of this paper, the author focuses on professional orchestras that have the funds to pay their musicians, as they likely have more resources to dedicate to marketing and public relations efforts. Orchestras make about 41% of their revenue through private donors, representing their largest source of funding. 34 This statistic is an intriguing one, as it begins to shed light on the priorities of orchestra administrators. Attracting audiences is certainly a goal of most businesses, but the inability to do so may not be necessarily the result of poor marketing, but perhaps issues with prioritization. When comparing 41% of private donations to the 31% of revenue made through ticket sales, the focus on high-paying donors becomes increasingly clear. 35 According to the same statistics, other sources of revenue include, from highest percentage to lowest 31 "Quick Orchestra Facts." League of American Orchestras. 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 5 Jan. 2015. <http://www.americanorchestras.org/images/stories/adv_gov_pdf/QuickOrchestraFacts2013 .pdf> 32 ibid. 33 ibid. 34 ibid. 35 ibid. 20 percentage: endowment earnings (15%), other earned revenue (10%) and government support (3%). 36 These numbers are significant because they can be indicators of where administration focuses its priorities. By nature, symphonic orchestras remain dedicated to presenting its audiences with high quality performances, the statistics show that donor support, by sheer size alone, has more of a financial impact than whether or not the music hall is sold out for the season opener. The differences may be subtle, but these facts could certainly have an effect on the marketing and public relations for the orchestra - exactly whom are marketers trying to reach, and exactly how are they attempting to do that? Additionally, though the media landscape is rapidly changing, traditional media still act as a major amplifier of news. Because of their massive reach, news outlets are still important influencers of culture. When a story breaks online, its potential to achieve “viral” status greatly increases when it is picked up by a local or national news outlet. For some consumers, online and paper versions of the newspaper serve as primary sources of information. Many of the most popular papers have been consumed regularly by cross-generational audiences over the span of many decades and still retain readership circulation in the millions. With this information in mind, the author conducted a sentiment analysis to understand the media’s treatment of symphonic music, with the purpose of identifying positive, negative or no trends. This research began by choosing three major newspapers: The New York Times, Chicago Daily Herald and The San Jose Mercury News. These particular cities were chosen due to their respective geographic locations in the eastern, mid-western and western parts of the 36 “Quick Orchestra Facts,” 2013. 21 United States. The rationale behind choosing three separate locations is to unveil any potential geographic biases. Once the three newspapers were chosen, the search was limited to results from the United States between the dates of January 1, 2005 to January 1, 2015 using the LexisNexis Academic database. The primary search terms were “orchestra,” “symphony,” “philharmonic,” and “symphony.” Of the results yielded, the author coded each of the results for its sentiment: positive, negative or neutral. These categorizations were based on analysis of specific words found in the headlines. For example, “Magical Performance” was coded as positive, “Continuity for Bruckner’s 9th Eludes S.F. Symphony” was negative, and “Music of Dvorak: Joshua Roman and the New Philharmonic perform music by Dvorak” was considered neutral. By nature, sentiment analysis is subjective, but the findings clearly show commonalities between the three newspaper findings. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 New York Times San Jose Mercury News Chicago Daily Herald Negative Neutral Positive Sentiment Analysis of News Articles Related to Symphonic Music from Jan. 1, 2005 to Jan. 1, 2015 22 Based on those findings, the author has determined that there is no inherent problem with the media relations aspect from an organizational level. There is an assumption that when dealing with subjective areas of journalism such as criticism, there will be negative reviews of performances. The amount of negative sentiment shown does not draw a clear parallel to the other problems affecting the classical music industry today. However, this does not mean that improvements cannot be made to increase the likelihood that a symphonic music group is covered in major papers. The focus must then be turned to the marketing efforts of the orchestra. At this point in time, newspaper readership is declining rapidly. Though positive news coverage is still an important part of public relations function’s responsibility to the organization, there are other, more innovative ways to ensure that messages reach their intended audiences. A tight focus on donors may result in PR and marketing tunnel-vision where the communications teams of performing arts organizations are so dedicated to pleasing their donors that they don’t realize that group is fleeting. Right now, “[Baby] Boomers hold 70% of all disposable income in the United States.” 37 From a marketing standpoint, catering communications activities to Millennials seems like a risk many professionals aren’t willing to take. The bigger risk, however, may be assuming that the Millennials will transition into a donor phase as they grow older. This topic will be further discussed in following chapters of the paper. 37 Stephen Gordet. "The Numbers That Make Boomers Number One For Many Marketers."MediaPost 22 Sept. 2014. MediaPost Communications. Web. 27 Nov. 2014. <http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/234603/the-numbers-that-make-boomers- number-one-for-many.html>. 23 Chapter 4: Operationalizing Decline Over the past 25 years, symphony orchestras across the United States have seen their fair share of bankruptcies, lockouts and end-of-year financial deficits. Phrases like “classical music is dead” have permeated mainstream media, making appearances in recent articles such as the virally-shared 2014 “Requiem” piece by Mark Vanhoenacker in Slate Magazine. 38 However, with as much evidence seemingly presented to the American publics, the term “decline” that is used in this paper cannot be based purely on subjective verbiage or criticism most prevalent in the media. To accurately operationalize decline, the author uses statistics from United States orchestras and research organizations. Bankruptcies are clear indicators of decline, as they explicitly represent that a business is in financial distress. According to law site US Legal, a bankruptcy can be defined as a “legal proceeding, guided by federal law, designed to address situations where a debtor—either an individual or a business—has accumulated obligations so great that he or she is unable to pay them off.” 39 In the world of classical music, a noteworthy number of symphony orchestras, typically classified as non-profit organizations, have undergone major financial woes, ultimately ending in bankruptcies and even organizational demise. Some of the major orchestras that have succumbed to bankruptcy since 1993 include the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, Honolulu, Louisville, Syracuse, Denver and New Orleans 40 . The top-tier Philadelphia Orchestra was forced 38 Mark Vanhoenacker. "Requiem." Slate 21 Jan. 2014. The Slate Group. Web. 15 Dec. 2014. <http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/01/classical_music_sales_decline_is_classic al_on_death_s_door.html>. 39 "Bankruptcy Law & Legal Definition." US Legal. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://definitions.uslegal.com/b/bankruptcy/>. 40 Flanagan, 2012. 24 to file for bankruptcy in 2011, sending shockwaves through the classical community. 41 After 15 months under court protection, Philadelphia was eventually able to emerge from bankruptcy and resolve $100 million in claims. 42 These recent financial tribulations have contributed more than just a blemish on the already ambiguous reputation of the industry. Symphonic orchestras that haven’t declared bankruptcy have still experienced their fair share of financial woes in the form of labor strikes and lockouts. Perhaps the most well-known and heavily-covered contract dispute was that between the musicians and administration of the Minnesota Orchestra. 43 The 15-month lockout resulted in the cancellation of the orchestra’s regular season, a previously scheduled trip to Carnegie Hall, slashed musician salaries, and the departure of its longtime conductor, Osmo Vänskä before the contract resolution. 44 San Francisco Symphony’s union strike lasted 18 days and also ended with the cancellation of trips to Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. 45 Currently, Atlanta Symphony is faced with an intense lockout of its musicians that has resulted with a postponement of its 2014/2015 season and picketing outside the concert hall. 46 On its website, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Stanley E. Romanstein writes, “We’ve made this decision with a great deal of reluctance…Cancelling [sic] 41 Emily Grannis. "Orchestras Fight Hard Times Through Bankruptcy Seeking New Model."Bloomberg Business 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-08-21/orchestras-fight-hard-times-through- bankruptcy-seeking-new-model>. 42 ibid. 43 Anne Midgette. "Minnesota Orchestra Lockout Is over." The Washington Post 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2014/01/14/minnesota- orchestra-lockout-is-over/>. 44 ibid. 45 Janos Gereben. "San Francisco Symphony and Musicians Sign Contract, but Harmony Has Yet to Return." The Examiner 14 Apr. 2013. Print. 46 Adam Ragusea. "The Atlanta Symphony Lockout Continues, Musicians Picket On Peachtree Street." NPR 28 Sept. 2014. National Public Radio. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.npr.org/2014/09/28/351810425/the-atlanta-symphony-lockout-continues- musicians-picket-on-peachtree-street>. 25 concerts is the last thing any of us wants to do, but to respect the schedules of our patrons, guest artists, artistic partners and our 200-member volunteer chorus, we feel we have no other choice.” 47 With all of this being said, contextually, it’s important to address the potential influence and lasting effects of the “Great Recession.” According to Investopedia, the “Great Recession” can be defined as “the sharp decline in economic activity during the late 2000s, which is generally considered the largest downturn since the Great Depression.” 48 More specifically, in the United States, the dates of the “Great Recession” range from December 2007 to June 2009. 49 The impact has been noticed and felt across multiple industries, but especially for non-profit organizations like symphony orchestras. Considering the struggling economy as an added factor possibly affecting orchestras, the question is whether or not the reason for any operationalized decline is simply due to the overall economy. In the last three decades, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has spearheaded one of the most comprehensive studies on the performing arts, titled the Survey of Participation in the Performing Arts (SPPA). The NEA, as stated on their website, “is an independent federal agency that funds and promotes artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities.” 50 The agency works hand-in-hand with the United States Census Bureau to conduct this survey, with the exception of the 1982 and 1992 SPPA surveys. 51 According to the 2002 survey, “comparisons should be made cautiously because of the change of 47 Adam Ragusea, 2014. 48 "The Great Recession." Investopedia. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. <http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/great-recession.asp>. 49 ibid. 50 National Endowment for the Arts. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://arts.gov/>. 51 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for the Arts, 2002. Print. 26 sponsoring survey (National Crime Survey in 1992 versus Current Population Survey in 2002).” 52 The SPPA Survey reports on in-person attendance, listening, personal participation and, in more recent years, even trends in digital downloads. Below are key facts and figures from the SPPA Survey from 1982 to 2012. a. Sample size from the 1982 to 2012 SPPA Survey Since 1982, the NEA has conducted a new SPPA every decade. 53 In 2008, an additional survey was conducted, shedding light on any possible effects felt in the arts due to the Great Recession. 54 52 For the following tables, information was gathered from the following: 1992, 2002, 2008 and 2012 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for the Arts, 2002. Print. 53 Ibid. 54 ibid. 55 ibid. Year of SPPA Survey Number of Respondents 55 1982 N/A 1992 12,736 2002 17,135 2008 18,000+ *figure given by NEA 2012 37,266 27 b. Percent of all adults who attended a classical music performance in the past year 56 This particular survey finding refers to the amount of adults (18 years or older) who attended a classical music performance. Because the question does not specify “symphony orchestras,” chamber orchestras of varied instrumentation and solo performances must be considered. The SPPA differentiates “classical music” from “opera,” so operatic works are not included. As shown in the graph above, attendance to classical performances steadily declined in the 80s and 90s, but abruptly dropped during the Great Recession. Between 2002 and 2008, attendance had its single largest drop of 2.3 percentage points across all adults surveyed. In 2012, the effects of the end of the Recession should have caused a regain of some losses or plateaued attendance, yet the downward trend continues. If 1982’s 13% of attendees become representative of the entire adult classical music audience, then in 2012, the industry has lost 32.3% of its audience, indicating a major decline over the past three decades. 56 ibid. 28 c. Percent of 18-24 year olds who attended a classical music performance in the past year 57 As part of the same survey question, the NEA segmented the attendance of just the 18-24 year olds. The graph above shows a decline that appears to drop more steadily. In contrast to the general population, the highest drop occurred between 1992 and 2004 for an amount of 2.2 percentage points. A few significant events occurring during this time in America that could have affected participation in the arts were the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Dot-Com Bubble. They both signaled shifts in the ideology and priorities of the US, but there is no evidence to support that being the reason for this specific decline. When comparing the data pulled from 18-24 year olds between 1982 to 2012, the numbers indicate a 39% decrease in overall attendance for the age group. 57 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, 1992, 2002, 2008, 2012. 29 d. Percent of 25-34 year olds who attended a classical music performance 58 The survey also used the same question to isolate the number of 25 to 34 year olds who attended classical music performance. The graph below shows a steep decline between 2008 and 2012, representing a decrease in attendance of 2.5 percentage points. Perhaps more worrisome is the overall decrease within this age demographic. Over the span of 30 years, classical performing groups have witnessed the loss of over half of this particular audience, a figure of 50.7%, to be exact. 58 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, 1992, 2002, 2008, 2012 30 e. Graphs ‘b,’ ‘c,’ ‘d’ combined 59 The graph above illustrates the decline of overall classical music attendance, segmented ages 18-24 and 25-34. The findings of the NEA compounded by their insight that “overall audiences for classical music audiences are aging faster than the general population” point to a major problem that should be addressed by these organizations (NEA).” Because the overall attendance figures do not sharply decline, it can be assumed that adults above the age of 34 have a fairly flat-lined or slightly inclined attendance to mitigate the effects of decreases in other demographics. Though “classical music” represents many different types of performing arts groups, the sample size indicates that it would be appropriate to use the number to draw conclusions about the symphonic music industry. Quantifying decline is an important step in solving any potential problems hindering the business; segmenting by age helps pinpoint where and how messaging can be changed to encourage attendance. 59 ibid. 31 By measures of viewership, there is a clear decline in overall classical performance attendance. This decline is even more noticeable among the groups of 18 to 24 year olds and 25 to 24 year olds, respectively. This collective age group represents the next generation of orchestra-goers, making them an obvious target for marketers. Therefore, it is vital for the symphonic music industry to pay close attention to even the slightest decreases or increases from year to year. The fact that the decreases in attendance for 18 to 34 year olds are dropping so significantly mean that there may be fundamental problems that must be addressed within this age group. To increase attendance, the public relations function must craft messaging to encourage participation in the arts and reinvigorate the classical communities. 32 Chapter 5: The Cognitive Dissonance of Orchestral Decline There are several factors that can contribute to the financial successes and hardships of symphonic music, but the numbers outlined by the NEA show a clear decline during the course of over thirty years. The ultimate goal of a marketer is to ensure that the communications efforts should work directly to advance organizational objectives. In the case of symphony orchestras, one objective is to generate revenue through attracting and retaining audiences. A more altruistic objective is to bring high quality, classical music to audiences. However, before achieving objectives is difficult for administrators to agree on marketing strategy without coming to a consensus about issues within the industry. According to Science Daily, “cognitive dissonance is a psychological term describing the uncomfortable tension that may result from having two conflicting thoughts at the same time.” 60 This theory can be used to explain the conversations taking place within orchestra administrations. In fact, its role in this subject shows the complexity of the issues that could potentially shift the actions or emphasis placed on marketing and public relations. To illustrate the theory in practice, consider the following responses from three experts working within the field of symphonic music when they are asked the question, “Have you noticed any tangible decline in symphonic music over the past decade?” In the interview, the critic stated that “there is no decline” and that “symphonic music is healthier than ever.” 61 He cites the increased availability of broadcasts and recordings online, proliferation of commissioned pieces, emergence of new orchestras, and increased attendance by 60 "Cognitive Dissonance." ScienceDaily. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/c/cognitive_dissonance.htm>. 61 Swed, Mark. “Mark Swed Interview.” Personal interview. 16 Jan 2015. 33 young people. 62 However, he does not cite specific data to substantiate these claims, instead relying on anecdotal experience to base his judgment. Similarly, it is interesting to note what he considers when measuring the health of the orchestra. Through the examples he provided, the state of the orchestra can be directly correlated to the distribution of information, accessibility of symphonic works, and the overall quality and fruitfulness of the art form. He does not mention finances as a vital part in determining decline. The conductor interviewed approaches the subject more judiciously, stating his observation that it depends which symphony orchestra is being discussed. 63 He says, “it depends” on the tier and city in which the orchestra is located. 64 His explanation continues to pinpoint that “Tier 1 – which is New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Boston – those orchestras, I feel, are doing just fine. They always have funding, they always have people who are supportive of it. It's a vibrant community and the culture for orchestra is really good. So, I don't think they're having much of a problem.” 65 Again, without providing the statistical data to support his comments, there is no reason to believe tiers have anything to do with success. The health of the organization depends on more than funding, especially since “funding” cannot be differentiated between private donors and revenues from ticket sales. He noticeably does not mention attendance as a factor in realizing the health of a symphony orchestra. An arts programmer also offered his own thoughts on the overall outlook on the industry of symphonic music (a distinction he believes must be carefully separated from the art of symphonic music).” 66 He states, “I think we're in…more than a little bit of a transition phase 62 Mark Swed, 2015. 63 Harada, Keitaro. “Keitaro Harada Interview.” Personal interview. 22 Dec 2014. 64 ibid. 65 ibid. 66 Kenneth Foster, 2015. 34 right now in that many orchestras are struggling to survive.” 67 In his explanation he also does not cite facts, but attributes the transition to the fact that donors’ “kids don't care, and even if they had a lot of money and they're passing it on to their kids, their kids aren't putting them into symphony orchestras because they just don't care.” 68 Attributing such a specific, hyper-focused issue to the industry’s “transition” is a lofty claim. This explanation neither mentions finances or audiences directly, but addresses the problem of retaining donors. The interviewees were chosen for their experience with orchestras in their respective careers and their ability to speak with expertise on the issue. However, they don’t all agree on the idea of decline or what it looks like from one organization to another. Though this cannot be generalized to all industry experts, the fact that there was no consensus highlights a complicated problem rooted deep into some administrative positions. Tackling falling attendance is a difficult task with so much cognitive dissonance from important, decision-making leaders. In order for the orchestra to be able to make true change, even within its marketing and public relations efforts, a group of arts leaders will have to sit down and agree upon the state of symphonic music, as well as the most glaring issues contributing to decline. Even viewing this dissonance through the microcosm of this paper shows that those close to the product aren’t always focused on money – they also care about the quality of performances and whether or not the next generation of corporate donors will find enough funding to help sustain the industry for a number of years to come. To regular patrons of classical music performances, trying to find a specific area of “decline” can be a challenge. The author chooses to use financial and attendance data to support the idea of a decline, but audiences may also take into account the artistic achievements of each 67 Kenneth Foster, 2015. 68 ibid. 35 performing arts group, their creativity and their ability to cultivate an active arts community. All aspects of symphonic music help give the genre of music its identity, but decline cannot be defined through anecdotal evidence alone. 36 Chapter 6: Meet the Millennials For the basis of this paper, when referencing “Millennials,” the author has adopted the definition set forth by Pew Research, as of 2014. According to Pew Research, “adult Millennials” are individuals who range from 18 to 33 years old and were born between 1981 and 1996. 69 However, it must also be noted that much of the information provided by organizations like the National Endowment of the Arts, from which much of the statistical data is derived, refers simply to “adults” or specific age groups, such as 18 to 24 year olds or 25 to 34 year olds. 70 Underscoring the importance of targeting this specific demographic is necessary to truly grasp the Millennials’ potential impact on the future of symphonic music and culture. Perhaps one of the most staggering statistics is that “Millennials are the largest generation in human history, and at nearly 90 million people in the United States they will very soon make up the vast majority of our orchestras’ stakeholders, constituents, audience, staff members and supporters - and instrumentalists.” 71 Though it is a lofty goal to attempt to attract the entirety of the broadly- defined “Millennials,” it would be an oversight to undersell the magnitude of pulling in even a fragment of this audience; it could be the difference between gaining or losing millions of dollars each fiscal year. Though already a point inferred by stating the sheer numbers that this target audience constitutes, the financial power of this young group is a reason to approach public relations strategy with great urgency. The White House recently published that “by 2017, [Millennials] 69 "Millennials in Adulthood." Pew Research Center 7 Mar. 2014. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. <http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/03/07/millennials-in-adulthood/>. 70 ibid. 71 Peter Sachon. "Millennial America." ArtsJournal 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/2014/04/from-peter-sachon.html>. 37 will surpass the buying power of the baby boomer generation.” 72 Where they choose to spend their dollars will translate in a financial boon for that particular business or company. Many of the Baby Boomers patronized the orchestra, so the burning question is whether or not Millennials will continue on their predecessors’ traditions once they have the buying power to spend on miscellaneous activities and causes. To add another dimension to the overall demographics, Millennials are the most racially diverse of any previous generation. Pew Research reports that “43% of Millennial adults are non- white” and that a “major factor behind this trend is the large wave of Hispanic and Asian immigrants who have been coming to the U.S. for the past half century, and whose U.S.-born children are now aging into adulthood.” 73 Marketing and public relations relies on appropriate audience segmentation, and demographics include more than age or socio-economic status. In the previous chapter about the historical context of orchestras, the influx of non-Western- European immigrants caused the classical music community to brainstorm ways to attract these new audiences. Again, though a point worthy of consideration, cultural marketing does not fall within the bounds of the research conducted in this paper. The main point to gather from this fact about immigrants is that audiences constantly require different types of messaging. Demographics aside, it is vital to look at other defining characteristics of this generation. For example, listening to music is an important and regular activity for Millennials. Viacom’s Scratch compiled a list of consumption habits that paint a more concrete picture of the way this 72 "15 Economic Facts About Millennials." White House. The Council of Economic Advisers, 1 Oct. 2014. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/millennials_report.pdf>. 73 “Millennials in Adulthood,” 2014. 38 group interacts with music 74 . In Scratch’s study, “music” is not segmented by genre, but its findings shed light on the opportunities to capitalize on general trends. Rather than serve as a genre-based deep dive into consumer interests, the study shows the different types of music interactions that exist today. The study found that “92% of Millennials have participated in some sort of music activity in the last month,” indicating how pervasive music is in American and global culture. 75 In addition, “74% of Millennials have a strong interest in music.” 76 While this is in no way a promise that Millennials can be persuaded to consume classical music, what the figures imply is that music and musical organizations might be a way to reach a broad audience in an organic and meaningful manner. The idea of music itself is extremely important and relevant to this young age group. The study also shows that live music is still one of the most sought-after pieces of entertainment. Yearly, approximately 56% of Millennials globally attend music concerts, and a similarly high 48% have attended a music festival. 77 Live performances are still massively important to them despite their reliance and dependency on digital activities. In fact, one in three say they are attending more live music events now than before. 78 What about the performances make them so appealing, and how can orchestras capture the spirit of attending a music festival as Millennials know it? 74 "I Want My Music." Viacom Research & Insights. Viacom International Media Networks, 12 Mar. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. <http://vimninsights.viacom.com/post/79367203141/mtv- knowing-youth-i-want-my-music-everybody>. 75 ibid. 76 ibid. 77 ibid. 78 ibid. 39 Shifting back to the arts, the National Endowment of the Arts recently released a supplement to its annual SPPA survey in January 2015. 79 The key findings provided great insight into the motivations and barriers between the arts and adult audiences. In terms of motivation, 73% of respondents answered that the social aspect is the biggest reason why they attend the arts. 80 This is followed by learning (64%), the thrill of a new experience (63%) and to support the community (51%). 81 The barriers include lack of time (47%), cost (38%), accessibility (73%), and the difficulty of finding others to go with (22%). 82 Diving into motivation and barriers can produce surprising results for the public relations professional. For example, though the particular survey was not limited to Millennials, its results are nearly parallel to the concerns specific to this generation. Of the eight most frequent outcomes found above, nearly three-quarters of the participants cited that they go to the arts because it is an important part of their social lives. 83 Though the social aspect lends itself well to other arts activities, such as attending art museums and outdoor music festivals, the challenge lies within marketing a symphony where attendees must remain silent while the orchestra performs pieces that range anywhere from ten minutes to over an hour. In an interview with the author, Keitaro Harada adds that Millennials are faced with more entertainment options than ever. “We’ve got Miley Cyrus, we've got Lady Gaga, we've got musicals, we've got movie theatres, Netflix, Internet…the competition is just fierce.” 84 It is difficult to push relevancy in a society where one has global access with a simple Google search. 79 "Surprising Findings in Three New NEA Reports on the Arts." National Endowment for the Arts. 12 Jan. 2015. Web. 3 Feb. 2015. <http://arts.gov/news/2015/surprising-findings-three-new- nea-reports-arts>. 80 ibid. 81 ibid. 82 ibid. 83 ibid. 84 Keitaro Harada, 2014. 40 As an accomplished conductor falling within the Millennials segment, Harada has a unique understanding of the target group, including the ever-growing list of barriers that separate the art form from the recipient. By performing a cursory web search for the terms “Millennials” and “marketing,” it takes only seconds to fully realize that capturing this audience is on the forefront of the minds of Corporate America. A study by AdWeek reveals that Millennials are more aware than their predecessors of the role brands play in their everyday lives. 85 Not only do they feel immense emotional connections with brands, but they aren’t afraid to advocate for the brands they love. Just a few of the ways they become brand ambassadors are by showing support on Facebook with a “like,” telling a friend directly and subscribing to newsletters. 86 Another intriguing development in marketing to this group is that they are willing to use their social outlets to share brand videos, even if they are blatant advertisements. 87 These psychographics shed light onto what moves this generation. In a straw poll also conducted by AdWeek in October 2014, 51% of Millennials stated that they did not own a television, marking a dramatic shift in the way media is consumed. 88 Another insight into the ways media is distributed can be found in the group’s usage of social media. Of the respondents interviewed, 91% had a Facebook account, 73% were on Instagram and 56% had a profile on the newcomer Snapchat. 89 This information is particularly useful when compounded with the insight 85 Melissa Hoffmann. "Attention Brands: This Is How You Get Millennials to Like You." AdWeek6 Oct. 2014. Web. 4 Jan. 2015. <http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising- branding/attention-brands-how-you-get-millennials-you-160575>. 86 ibid. 87 ibid. 88 Emma Bazilian. "What Do Millennials Really Want?" AdWeek 6 Oct. 2014. Web. 20 Dec. 2014. <http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/what-do-millennials-really-want- 160573>. 89 ibid. 41 that “musical taste [is] something that helps them connect with other people.” 90 In the age of social media, connecting is a high priority for this group. For a musical group, this could mean heavy competition but numerous opportunities. Millennials, just as their Baby Boomer counterparts, have somehow found themselves placed under this umbrella term. Even so, it would not be reasonable to assume that one size fits all for each member of this group. Orchestras must tread lightly so as not to completely redefine the art form, but PR and marketing are the support teams that can help catapult the symphony to relevancy among this group once again. 90 “I Want My Music,” 2014. 42 Chapter 7: The Challenge of Marketing Orchestras Marketing the orchestra has been a challenge for decades, and it only becomes increasingly difficult as new digital and social platforms emerge each year. Many orchestras operate on a limited budget, so making decisions about where to place funds is often a battle in itself. More so, a careful balance must be achieved in order to cast the widest net, target the desired demographics, and avoid alienating the majority of the current audience who is content with the idea of the “old school” symphony. Traditionally, the orchestras relied on marketing the upcoming season as a subscription series. This meant that interested concertgoers would select a particular day of the week to attend for the duration of the season or, alternatively, a block of concerts that were of great interest. 91 In essence, it acted in the same way that season tickets work for sports teams. The problem with this model is that it refuses to flex with the times and with the audience who, faced with more leisure-time options than ever, have become all but unwilling to look forward several months in advance. 92 Classical organizations are left grappling with what this means for their promotional strategies and tactics. In regards to the subscription model, all the interviewees agreed on one thing: it is broken, and it no longer works. Music critic Mark Swed says, “Nobody really wants to set up the, ‘all my Thursdays are going to be doing this’ approach.” 93 He claims that this added pressure negatively affects the ability of the symphony orchestra to plan repertoire that may be more challenging or explorative in favor of works that will fare well in the eyes of its diverse 91 Philip Kennicott. "America's Orchestras Are in Crisis." New Republic 25 Aug. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. <http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114221/orchestras-crisis-outreach-ruining- them>. 92 ibid. 93 Mark Swed, 2015. 43 audiences. 94 Conductor Keitaro Harada says, “Are we chained to the money that we gain from subscriptions? Yay and nay.” 95 He continues to add that this is the reason why the orchestra still issues direct mailers, especially in preparation for the beginning of each season. Subscriptions allow orchestras to function more comfortably, and with more insurance, during the regular season. Deborah Borda, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was quoted as saying, “Today orchestras are forced to sell concerts piecemeal, which costs three and a half times what was required to market subscription concerts.” 96 In already tumultuous times for the symphony orchestra and classical music, this type of financial strain could be devastating for an orchestra, especially ones which do not have the type of endowments boasted by many Tier 1 groups. This pressure could be the seminal reason why the push for change within these organizations seems to meet consternation. Kenneth Foster gives an anecdote that sums up the common perception the symphony orchestra, and the reactions of administrators: “You'll hear a lot of people say, ‘I look out in the audience and I see all that gray hair, and it doesn't worry me a bit because I know these young people, when they get gray hair, they'll be there in the audience. But that might have been true in the ‘50s, but now there's no reason to expect that to happen because they've had no exposure.” 97 The previous quote illustrates the danger of having marketing professionals who are unaware or unwilling to adapt to trends occurring in the public relations and marketing industries. According to the League of American Orchestras (LOAO), the main strategies that orchestras have used time and time again are “traditional advertising, direct mail, education, 94 ibid. 95 Keitaro Harada, 2014. 96 Philip Kennicott, 2013. 97 Kenneth Foster, 2015. 44 community engagement, loyalty programs, and festivals.” 98 In the same study, LOAO says that these traditional strategies have “proven to be effective in engaging audiences.” 99 The profile of Millennials shows a world much different than the one discussed above, and the tactics mentioned could perhaps be considered “effective” among older audiences, but that is not necessarily true for the target Millennials. In just the five years after 2009, when the study was conducted, new studies illustrate a much more accurate picture of the activities now being used by public relations professionals. According to the USC Annenberg’s 2014 Generally Accepted Practices (GAP) study, respondents deemed “to be representative of the broad population of senior practitioners” answered a series of questions meant to examine the current state of the public relations function. 100 98 "Audience Demographic Research Review." 10 Dec. 2009. Web. 11 Jan. 2015. <http://www.ccga.edu/Advancement/Foundation/CommitteeInfo/files/AudienceDemographicRe view.pdf>. 99 “Audience Demographic Research Review,” 2009. 100 "GAP VIII: Eighth Communication and Public Relations Generally Accepted Practices Study (Q4 2013 Data)." USC Annenberg School of Journalism and Communication. 12 June 2014. Web. 7 Jan. 2015. <http://ascjweb.org/gapstudy/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GAP-VIII- Presentation-Final-6.12.2014.pdf>. Type of Activity Mean Creating content designed to be spread via social media 5.16 Twitter 5.11 Production of online videos 5.01 Facebook 4.77 Print newspapers 4.75 45 To establish context towards the “extent of usage” of common PR activities, respondents were asked to rate usage of activities from a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest usage and 10 being the highest usage). 101 Above is a snapshot of the top five results of that particular question, in terms of the mean frequency. As seen in the table above, none of the activities mentioned by the LOAO were present in the top five activities of public relations professionals. Four of the five activities listed in the graph are based entirely on the web. Symphony orchestras communicate using direct mail and other ways that don’t allow for active consumer engagement. In LOAO’s findings, social media isn’t even mentioned, even though the GAP report shows that it is the most widely used vehicle in PR functions. One of most fundamental problems with sending out brochures alone is that the only true measure of success for this tactic is whether or not the individuals who received the brochure end up buying tickets to a concert. However, though the strategies should always reflect the ultimate business goal, which, in this case is selling seats to concerts, content online can be measured extensively. By use of analytics, it is possible to send out a broad array of content and measure which potentially touched audiences more than others. When dealing with content made especially for the web, it can measure whether or not audiences reacted emotionally to a post. Shareable media can also have effects beyond their distribution, as they achieve new life fueled entirely by consumers who may choose to share content. 101 GAP VIII, 2014. 46 Given the amount of information now available on Millennials’ consuming habits, the question of strategy remains. What are some of the common challenges being faced by orchestra marketers today? To gain better understanding into the industry, below are real quotes from unnamed orchestra marketers taken directly from the League of American Orchestras (2009): 102 • “Beyond my ‘core audience’ I’m not exactly sure who to prioritize my marketing outreach toward.” • “I know I’m getting a good share of potential audiences to come through the door, but I’m just not sure where and why I lose them on the back-end.” • “I’m not sure my segmentation is ideal, but I just don’t have the resources to dedicate to it.” The preceding qualitative comments from professionals in the industry identify three key issues: lack of appropriate audience segmentation, lack of resources dedicated to the public relations and marketing functions, and inability to fight the churn that often comes with first-time orchestra patrons. These key issues can all be addressed with innovative strategies and tactics stemming from the communications roles of each of these organizations. In order to get a grasp of the realm of marketing possibilities, orchestra administrators should be aware of successful Millennial-attracting initiatives found both in classical music and in the consumer products which have obtained the loyalty of young people in the United States. 102 “Audience Demographic Research Review,” 2009. 47 Chapter 8: Content Analysis of Orchestra Marketing Strategies Symphony orchestras across the United States are increasingly adopting new programs aimed at attracting and engaging Millennials. Below are a few case examples that help illustrate the types of strategies and tactics currently in place at major symphony orchestras in the United States. The author searched news explicitly about the following symphonies from the dates of January 1, 2013 to January 1, 2015: New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and Detroit Symphony. The campaigns below were specifically chosen from the news stream because they display characteristics congruent with the activities and interests of Millennials. New York Philharmonic a. 2001: A Space Odyssey In 2013, the New York Philharmonic incorporated a visual element to one of its performances by playing the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey while simultaneously screening the film. 103 This is the first time the movie, in its entirety, has been played with a live orchestral accompaniment. While the programming may appear to be yet another Pops-style cinematic tribute performance, such as a John Williams Star Wars concert, it should be noted that Kubrick’s science-fiction film actually utilizes symphonic music from the classical cannon, including works by Gyorgy Ligeti, Aram Khachaturian and Richard Strauss. 104 103 Anthony Tommasini. "With Feet on the Ground, the Orchestra Travels Through Space." The New York Times 22 Sept. 2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/arts/music/new-york-philharmonic-plays-2001-a-space- odyssey.html?_r=0>. 104 ibid. 48 This fact that the music can be labeled as “classical” is significant because it allowed the orchestra to walk the fine line between attracting Millennials and retaining the loyal, older audiences. Orchestras may struggle with the fear of alienating regular patrons who are genuinely interested in symphonic music as it is typically performed, as a traditional program of classical masterworks featuring the group as the main focal point on stage. However, they may also feel the pressure of having to also appeal to younger generations who expect more of a multi-faceted, multi-media experience out of their concert outings. This movie allowed the symphony to strike a balance between the needs of the older and younger generations. Kubrick’s film connects with Baby Boomer crowds on a nostalgic level and with Millennials, whose interest is piqued by the cult-classic appeal. 105 Additionally, this type of event invites creative promotional opportunities. Instead of selling a concert of “Ligeti, Khachaturian and Strauss,” the communications team is able to promote “Music from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.” The end benefit of that campaign is that a broader range of audience members will have been exposed to classical symphonic music, thus increasing the likelihood of future patronage. The New York Philharmonic sold the show as part of a two-performance package entitled, “The Art of the Score.” 106 In the days leading up to the event, they announced a contest on social media sites for a drawing to award two tickets to the screening of the film. 107 To identify the campaign, they also used a hashtag (#TheArtOfTheScore) to promote the package along with facts like “Did you know @nyphil was the 1st symphony to record a movie 105 "2001: A Space Odyssey." IMDb. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://imdb.to/1lfI3UW>. 106 "Win Tickets to Hitchcock and Space Odyssey!" 4 Sept. 2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. <http://nyphil.tumblr.com/post/60283800012/win-tickets-to-hitchcock-and-2001-a-space>. 107 ibid. 49 soundtrack?” 108 Though a laudable attempt to encourage online engagement, the campaign could have focused more on the social media sites that lend themselves to audio and visual, such as Vine, Instagram and Snapchat. b. The Lincoln Center Kitchen New York City is known for its fine dining, and the opening of the Lincoln Center Kitchen in 2014 was a highly anticipated addition. 109 Housed beneath the New York Philharmonic’s performing space, the new restaurant boasted that “on evenings when the orchestra plays, the music will be piped into the restaurant's dining room. 110 Some of this music includes “an upcoming performance of Mahler's First Symphony, plus an evening of Italian cinema themes with performances by Joshua Bell, Renee Fleming and Josh Groban.” 111 However, according to analysis of the restaurant’s Yelp page, the experience has been negative for many patrons. 112 Taking into consideration the inaccuracies sometimes associated with social sharing sites such as Yelp, critics cite lack of food quality as their greatest reason for negative reviews. 113 Noticeably absent were any comments of the music or orchestra-sanctioned events that were publicized to be amplified in the restaurant. Utilized correctly, this venue could be an effective tool at ushering in new audiences in a non-threatening way. 108 Twitter. Web. 22 Nov. 2014. <https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=#theartofthescore&src=typd>. 109 Nell Casey. "Enjoy The NY Philharmonic While You Dine At New Lincoln Center Kitchen."Gothamist 19 Sept. 2014. Web. 20 Dec. 2014. <http://gothamist.com/2014/09/19/lincoln_center_kitchen.php#photo-1>. 110 ibid. 111 ibid. 112 "Lincoln Center Kitchen." Yelp. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.yelp.com/biz/lincoln-center- kitchen-new-york-2>. 113 ibid. 50 As explored in previous chapters, the social factor is the greatest motivator for adults to attend the arts. 114 For a performing arts organization, having a restaurant to facilitate various social events is a valuable advantage. Through the promise of a dining experience, the New York Philharmonic can broaden its reach while still maintaining the integrity of the actual concert. However, it must be sure to treat the dining experience, especially during performances at Lincoln Center, as a key part of the messaging, rather than simply an afterthought. c. The Biennial Perhaps the most ambitious of the New York Philharmonic’s undertakings was its inaugural “Biennial” event, an eleven-day set of performances meant to “offer audiences a snapshot of the state of today’s music.” 115 The event consisted of 21 concerts set across New York City each curated by a musician and featuring new, original music. 116 The musicians represented in the event range anywhere from high school students to established composers. 117 Although the compositions were not exclusively symphonic works, the entire event was sponsored by the Philharmonic and led by Music Director Alan Gilbert. 118 A dedicated website for the event helped ease any concern that Millennials may feel about attending the events. 119 For example, each of the performances featured a page including all pertinent information for new-comers, such as the names of the performers, background information on the composers and repertoire, and even teaser video trailers giving brief 114 “Surprising Findings,” 2015. 115 "Let's Play." NY Phil Biennial. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Dec. 2014. <http://nyphil.org/files/biennial/index.html>. 116 ibid. 117 ibid. 118 ibid. 119 ibid. 51 overviews about the performances. 120 The “Biennial Minute” YouTube videos served as recaps and measured between 800 and 1700 views each. 121 In order to encourage the idea of having concerts become social events, the page even contains links to book restaurant reservations through OpenTable. Also, a frequently asked questions page helped dispel the mystery of concert attendance by answering questions like “What is a symphony orchestra?” or “What should I wear?” 122 The orchestra clearly demonstrated an understanding of the way new audiences might perceive instrumental performances. A successful part of this campaign is the New York Philharmonic’s attempts to distribute information digitally to put less-experienced audiences at ease. However, new music bears a little more explanation than the typical concert, and the YouTube videos missed the opportunity to enlighten viewers on the subject matter. Cleveland Orchestra a. “Under 18s Free” The Cleveland Orchestra has long been seen as one of the premiere symphonic organizations in the United States, but it has also clearly identified exposing the youth to classical music as a long-term strategy for success. In 2011, under the leadership of Chief Marketing Officer Ross Binnie, the orchestra began a program entitled “Under 18s Free”. 123 The program makes symphony performances an option for families after finding that they often avoid 120 “Let’s Play,” 2014. 121 Inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL. 2014. Film. 122 ibid. 123 "Under 18s Free (For Families)." The Cleveland Orchestra. Web. 7 Jan. 2015. <http://www.clevelandorchestra.com/tickets/under-18s-free-for-families/>. 52 the concert hall due to price concerns. 124 In the symphony orchestra’s iconic Severance Hall and its summer home at the Blossom Music Center, for every regular-priced ticket purchased, a child between the ages of 7 to 17 may be admitted for free. 125 As of 2014, this program has shown at least two measures of success, both in attendance and audience engagement. In fact, since the program’s inception, over 100,000 free tickets have been used at both of its performance locations. 126 This initiative is worth deconstructing due to its ability to attract a wide range of potential concert-goers without detracting from the art form itself. Though a 100,000 ticket hit seems like a large sum for orchestras with limited funding, the program insures that children who might not otherwise attend an orchestra have exposure to the concert hall and classical symphonic performance. This is a direct investment in the orchestra’s future, and it shows an awareness that the next generation of concert-goers will originate from the children of today. An additional benefit is gathering the whole family for the purpose of watching a classical music performance. By doing so, the orchestra is positioning itself as a commonplace activity for the typical family. When it comes time to decide what to do for the weekend, the options will include attending a sports event, watching a movie, going to the park or attending the local symphony performance. Though this strategy to attract Millennials requires a significant buffer time to fully measure success, it is a sensible attempt to incorporate the symphony orchestra into the new realities of the modern family. 124 “Under 18s Free,” n.d. 125 ibid. 126 Lewis, Zachary. "Cleveland Orchestra Posts Surplus, Audience Surge and Endowment Growth in 2014 Annual Report." Cleveland.com 2 Dec. 2014. Web. 27 Nov. 2014. <http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2014/12/cleveland_orchestra_posts_surp.html >. 53 b. Neighborhood residency In 2014, the Cleveland Orchestra announced its annual residency in Slavic Village, a Cleveland-area neighborhood. 127 The yearlong residency culminated in a free public concert that takes place within the neighborhood, which is determined by orchestra administration (ibid). In addition, orchestra members present performances free of charge at various locations, including businesses, civic centers and churches. 128 This program gives the orchestra a unique chance to reach new audiences who may have never been exposed to a professional classical orchestra. Various groups might opt to skip the orchestra for a number of reasons, including transportation concerns, ticket prices and intimidation of the unknown. By bringing music to the people in their communities, the orchestras show an effort to reach new audiences in a more personal way. Audience segmentation is an important public relations activity that could provide the ideal location for an orchestra performance. c. Summers@Severance The Cleveland Orchestra, like many others, holds a summer residency in a location different than that of their normal concert hall. 129 While the majority of the summer series is still played at Bloom Auditorium, the orchestra also has begun featuring summer concerts at its 127 Lewis, Zachary. "Cleveland Orchestra Selects Slavic Village for 2015 Neighborhood Residency." Cleveland.com 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. <http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2014/11/cleveland_orchestra_selects_sl_1.htm l>. 128 ibid. 129 Lewis, Zachary. "Cleveland Orchestra Launches New Summer Concert Series at Severance Hall." Cleveland.com 1 Aug. 2014. Web. 5 Jan. 2015. <http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2014/07/cleveland_orchestra_launches_s.html >. 54 primary concert hall, Severance Hall, in a program entitled “Summers@Severance.” 130 The series grants listeners the opportunity to see concerts with “earlier start times, shorter programs, refreshments, and pre- and post-concert activities.” 131 Summer concert series at a residency home often include many Pops options, such as film music or selections from a specific audience. Because of the very nature of those concerts, it is difficult to draw audiences from one venue to another – in this case, from an outdoor concert venue to the traditional concert hall. This provides listeners with the attractive elements of attending summer concerts, as well as exposes them to the concert hall. What may seem like minor details, such as knowing the layout or parking situation of the hall, can take the fear out of attending a traditional symphonic concert. Los Angeles Philharmonic a. The Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is a Southern California icon, sitting at the foot of the hill bearing the famous “Hollywood” sign. Its amphitheater has been a summer staple since the 1920s, hosting acts from Diana Krall to the Beatles. 132 In addition, it is “the largest natural outdoor amphitheater in the United States,” as well as “a public park and picnic ground.” 133 The venue is home to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the summer residency of Gustavo Dudamel (and a host of equally renowned guest conductors) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 130 “Cleveland Orchestra Launches,” 2014. 131 ibid. 132 "Guide For Newcomers." Hollywood Bowl. Web. 24 Dec. 2014. <http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/visit/guide-newcomers>. 133 ibid. 55 Overall, the geographic location of the Hollywood Bowl makes it attractive for tourism, as it sits just a stone’s throw away from landmarks such as the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. However, pertinent to the topic of conversation are the “Classical Tuesdays and Thursdays” during the summer, where the Los Angeles Philharmonic played masterworks in 2014 with guest soloists like cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Joshua Bell. 134 This should not be confused with the Pops concerts performed during this time, such as John Williams concerts or Sound of Music sing-a-longs. In terms of marketing and public relations, performances at the Hollywood Bowl can be promoted from various angles, whether by using the venue itself, focusing on the conductor or leveraging the reputations of the slew of guests appearing during the summer months. Audiences are able to attend without the insecurity of being underdressed or understanding proper concert etiquette. At the Hollywood Bowl, it is entirely appropriate to bring picnic food and even alcohol to consume during the performances. If the goal of attracting Millennials can be achieved by increasing exposure, the Hollywood Bowl can introduce the genre in a way that they can relate to. b. “Get Your Phil” Los Angeles is one of the most diverse cities in the United States, making it a natural destination for food enthusiasts and restaurateurs. The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s home, the Disney Concert Hall, happens to conveniently be nestled in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, where it is surrounded by several critically-acclaimed restaurants. As part of the “Get Your Phil” 134 "Hollywood Bowl 2015 Season." Discover Los Angeles 4 Feb. 2014. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. <http://tmd.discoverlosangeles.com/blog/hollywood-bowl-2015-season>. 56 campaign, with the purchase of a ticket for select concerts, the Los Angeles Philharmonic grants audience members the ability to “secure an exclusive $25 dollar, multi-course prix-fixe menu from nearby, high-end dining establishments.” 135 In addition, the orchestra also provides complimentary shuttle service from the pre-selected restaurants to the concerts. 136 This campaign shows the Philharmonic’s ability to partner with companies that would also benefit from attracting the Millennial crowd. Restaurants are a natural choice because they are common gathering areas for all walks of life, and they allow organic social congregation. The $25 prix-fixe menu has a price point that is low enough for young people, especially when it is accompanied by a complimentary shuttle to the destination. Additionally, restaurants and bars also face a significant amount of competition, and working together with an external organization like the Los Angeles Philharmonic can help to differentiate them and attract new customers. c. CODA In 2014, the Los Angeles Philharmonic began its inaugural season of its Millennial audience engagement program, CODA. The program is designed to appeal to who they refer to as “young music enthusiasts in their 20s and 30s.” 137 Members of this group also enjoy admission 135 Bolois, Justin. "L.A. Philharmonic Launches "Get Your Phil" Prix-Fixe Dinner Packages." Los Angeles Magazine 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 7 Jan. 2015. <http://www.lamag.com/digestblog/dine-discount-prix-fixe-menus-dtla-part-l-philharmonics-get- phil/>. 136 ibid. 137 "The Los Angeles Philharmonic Launches CODA, a Brand New Group for Young Music Enthusiasts in Their 20s and 30s." Hollywood Bowl. 6 Nov. 2014. Web. 5 Jan. 2015. <http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/press/los-angeles-philharmonic-launches-coda-brand-new- group-for-young-music-enthusiasts-their-20s>. 57 to after-parties and discounts on ticket prices. 138 Perhaps the most surprising fact about CODA is that it was only recently instituted; past events from the Philadelphia Orchestra’s similar “Young Friends” program shows the program dates back to at least 2012. This strategy is particularly effective because, as mentioned in several instances, adults crave socialization. What this program achieves is the combination of activities Millennials would otherwise partake in on a given weekend, such as spending time with friends, going out to bars for a night out on the town and participating in mixers. The concert programs associated with these special CODA night concerts all fall within the classical canon, including composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Dvorak. As supplemental activities, Millennial engagement events help give culture and a community to audiences not typically interested in the symphony without taking away from the integrity of the performances. The social angle makes sense as a marketing tactic, and it can further be enhanced through the use of transmedia. Chicago Symphony a. The Ravinia Festival The Chicago Symphony’s summer residency takes place at Ravinia Park, which is home to the Ravinia Festival, the “oldest outdoor music festival in North America.” 139 Located on a waterfront just north of Chicago in Highland Park, the venue includes several stages, indoors and outdoors. 140 Just as the Hollywood Bowl hosts non-classical guests, so does Ravinia. 138 ibid. 139 About the Ravinia Festival. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.ravinia.org/Page/AboutUs>. 140 ibid. 58 For college-aged Millennials, one of the most appealing aspects of Ravinia are ticket prices. 141 In a clear attempt to bring Ravinia attendees back to its Chicago Symphony Center during the regular orchestra season, college students and children are able to attend all classical performances for free after presenting a valid school ID. 142 Regularly priced tickets for lawn seats are also affordable at $10 per ticket and the “Classical Grass Pass” is valid for 10 concerts and costs a discounted $80. 143 The idea behind making concerts free is the same one that has made “Under 18s Free” program from the Cleveland Orchestra so successful - to invest in the future and make sure Millennials continue to attend the orchestra. This festival grants concert-goers options in terms of genre of music and which performing space they would like to attend. Overall, presenting high quality music is the priority. The next is eliminating any potential barriers that may exist between the organization and its audience. In this case, the barrier was price, leaving Millennials with fewer reasons to miss out on classical performances. b. Sounds & Voices In 2014, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra “responded to changes in media consumption behavior and shifts in the media landscape,” something they strongly believe has “affected arts and music journalism.” 144 They did so by creating an online platform in the form of the digital, 141 Louise Burton. "HIGHLIGHTS: Chicago Symphony's Ravinia Festival 2014 Announces Classical Programming for “Summer of Love/Season of Stars”." Classicalite 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.classicalite.com/articles/6376/20140228/highlights-chicago- symphonys-ravinia-festival-2014-announces-classical-programming-for-summer-of-love-season- of-stars.htm>. 142 ibid. 143 ibid. 144 Jane Levere. "Chicago Symphony Orchestra Launches Online, Multimedia Magazine."Forbes 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Dec. 2014. 59 multimedia magazine, Sounds & Voices. 145 In fact, they have claimed ownership of the idea, stating that they are they first and only major American orchestra currently operating a magazine dedicated entirely to music journalism. 146 By description alone, the idea is novel and does its part to solve a larger problem facing orchestras, which is an inability to connect to young audiences. The website delivers on its promise to incorporate different forms of multimedia, such as photos, audio and video as they pertain to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 147 The hub serves as a brand journalism site in which content is curated from various writers across the United States. The magazine reads seamlessly, including links to video, ticket sales and other corresponding information. This non- aggressive approach to creating an organized resource speaks to Millennials who are accustomed to receiving information in this way. c. Beyond the Score The Chicago Symphony has taken steps to show it is committed to multimedia storytelling, as its “Beyond the Score” performances have been a staple for the past nine years. 148 In these performances, the Chicago Symphony takes a well-known piece of symphonic work and utilizes elements like actors, videos and spoken word to enhance the audience’s understanding of 145 Jane Levere, 2014. 146 ibid. 147 "From Bach to Brahms." CSO Sounds & Stories. Web. 4 Jan. 2015. <http://csosoundsandstories.org/category/from-bach-to-brahms/>. 148 Lindsay Christians. "'Beyond the Score' Explores a Beloved Symphony Using Live Actors, Film and Photos." The Cap Times 20 Jan. 2014. Web. 2 Jan. 2015. <http://host.madison.com/news/local/city-life/beyond-the-score-explores-a-beloved-symphony- using-live-actors/article_ca5c81bb-1b02-5f72-801e-3c7f0c858873.html>. 60 the history of the work and the composer. 149 The concerts are meant to be “both educational and theatrical” and “an exploration of what elements in and around a composer helped shape a piece of music.” 150 These informative and entertaining events are an effective gateway towards making symphonic music relevant to new audiences. Performing the work across multi-media platforms increases the likelihood that a Millennial might be able to connect with the art form. One of the biggest criticisms of symphonic music is that it does not give the audience options in the way it is consumed, but the Beyond the Score concerts prove that there are ways for major symphony orchestras to communicate with its younger audience members without alienating the older crowds. Detroit Symphony a. Live broadcasting The Detroit Symphony has had a turbulent decade financially. Devastated by the fall of the city’s lifeline, the automobile industry, Detroit faced a dire battle against economics, leaving the 85 members of the orchestra to embark on a months-long strike. 151 Today, it is once again in the black and is now known as one of the most ambitious top-tier orchestras because it has taken the opportunity to push the envelope on technology through live streaming. 149 Lindsay Christians, 2014. 150 ibid. 151 Ed Pilkington. "Top Players Fall Silent as Detroit Symphony Orchestra Fights for Survival."The Guardian 20 Nov. 2010. Web. 22 Dec. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/19/detroit-symphony-orchestra-strike>. 61 Richmond Symphony Conductor Keitaro Harada agrees that the symphony has struck a chord with audiences. 152 He says “they’re doing something that is super innovative, and they are gaining so much attention because they are broadcasting all their major concerts online..so anyone around the world can watch it for free.” 153 He continues by adding that “It's very real and you get the feeling of being there.” 154 His comments raise the issue of barriers of price and accessibility. Touting itself as “the most accessible orchestra on the planet,” the Detroit Symphony has opened up its weekend performances to the entire world through a live broadcast hosted through its website. 155 Through the broadcasts, as long as the user has internet access, he will have access to performances such as Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique for free, signaling that changes may be brewing in the industry of symphonic music. 156 Though only “a little more than 2,500 stream each concert,” the orchestra finds it to be a meaningful way to connect with its audiences who can’t make it to the concert hall. 157 Deborah F. Rutter, President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, was quoted as saying, “My daughter is a rabid music consumer but doesn’t own a single piece of anything.” 158 She acknowledges the new realities associated with the Millennials segment, stating “If I want to interest her in concerts, I need to communicate with her in the way that she listens 152 Keitaro Harada, 2014. 153 ibid. 154 ibid. 155 Michael Cooper and Rebecca Schmid. "Detroit Symphony Dives Headlong Into Streaming."The New York Times 21 Mar. 2014. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/22/arts/music/detroit-symphony-dives-headlong-into- streaming.html>. 156 ibid. 157 ibid. 158 ibid. 62 and learns.” 159 The program incorporates classical symphonic music and technology while completely eliminating the price of a ticket, making the Detroit Symphony an innovative organization among major symphonies. b. IKEA stunt A few years ago, a symphony orchestra in Spain became a viral sensation with its rendition of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” in the middle of a town square (http://bit.ly/1g6hPXn). Taking the lead from Spanish group Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, which instantly became a virally spread video on YouTube, the Detroit Symphony also staged a flash mob playing the same piece of music. 160 The group attempted to surprise IKEA furniture shoppers with an impromptu concert of the same section of the famous Beethoven piece. However, the Detroit Symphony’s exploration into the viral video space was not particularly effective, especially when the original video boasted more than 7.5 million views. As of January 2015, the Detroit Symphony’s video had approximately 56,000 views. 161 These numbers are fairly low for the effort that was undoubtedly put into coordinating the event. YouTube is a platform that makes sense for brands that can benefit from audiovisual promotion, but the strategy behind the video is just as important. In this case, the location and context did not elicit characteristics of a viral video, showing that replication is not always received well in the social media space. 159 Michael Cooper and Rebecca Schmid, 2014. 160 Ode to Jöy: IKEA Flashmob. 2014. Film. 161 ibid. 63 Discussion The content analysis of major orchestra’s activities over the past two years illustrates performing arts groups’ ability to promote content to Millennials in the ways in which they want to be marketed. From a communications standpoint, many events have the opportunity to be promoted heavily and creatively through a variety of outlets. Each of the major orchestras listed above has a website and are present through social media platforms from Facebook to YouTube. However, the analysis also exposed that several orchestras have missed opportunities to explicitly target Millennials. In viewing the NEA results that show clear decline over the course of over thirty years, the assumption may have once been that orchestras don’t have the types of events that Millennials feel the urge to attend. This is simply not the case. From showings of cult-classic films to the promise of a cocktail mixer post-concert, there are several parallels between young people and symphonic music. Messaging to properly segmented audiences then becomes key. Promoting the events is just as important as hosting them – making sure the intended audience is influenced to attend is the true measure of whether or not a campaign is effective. For example, the Detroit Symphony announced its broadcasts of its concerts during the regular orchestra season. Millennials cannot be expected to log onto the symphony’s website to watch a masterworks concert on their own. Could the concerts be displayed on screens in a local park? Could the symphony partner with a Millennial hangout place to offer an experience where Millennials can enjoy the live streamed concert with a pint of beer? Each of these activities requires great understanding of the intended audience, but it’s necessary to directly target this group in order to specifically speak to them. To better understand how this can be accomplished, it is interesting to note what non-classical-music industries are doing to attract Millennials. 64 Take the successful ongoing campaign of Beats by Dre, for example, which has singlehandedly revolutionized the way America thinks about the audio industry. In a saturated field among well-established competitors such as Sony and Bose, Beats headphones emerged. 162 Founded by music industry moguls Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre, Luke Wood, Trent Reznor, and Ian Rogers, the company unveiled and subsequently executed a star-powered marketing campaign that has truly captured the Millennial segment. 163 Beats Music stands as a role model for organizations that hope to obtain the patronage of even a fraction of the Millennials. For years, Beats planted its idea in niche audiences and slowly grew its fan base “by growing its headphones as an exclusive product that celebrities and regular people could use.” 164 Though Beats leadership added a unique element to making it a product young music lovers could trust, it strategically “selected celebrities that were known for their cutting-edge sound and fashion, like Lady Gaga and Pharrell…and Rev. Run and Ellen DeGeneres to promote its service as a…platform that everyone could enjoy.” 165 These beloved celebrities brought with them their own respective fan bases, but also validated to Millennials that the product was worthy of purchasing, even for the relatively steep price of around $200. 162 Burt Helm. "How Dr. Dre's Headphones Company Became a Billion-Dollar Business." Inc. 1 May 2014. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. <http://www.inc.com/audacious-companies/burt- helm/beats.html>. 163 "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet… Beats Music Welcomes Bozoma Saint John as SVP, Head of Global Marketing." 2 Apr. 2014. Beats By Dre. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.beatsbydre.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-beats- Site/default/NewsAndPressRelease- ShowArticleContent?articleID=2014_PR_Beats_Music_Bozoma_Saint_John&fdid=company- news>. 164 Ryan Aynes. "Beats Music Uses Sound Headphone Marketing Strategies." AdWeek 9 Apr. 2014. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/beats-music-uses- sound-headphone-marketing-strategies-156896>. 165 ibis. 65 A large force behind the sales of the headphones is the overarching brand behind them: Beats Music. Truly appealing to Millennials, the “Beats Army” integrates everything from a music listening service to a music-centric blog to the ear buds consumers use to listen to songs from the Beats app. 166 The website is sleek, easy to understand and puts an emphasis on social media to connect with its intended audiences. 167 Overall, the company has transcended beyond its main product to cultivate a community that is entirely powered by the brand. Symphony orchestras could adopt some of the same principles. Though many orchestras may choose not to place resources in developing all-encompassing apps or programs, Millennials have consistently shown their affinity for the social web and the devices that play an important part in their daily lives. Symphonic music needs to take a step beyond the individual performance and aim to create strategies to enhance the orchestra’s brand. The community should be in the hands of consumers, but it needs to be guided by the organization. Associating with the proper platforms and influencers could help raise awareness and elevate the public’s perception on the industry as a whole. Similarly, few companies today have been in the media more than popular ride-sharing service Uber. The company has been vilified by business experts and mainstream media, even investor and Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel to publicly proclaim Uber to be “the most ethically challenged company in Silicon Valley.” 168 Its unethical practices are countless, as are the 166 "Beats Music | Experience Music Like Never Before." Beats Music. Web. 2 Mar. 2015. <http://www.beatsmusic.com/>. 167 ibid. 168 Laurie Segall. "Peter Thiel: Uber Is 'most Ethically Challenged Company in Silicon Valley'"CNN 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/18/technology/uber-unethical-peter-thiel/>. 66 lawsuits keeping the company prominently on the newsstands, yet it continues to enjoy major success in urban cities across the United States, and we have the Millennials to thank for that. Beats Music’s strategy to attract Millennials is using key influencers to grow its fan base, whereas Uber relies on its strategic partners. The company recently announced a partnership with Spotify where, after downloading the music streaming service app to a smart phone, the rider could then choose his song of choice to play during the car ride (http://bit.ly/15zuLCB). Another more creatively unexpected partnership occurred when the company announced it was teaming up with animal-rights foundation ASPCA and popular shareable media site Cheezburgr for National Cat Day. 169 As part of this promotion, Uber riders could request car service in select cities for the opportunity to have a play date with a pen of kittens for 15 minutes, which were then eligible for adoption. 170 For Uber, finding the touch points with Millennials appears to be a high priority. They show a solid understanding of the causes and online communities that appeal to younger generations. They use this knowledge to help promote new announcements of partnerships with Hollywood films, popular shopping complexes, and even universities. The company’s expansion is strategic, as are the programs it chooses to unveil. In order to read culture correctly, orchestra marketers must prioritize analysis of popular Millennial-driven communities and what the audiences are interested in and motivated to talk about. By carefully selecting its strategies, both Uber and Beats Music have been able to carve out high market share among Millennials. Though the services and products offered by the two companies seemingly have no place in the world of classical music, it is worth noting the different strategies and tactics that resonate with the Millennials of today. The content analysis 169 "Uberkittens Is Back!" 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. <http://blog.uber.com/KITTENS>. 170 ibis. 67 paint an optimistic future for the industry, as there is room for technology, social and classical music to combine to further promote orchestra attendance. 68 Chapter 9: Recommendations Given the key triggers for Millennials and examples of successful campaigns, where do orchestra marketers go wrong? What makes the public relations function so vital, yet so ineffective at times? Uncovering the answers to those questions requires an honest and direct look into the symphony orchestra and where it falls short of expectations. Solving today’s attendance and engagement problems first requires full acceptance of decline and acknowledgement that the numbers show that attracting Millennials should be a priority now or in the near future. Many of the issues plaguing the symphonic orchestra might be influenced by the public’s perception of the industry. In photos released by symphonies, musicians are often depicted in static, non-compelling ways. 171 Music label executives also acknowledge a "perceived elitism" and "unwritten etiquette" that keep people from attending classical music events. 172 Combined with the information presented earlier regarding Millennial perceptions, young people might think of a night out at the symphony as dressing up in their very best at a concert hall for the opportunity to listen to non-relevant, 19th century music. In an interview conducted by the author, it is mentioned that tickets may be though of as expensive, though, at $200 per pair of Beats headphones, Millennials have also shown willingness to spend high for the items they want. 173 Addressing these perception issues could potentially help attract more Millennials to attend performances. 171 Greg Sandow. "Boring, Boring, Boring." ArtsJournal 8 Dec. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2014. <http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/2011/12/boring-boring-boring.html>. 172 Alice Vincent. "Orchestras Must 'shed Elitism' to Survive, Says Universal Music Boss." The Telegraph 24 Jan. 2013. Web. 6 Jan. 2015. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music- news/9823014/Orchestras-must-shed-elitism-to-survive-says-Universal-Music-boss.html>. 173 Mark Swed, 2015. 69 There are also experiential reasons why Millennials avoid the orchestra. A complete symphony can easily be an hour long, and that only constitutes half of a typical program. Asking Millennials to sit still and silent may be much to ask, as they have been accustomed to what Kenneth Foster refers to as “multi-experiential” experiences. 174 He mentions Millennials reading, watching TV and listening to a podcast all at the same as a commonplace occurrence. 175 This, he believes, “is the hardest part for everyone in classical music to get.” 176 The difficulty in executing multi-experiential activities is that it requires great imagination, but also acceptance of foreign technology to committed orchestra-goers. A fundamental problem within the orchestral world is the notion that there doesn’t appear to be much collaboration between orchestras. What exactly ties orchestras to each other besides their art? Though the League of American Orchestras acts as an organization that “is a nexus of knowledge and innovation, advocacy, and leadership advancement for managers, musicians, volunteers, and boards,” perhaps a stronger, outward-facing coalition could help amplify the groundbreaking activities and achievements accomplished by performing arts organizations. 177 In addition, the field of symphonic music lacks a strong figurehead who can act as a spokesperson for the entire industry. Fortunately, there are just as many pros of symphonic music that help argue that its place in society as a destination of culture is worth saving. Conductor Keitaro Harada proclaims with 174 Kenneth Foster, 2015. 175 ibid. 176 ibid. 177 "About the League." League of American Orchestras. Web. 1 Feb. 2015. <http://www.americanorchestras.org/about-the-league.html>. 70 fervor that the “[art form] will never die. It can't die.” 178 To him, the notion of “live classical music is so pure that you can't just take it away.” 179 The comment is neither demonstrated by data points or has clear measurement, but it displays the passion that some orchestra musicians and administrators have for the subject matter. For one, the art form has an illustrious history that has been resilient for the past few centuries and continues to evolve. The music itself can evoke powerful emotions in both the audience and the artists, and, given their love of music and live entertainment, classical music still has the chance to resonate with Millennials. Amid the incorrect assumption that ticket prices for orchestras are limited to a few elite, the art does remain relatively untouched. Based on these considerations, as well as research conducted by the author and acknowledgement of the need for Millennials to be marketed to in a very specific way, the following recommendations may be made: i. Expose Millennials to symphonic music at an early age. As the Cleveland Orchestra has shown through its “Under 18s Free” program, parents take advantage of opportunities to take their children to free concert performances. 180 For marketers, the number of participants represents more than just attendance for the particular concert – it opens up the opportunity to market to these Millennial audiences once they reach an age of purchasing power. Approaching these specific concerts with creative presentations will only enhance this group’s perception of the experience of attending an orchestra. These concerts should, at times, coincide with the orchestra’s most innovative, exciting performances. 178 Keitaro Harada, 2014. 179 ibid. 180 Zachary Lewis, “Surplus,” 2014 71 If ultimate goal of the marketing function is to make symphonic music relevant, creating touch points for audience members in various stages of life. Educating the public on an entirely foreign idea takes much more effort than referencing past experiences for the purpose of evoking nostalgia. This method is a direct investment in the orchestra’s future. Just as Beats Music began slowly growing its audience years before the release of its headphones, symphony orchestras must also attempt to do the same. ii. Take residency in Millennial-centric neighborhood. Cleveland Orchestra’s idea to establish a temporary residency in a neighborhood shows its commitment to outreach and community involvement. In some of the most densely populated, urban spaces in the United States, there are Millennials who want to be part of a community. A 2013 Forbes article mentions how Millennials “were raised as a digital generation, a generation defined by sharing, collaboration and community.” 181 A symphony orchestra should see this opportunity to unite or even create Millennial communities through the arts. The advantage of taking residency in a neighborhood is that it eliminates many barriers that may discourage orchestra attendance, such as traffic, money and unfamiliarity. For first-time orchestra-goers, a neighborhood concert presents little sacrifice, thus making it an appealing activity to attend. These residencies should be promoted in much more Millennial-focused ways, like using influential neighborhood bloggers or tra-digital websites visited frequently by the 181 Alyse Lorber. "The Millennial Marketing Mix: Community, Innovation And Values." Forbes25 Nov. 2013. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/gyro/2013/11/25/the-millennial-marketing-mix-community- innovation-and-values/>. 72 intended audiences. In Los Angeles, for example, a Millennial resident may follow a website like Laist or LA Weekly more than her/his local television broadcast or newspaper. This opens the door to partnerships with local businesses and shows goodwill to the community at large. Instead of expecting the audience to show up at the orchestra, it may be meaningful to reach the inexperienced members through some sort of exchange. Once they have been exposed to symphonic music in a safe, comfortable environment, there are additional opportunities to promote the concert hall. iii. Host summer concerts in the hall. Hosting summer concerts in an outdoor venue is typically an important part of the organization’s bottom line. However, many times, there is a lack of continuity between the summer venue and the regular concert hall. In the case of the Hollywood Bowl, audiences are arguably drawn to the unique locale, fireworks shows, celebrities and picnic areas as much as the performances themselves. This is not to say that the ticket sales are any less important for the orchestra’s revenue, but they show an inherent problem in marketing strategy. The venues have their own selling points, but they share a common brand that needs to be treated with the same amount of care. The Cleveland Orchestra has confronted this issue by offering three summer concerts in Severance Hall. They offer some of the amenities of the summer residence but connect it with the hall where the majority of concerts are played. Without doing this, orchestras run the risk of having a “regular” venue and a “fun” venue. The idea is to ensure that both are just as appealing across a multitude of audiences, namely at the location of the summer series, marketers should be heavily promoting concerts at the concert hall. Summer concerts offer more Pops 73 programming than the regular season, and this differentiation is often enough to distinguish the venues from each other. iv. Incentivize Millennials through engagement programs. By all measures, Millennial engagement programs such as CODA and Under 18s Free have been valuable in associating social interaction with symphony orchestras. Harada’s organizations also encourage the growth of its young professionals groups, though he adds the caveat that members need more “incentive[s] than just going to symphony, whether it be a happy hour before the show” or a behind-the-scenes tour. 182 He often attends the happy hour himself and mingles with the members before inviting them to an exclusive dress rehearsal. 183 At the very least, these programs offer Millennials the experience of attending the symphony among contemporaries, rather than with the donors who have traditionally been the most visible members of the classical community. To take this idea a step further, public relations and marketing professionals could use these events as stepping-stones towards reinventing perceptions about the symphonic orchestra’s repertoire. Kenneth Foster mentioned that the Nutcracker consistently sells-out during the Christmas season, but it doesn’t translate to other times during the regular season. 184 There needs to be a stronger push to engage Millennials, but effectively through the lens of the programming. Pre- and post- concert gatherings shouldn’t be treated as one-off instances, but rather a convergence of the concert and the social activity. 182 Keitaro Harada, 2014. 183 ibid. 184 Kenneth Foster, 2015 74 v. Strategically partner with restaurants and bars. As discussed frequently during the content analysis, orchestras are increasingly adopting partnerships with restaurants and bars for pre- and post- concert specials. However, a partnership can entail more than just a discount on food and drinks. In fact, they often act as gathering areas for sports fans looking to catch a game or trivia nights among friends. They offer their social environment as much as their food, and this is something that orchestras should recognize moving forward. To cater to Millennials without being intrusive on their normal activities, orchestras might consider hosting a viewing night for the sold-out concerts. When a well-known performer like violinist Joshua Bell plays with a concert, promotion through partnership can help boost the chatter around the event. Sports and dive bars may not represent ideal viewing locations for a classical concert, but there are other options. A wine bar or nearby restaurant may be open to the traffic and publicity. vi. Create interactive websites that are easily navigable, compelling, and more effectively branded. Websites are the digital home for businesses of all types, and Millennials, or “digital natives,” have high expectations. To reach this group, a website must be organized, intuitive, navigable and consistently branded. A balance must be achieved between corporate branding and compelling multimedia content. Symphony orchestras have the ability to provide a constant stream of content to supply its digital platforms. The orchestra’s online presence is a representation of its identity, and it can influence consumers’ perception of the organization. 75 The Chicago Symphony’s Sounds & Stories magazine offered the most innovative approach to music journalism of any examples examined in the content analysis. It is important to recognize that “brand journalism” is the intersection between marketing and journalism. While other orchestras still struggle to maintain a social media presence, the Chicago Symphony has reimagined its strategy and clearly shown an understanding of the current landscape of media. By establishing owned media, they reserve the right to create online experiences for their audiences unlike any other orchestra. This strategy helps to re-contextualize symphonic music for the digital age in a langue both understood and spoken by Millennials. vii. Enhance key messaging with storytelling. Key messaging is at the heart of the communications function. Without distinct messaging directed towards properly segmented audiences, organizations can produce masses of content without reaching anyone. Millennials, though placed under an umbrella for the purpose of this paper, are products of countless backgrounds and past experiences. They connect to different stories and approach classical music with various degrees of interest. Storytelling might be the difference between bringing meaning to a performance or simply regurgitating information. For example, the New York Philharmonic’s YouTube series, “The Biennial Minute,” represents a missed storytelling opportunity. Though the recaps provide an overview of what works were performed in any given concert, it fails to give the viewer a glimpse into the full experience of being at the festival. Instead of a voiceover to clips of performances, perhaps a more effective idea may have been to hand the camera to a first-time visitor who could describe 76 the events from a personal angle. This might help viewers connect to the performances or at least generate more interest in the festival’s offerings. viii. Utilize live broadcasts, but experiment with time and place. The Detroit Symphony, as mentioned in the previous chapter, has made itself the “most accessible orchestra on the planet,” a distinction rarely bestowed by a performing arts group. Though not within the realm of the classical symphony orchestra, the Los Angeles Opera has experimented with live broadcasts and increasing its exposure in popular local settings. 185 In September 2014, the opera live streamed its performance of Giuseppi Verdi’s La Traviata on the world-famous Santa Monica Pier. 186 Thousands of regular tourists and visitors were able to watch the event, and it may have potentially been the first experience many of them had with opera. Following Millennials to the venues they frequent and broadcasting there may be one of the most innovative ways to expose mass audiences to the art of symphonic music. For example, this could include the beach, a local park or even a nightclub, as the National Symphony did to great acclaim in Washington D.C. 187 Perhaps the symphony’s music could be played in subway stations, gradually getting louder the closer the rider gets to the concert hall and quieter the further the station is. The more Millennials can simulate the experience of being in the concert hall, the more likely they are to experiment with attending. With the prevalence of advanced technology all over the country, there are an increasing amount of possibilities. 185 "LA Opera - La Traviata Live Broadcast." LA Opera. Web. 1 Feb. 2015. <http://www.laopera.org/season/La-Traviata/La-Traviata-Live-Broadcast/>. 186 ibid. 187 Greg Sandow. "Excited Audience." ArtsJournal 20 Jan. 2015. Web. 7 Feb. 2015. <http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/2015/01/excited-audience.html>. 77 ix. Develop and execute new, original publicity stunts. The Detroit Symphony experimented with its own publicity stunt by performing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” in a local IKEA store. The flash mob was meant to draw attention to the organization, but, as discussed above, the whole video lacked originality. In fact, the idea was copied from that of a European orchestral counterpart, and it could have contributed to the video’s underwhelming performance online. Instead of replicating other orchestras in the field, organizations must understand what stunts would be meaningful to their audiences, missions and locale. While many companies attempt to make content in hopes of creating the next viral video, more time should be spent understanding Millennials and the content that will help expose the organization and ultimately drive business. 78 Chapter 10: Forecasting the Future The future of orchestral music still remains largely uncertain, and orchestra administrators have undoubtedly explored the challenges it faces in the coming years. Experian Simmons, in conjunction with the U.S. Census Bureau and McKinsey, has released a study that points out that “from 2008 to 2018, without intervention, orchestra audiences are set to decline by 14%.” 188 Orchestras cannot sustain without at least plateauing attendance, which is now reaching historic lows. However, some experts believe that the loss of orchestras is simply an effect of an ever- changing economy. As music critic Mark Swed said, “things die” and “new things come along.” 189 To add to that vein, Kenneth Foster envisions a future where “orchestras who don't have creative leadership will not be able to survive.” 190 He also continues by saying that a bit of downsizing may be healthy for classical music, underscoring that it may not be necessary for every small city to have its own symphony orchestra. 191 Despite these comments, the analysis of the capabilities of a modern symphony orchestra point towards the possibility of classical music’s resurgence in popular culture. Effective marketing must play a vital role in an organization’s overall business strategy and cannot be treated as an afterthought in the process. If marketing can help drive traffic to websites and to ticket booths, there is reason to believe that adopting new communication practices can help foster relationships between Millennials and the symphony orchestra. The future calls for the monitoring of trends affecting the industry and having the skill and knowledge to implement strategies and tactics to respond to the marketplace. Perhaps classical music organizations should 188 Audience Demographic Research Review, 2009. 189 Mark Swed, 2015. 190 Kenneth Foster, 2015. 191 ibid. 79 adopt new, immersive technology that may allow them to supplement their current activities, such as incorporating augmented or virtual reality experiences. There are arguments that the business model is in desperate need of a revamp, as it fails to withstand the changed landscape and buying habits of the new generation of orchestra-goers. While this is an area of business that must be explored, no solution to this problem has been determined. However, an overhaul of the public relations and marketing efforts of performing arts organizations clearly make a difference in increasing awareness, cultivating a positive perception of the industry and telling symphonic music’s story through much more than newspaper articles and expensive advertising buys. With that being said, it is important to focus on the aspects of the industry which can be changed, rather than unrealistically restructuring the foundation of the business. 80 Conclusion Marketers are faced with the arduous challenge of making a centuries-old art form seem commonplace in the modern world. While critics continue their fixation on the symphony orchestra’s ongoing financial crises or its inability to ensure a secure future, the marketing function needs to speak as directly to Millennials as possible to explore the realm of possibilities. Orchestra administrators need to segment audiences appropriately and determine the places where the brand and the consumer are most likely to intersect with success. While implementing strategies does not promise sold-out masterworks concerts, the risks of bold marketing are low compared to the potential return-on-investment. In his interview with the author, Kenneth Foster noted, “the marketing and PR has to be an important part, but that alone is not going to get Millennials to see the Beethoven Symphony.” 192 What it is going to take, in his opinion, is the ability for a marketer to “take the music and figure out how to re-contextualize [it] so it feels more like a part of the Millennials' experience.” 193 Re-contextualization falls well within the purview of the marketer, so who is to say that the function’s work cannot fix the problem? A Millennial-centric campaign can help redefine symphonic music’s place in culture. With culture and edgy ideas, public relations and marketing can converge to sell the standalone Beethoven Symphony without compromising the integrity of the art. Cutting through the noise of a saturated entertainment space is a challenge that must be faced head-on, but with an understanding of the characteristics that broadly define the next generation, elevating the arts to prominence is once again possible. Through the lens of best practices public relations, the target demographic has the highest possibility of being reached 192 Kenneth Foster, 2015. 193 ibid. 81 now than ever before. From adopting new technology to taking a chance with a publicity stunt, success for the industry of the classical symphony will only take place when its practices are disrupted, reinvented and repackaged for the benefit of the Millennials and the future of art form. Around the United States, symphony orchestras have shown promise and understanding of the Millennial audience, but it will take true innovation to help breathe new life into the symphonic music for the benefit of future generations. 82 Appendix A: Interview #1 Keitaro Harada Interview Transcript Conducted by Justine Saquilayan December 22, 2014; Tempe, Arizona What is your name? My name is Keitaro Harada. I am the Associate Conductor for the Richmond Symphony and Associate Conductor of Arizona Opera. In your opinion, what is the state of symphonic music in the US? Now, when you say “the state of,” it depends what tier orchestra we're talking about because in the US, there are multiple tiers. So, for example, if you take Tier 1, which is New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Boston – those orchestras, I feel, are doing just fine. They always have funding, they always have people who are supportive of it. It's a vibrant community, and the culture for orchestra is really good. So, I don't think they're having much of a problem. When you look at another Tier 1 orchestra, for example, Detroit Symphony, they're doing something that is super innovative, and they are gaining so much attention because they are broadcasting all their major concerts online on their Friday or Saturday performances, so anyone around the world can watch it for free, which is super awesome because it's a great orchestra performing live. It's a live performance; not a recorded thing. It's very real, and you get the feeling of being there. The Berlin Philharmonic started doing this in their digital, live, hall concert series, but you actually pay for those. The Detroit Symphony is the only orchestra I know that is doing a live stream every weekend free, so that's really cool. I just think there's a lot of money and attention involved in that. Not only that, but they also do a live stream of their education concerts, so the schools that are not able to go to...maybe they don't have enough money or funding in this school system to bring a bus of a couple thousand kids to the symphony – they can still watch it at school. It's very innovative; it's very live. Now when we look at the Tier 2 orchestras and Tier 3 orchestras,...some are doing well and some are not doing well, and it is all based upon the funding, basically, and just doing creative things. This isn't symphonic, but take Arizona Opera, for example: we were so much in debt, but we changed the way we think and we changed the personnel. We changed the artistic director and then just how much the presence of our community in Phoenix and Tucson – we changed the ideology. Now we're totally on the block with a lot of funding, so we...it's not just about funding, but it's just how each orchestra, especially with PR, get into everyone's faces. If the PR department doesn't get into people's faces and say “here's the orchestra,” there's just so much activity going on right now. So, this is such a huge question, but the state of the orchestra now is so different from how it used be in the 50s and 60s, where the source of entertainment during the weekend 60 years ago was just the symphony orchestra...was just going to the opera, or maybe the theatre. But now we've got Miley Cyrus, we've got Lady Gaga, we've got musicals, we've got movie theatres, Netflix, internet. There are just too many options for a typical family on a weekend, so the 83 competition is just fierce. How you make people want to come to the symphony is just so hard. So, that is probably the state of the orchestra. We all need to be innovative and creative in order to want the people to come to the concert. You spend a lot of time in Japan and conduct over there, as well – out of curiosity, is there a big difference in its treatment here versus there? Japan's classical music was able to survive because of Nodame Cantabile. It's not only that, but do you know what I'm talking about – Nodame Cantabile? So it's a comic called Nodame. I have a couple of radio interviews about this, but, anyways, Nodame Cantabile was a comic. You know, Japan's all about manga, right? It was all about classical music, and it was about a pianist who was going through a conservatory who dates a conductor, and they go through the competition and they try to make a career. It was written by a really smart person who really knew classical music and who really understood what the training of conservatory students was like. In each of the manga comics, it was initially issued once a week, and then it became in books. At the end of it, it talked about the music and the composer of what that episode was about. And so people get so hooked on manga, so they not only did they read the story and get involved with the story, but they read about the composers and then they start to listen to it. You could play Rhapsody in Blue, Beethoven 7, anywhere in Japan and they will say, “that's Nodame Cantabile” because that's the theme song they used. You could play the second movement of Brahms 1 in Japan and everyone would be like “oh, that's from Nodame Cantabile, episode 12.” It was so involved and it became a drama on TV, human, then it became a movie, so a lot of orchestras in Japan capitalized on that. They would say, “seen on Nodame Cantabile, Schumann 4” and people would go. So, it flooded with so many young people to come to see live orchestras and performances because they would think, “I read about this, I talked about this, the main character cries in this movement.” They have a relationship with all these symphonies, it's fictional, but the music is still music. So, it's vibrant right now. It's very vibrant and the comic saved classical music. So, it's wonderful. That's amazing. So, now it's deeply ingrained in society and pop culture. So that is something that is very successful. I don't think the author meant it to be an innovation in culture, but it just so happened to naturally do it. The concerts in Japan – there are so many people, from older to younger. In Tokyo, it being the most populated city in the country, just in Tokyo, there are 20 professional orchestras. There's so many concerts, so there's lots of opportunity for people to go to. They are excited about classical music. I could tell you about Mexico, which I conduct a lot. It's a different story because it's a government-funded orchestra, like each city has its own government culture center that funds the orchestra so the orchestra musicians are government-employed. It's like Washington's national symphony – it's also government-employed. So there's funding, but it's also government-funding. Very limited in some ways. But in my experience, every concert I've done in Mexico is always sold-out. But they're all small towns. And it's just, people are very different and they appreciate the little things instead of blowing-out money at a $100 movie. And then Europe is opera all the way, young people, it's like a rock concert. People have their own favorite opera singers. There's such a young culture there. Of course there are elder people are because it's so much ingrained, 84 but opera and ballet is so ingrained from when they were little. It's natural, you know, they don't even think about it. It's just what you do. Yeah, you go to the opera. The reason why this sucks right now in the US is because back in the 50s and 60s, to go to the symphony was a scene. Like, for example, if you were a corporate head (like a CEO) of some company, you wanted to be seen at the orchestra concerts because usually you'll see other CEOs at the concert and then you'll have some negotiations during intermission. That's also some of the reason why they funded the orchestras, because that was a function that they attended. That was part of society. They want to have their name on the "Supporters" list. Nowadays, in 2014, it's like it's basically their sons and daughters. It's the second generation of children who are CEOs taking over. They may have grown up going to orchestra concerts, but now they have Skype, now they have cell phones. They don't have to be seen. So now they're looking at their finances and thinking, "why are we spending a million dollars on symphony in our community. I don't even go to the orchestra, why do I have to even spend so much money. That's what's happening, which is cutting down a lot of funding. So, that's the state. You touched on this, but if you have anything to add - have you noticed tangible decline in the industry over the past 5 years and 10 years? So, attendance, finances? I think it's all case-by-case, depending on the orchestra. I know 2008 was a really bad, bad year, and I guess my question is, was it just the Recession? Were the economic factors of the US really affecting it [classical music industry], or was it something else? I think it's all inter-related. And it also depends...I can't comment that "orchestras in the US had trouble" because some orchestras didn't have trouble. And then there, if you're looking at the last 5 years...this year, Atlanta Symphony didn't open its season because they had problems, but this is the second time that has happened. Minnesota's a horrible case, all the orchestras in Minnesota, that was not good. Honolulu Symphony went down. Canada just announced that one of their orchestras is just closed...last week. So, these things happen, but I can't really say. Yeah, there has been a decline, but there has also been an incline, so I think it's all case-by-case. Getting into specific audiences, obviously my area of study is going to be Millennials, who are approximately ages 18 to 34, plus or minus a couple years. So what age group do you consider to be your primary audience? Depends on the concert. For example, because every orchestra does different types of concerts. Let's say "education concert" - that's specifically for children, school-kids. Then there's the "lollipops concert," which is geared towards young kids. Usually they have like an instrument petting zoo before the show and then the programs about 60 minutes - that's geared towards kids who are 5, 3 to 10-ish. But, their parents are the Millennials. Their parents are my age - mid-30s. So you're getting those people in the "lollipops concert" because they may not...because if the parents want to go to the symphony concert on a date, for example, they have to find a babysitter, so that costs money. But if they go to a "lollipops concert," then they can involve their children, who may be crying, but that's okay because that's the purpose. So there's that. 85 Then we have the "pops concerts," which is different from the "lollipops." "Pops concerts" - symphony plays with Michael Jackson or Michael Jackson music, or Star Wars film with symphony. That as a whole, is a crock pot. Some people love, it's just generational, if we did an Earth, Wind and Fire music, I don't think many 18 year olds are going to come. But if we did Star Trek screen with orchestra, then I think people who were born in the 70s until about now will probably come. We're thinking of doing a Ben Folds concert, what is that generation? I grew up in the Ben Folds generation - did people who are 18 years old? I'm not sure. So, orchestras really try to give a variety of pops concerts, which triggers the right people...a wide range of people. A good example is when I did Fantasia, the Disney Fantasia with the Tucson Symphony. That was a wide range, from little kids to really elderly people. Because the first Fantasia came out in the 40s, so a lot of people saw it back and raised their children with that. Now, if we go into subscriptions of "Masterworks," I think, in general, its an older crowd plus music students, like youth orchestra kids, high school music students who get an educational discount, or college conservatory music students or college students who are not music majors but are interested in music. Those people use that as a date night. So, I don't have a primary audience. It depends on the concert, it really does. So, you mentioned the "Pops Concerts." I know in LA, we have the Hollywood Bowl, and we have everything there. So how do you feel about that...when you're planning your programming, do you think about your audiences or do you just think about what you want to do? Okay, I think this is two-fold. I feel like some of my colleagues hate, hate, hate doing Pops Concerts. And then I'm on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, where I absolutely love doing Pops Concerts because we have to get...for me, what's most important is that people in the community gets to hear the orchestra performing live. And that, to me, is the most important thing. It would be nice if it was just the symphonic works...there's a reason the Cleveland Orchestra is so successful - they have a culture and they don't have a Pops series. They don't need one because you do a Bruckner 4 and its packed...5 performances of Bruckner 4. You can't do that in Phoenix. But for me, I don't care if it's Wicked Divas musical, but its a live performance with orchestra. So if that gets people to come to the concert, for me, I think that fulfills what we do. It doesn't fulfill everything, but it fulfills some portion of what we do in the community. To provide the most excellent music-making in the community. Is it a priority? Sure. I think I'm more concerned that the orchestra survives then what piece I conduct. For me, my musical career is a very long process. I'm sure I'll get the chance...you know, if there's a piece I really want to do - maybe it doesn't get programmed this year. Give it 10, 20, 30 years, I'm sure I'll get the chance to conduct it one day. But, I'm not going to sacrifice the symphony's season or the audience attendance to. There's not really a primary audience, but I have to think that engaging these Millennials is a priority for many orchestras. You should also look into young professional groups that orchestras have. LA Phil has one. San Diego has a very active one. You should look at the Boston Symphony, NY Philharmonic, 86 Chicago. They all have very, very strong professionals group. And that is specifically the Millennials you're looking for. There's an age cap - most of them are 35 to 40. They gain benefits from it. That is something that is perfect. San Diego also has baseball cards for each player. So, what they do is really funny. One orchestra musician is waiting at the lobby greeting. They rotate around. They pass out these baseball player cards about them, so they pass these outs. So the patrons can start collecting them. But they can't collect all of them at once because they have to keep coming to concerts to collect the entire orchestra's player card. I think it's a really cool idea. I don't see any other orchestras doing it. What is the biggest issue facing orchestras today, in terms of attendance? Just ask yourself: it's Saturday today - what are you going to do? If you have more than two, then the orchestra's screwed. You live in LA, there are just so many things every day of the week. I think that's the biggest problem. I don't think orchestra fans are decreasing. We just have so many things to do. And what do most people do? Stay home and watch TV. It just needs an incentive. Is there any attempt to bring technology or interactivity to classical performances? Maybe aside from these Lollipops or educational concerts? Sure. Twitter concerts. So, Houston has been doing Twitter concerts. It's really cute because at the beginning of the concert they'll say, "Ladies and gentlemen, please turn on your cell phone. Put it on wifi and go to our Twitter." In regards to social media, hashtag has been great. Like for TSO, we do #TSOfan. When I conduct a concert, I announce it from the stage, "During intermission, please take selfies using #TSOfan. We're gonna select a couple winners to get gifts. It's just like hundreds of posts, which is great. So that is using technology. So hashtag is a good way. On Instagram, a lot of orchestras are doing Musician Mondays, which is they're featuring musicians from their orchestra on Monday on Instagram or Twitter. That's starting to catch on. That's good use of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. I think a lot of orchestras are so not using Facebook properly or effectively. Like, I'm saying this, but I see orchestras where they just post the concert. Well, that's boring. You have to post something more than just the event, just the concert. You gotta get people engaged, right? There's a reason people are on Facebook...they want to click on something, they want to know scandalous stuff. Juicy stories about xyz, funny pictures. That's what is so needed. In 2014, it really needs a PR person who really knows the music, really knows the orchestra, and has a creative and really funny mindset that really engages people. Not someone who just posts events and rehearsal photos, saying "We're in rehearsal." So, what? There is the Detroit Symphony live broadcast concert. It's new and it's very expensive, but it's so fun because it gets people like me and other classical lovers who want to hear live performances but can't get to Detroit. You can listen to it online, and it's great. 87 Have they seen their numbers increase as a result? Oh, I bet. I think they post their stats on their website, but it's just insane, what they're doing. I applaud them for being so bold. Especially because they're an orchestra that does a lot of new works, too. So it's great for the composers. And during the intermission and before the concert, they interview a soloist, they interview the conductor, they interview the composer. It's really fun. Each orchestra musician can say, "Hey, I'm being interviewed today." That engages more people to go online. I think it's the best usage of technology. Other than that, there are apps, but no one really uses apps. I know it's there, but I don't see myself going on apps. The LA Phil has a great app, and they spent a lot of money on it, but I don't really find myself looking at a concert on there. I think the Twitter concert will die soon. Because we live in such a visually-stimulated...there's a need for that in 2014, especially for people who don't go to orchestra concerts. They need some kind of technology to follow along. I think the movie concerts like Fantasia or Star Wars, Harry Potter, those are very good because they see it and they hear it. Marketing is extremely expensive if you're marketing each...when you're moving from the subscription model to piecemeal. What are some examples of successful campaigns that you've been involved with? That's a good question. At Richmond Symphony, we're going to be doing a new commission in the spring. Basically, it's asking patrons to invest in this new piece so they have different rankings of pricing. It's called the Become Part of Creative New Music. It's called Musical Shares, that's our thing. We have different price ranges. This is the new piece we're performing and you get different names as the price range. And the composer will interactively talk to you and give you updates on what you've invested in. I think that's a good campaign. I can't tell you if it's working or not because this email just went out two days ago, but I think it's a good start. It's a Kickstarter for orchestra without using orchestra. Even though we already have the money...we've already paid the composer. What we don't see anymore is posters. What used to happen before is you'd see so many posters around the city of the concert because there was no social media. There was no e-blast. In a way, I think that printing cost is so huge and that has been subtracted. A lot of it is going to the Facebook fan page or e-blasting promotional. Promote this post. I feel like it's a bit of a lost art. I feel sad because you don't see any symphony posters anymore and when we were in college at UofA, you would go to a cafe and see local musicians posting their flyers. I feel like there's a bit of a personable thing when you see that. Do you still send out a lot of mailers? We do. When the new season is out, for sure. Season brochures. It depends, are we chained to the money that we gain from subscriptions? Yay and nay. For example, the masterworks, you tend to have subscribers. You have ongoing people who have their specific seats. With Pops, we do sell. It goes back to the other question, but you see how the Pops series are created with such a variety. So let's just say you are a person who doesn't know anything about classical music but 88 there's an orchestra. Let's just say Phoenix Symphony. They have a Pops series. Now, they say "oh, you should buy the Pops series subscription because it benefits you." So you say, "okay." Then you look at it, and you say "oh, Michael Buble with symphony...cool. Tarzan the movie with symphony...okay, I may go. Supremes with the symphony, then you say, 'that's what my mom likes." So there's three, right? Now, do I pay 150 bucks for the subscription of 3 or do I pay single tickets of the 2 concerts I want to go to of 3. So you see how the subscription and the single sale ticket model is sort of broken there. So we rely on one for something and we don't rely on one for the other thing. We had, in Richmond Symphony, we had, in beginning of the year, we had a challenge to get as much funding from around the US as possible. That was a good, in a way, marketing. So that happens annually. But that's part of a big non-profit organization in Virginia. We're competing against NPOs for funding. So that's not a symphony-born PR thing, but we are participating in it because we know it will benefit us. A lot of other ideas like "chairs," those are helpful. It depends. Now the question about social media. You're very active on it. Was that a conscious decision like, I'm building my brand? Or do you just like doing it? The reason why I have a fanpage and Instagram, Twitter persona on social media. The reason I do is because I wanted to separate my personal FB and then, the more concerts you do, the more friend requests you get. Yes, of course I'm a brand. I have to be a brand. If I don't have, in this day in age, if I don't have a marketing tool to promote myself, no one's going to pay any attention. There are so many musicians everywhere, and there are so many conductors. It's trying to get myself seen in a non- aggressive way. Social media to me is a very natural step to do it. I'm not too loud on social media. I do just enough. I get my examples mainly from merchandisers. I love clothes, so I look at what they're doing, and I look at what their marketing strategies are, and I incorporate that. A lot of my posts are very similar to Zara because I love Zara. I look at the timing of it. I calculate a lot about when I post my things because I need to make sure people will see it. One thing I do, because the other side of me is a photographer, I've been doing a lot of behind- the-scenes photography at Arizona Opera and Richmond Symphony. People tag themselves, so that's a lot of good PR. It's conscious, but in a healthy way. I spend much more time studying. I do block out time during the day where I say, okay, I need to do some kind of self-promotion. Richmond Symphony and AZO, we have a PR team. They take benefit from my activities, for sure. How important is the communications function? It's very important. With Richmond Symphony, I'm still new with them, so they're getting used to it. I'm very quick at posting. When I see an opportunity, I'll post it. I'll immediately send a text to Richmond PR and say, I just posted something on my fan page, if you want to share it on RSO fan page. Then they tend to, which increases more fans on my side. Arizona Opera is very quick. 89 They see something, they repost if it's necessary. One thing I'm very cautious about is using hashtags. If I, in the concert, said, oh, please hashtag #TSOfan or RVASymphony, I make sure I go to all the hashtags on Instagram and Twitter, and I comment on all the posts. I usually do it on the airplane. As a conductor, how big of a role do you play in the PR and Marketing efforts of the organization? You're kind of the face. I'm definitely the poster child for the organization. The answer to that question is, if the organization can benefit from me being active in the community, in person, or also in social media, then I'm there for them. If they don't need me to be active, then I step back. What do you see as the future for the symphony in the next 5 years? 10 years? Is the landscape going to change? is the business model going to change? You know how people say classical music is dying? It will never die. It can't die. I don't think it's possible. When it comes to that bad of a society where orchestras are shutting down everywhere, people will do something. Live, classical music is so pure that you can't just take it away. So classical music is not dying. It's just not dying. There's just no way. I can't really see it disappearing. So, what do I see? I hope people are more creative. I really hope that people look at LA Phil and Cleveland and Chicago and New York. I think it really has to do with Tier 3, 4, 5 orchestras that can't do the large scale things that Tier 1 orchestras are doing. But within the financial limitations that they have, do something crazy. Take a risk. That is what I hope to see. In an ideal world, it would be nice to see more young people come to the symphony, but it's not about filling the seat. I'd much rather see young people that are enthusiastic to come to the concert routinely. Not being forced because that's what you should do. That, I think, is wrong. What I would love to see is more mainstream pop artists supporting classical music in a way of collaboration. I'm so thankful that Ben Folds now has a symphony program, he has a new one. But I'm just waiting for Britney Spears, I'm waiting for Lady Gaga or the top 10 people who say, I want to perform with the symphony. I want to be the person to grab them and say, why not? Yes, I understand that you need the rhythm section and the loud booming music. I get that. You can't auto-tune. People like Adele could definitely perform with the symphony. I'm just waiting for those people to step up and do it live where they can't lip sync. Can you imagine if Mariah Carey had a symphony show? It would sell out. I'm waiting for that because a lot of the pop shows that are happening right now are all covers of people who are not the real people. What do you think about trying to make going to a symphony going to an event again? Young professionals group needs an incentive than just going to symphony, whether it be a happy hour before the show. Come to happy hour, and meet the conductor. After that, come see a dress rehearsal. That's an incentive. But mingling them with the high donors is a great idea. Event-based stuff is key. Why are you in a professionals group if there's no kudos to it? There are a lot of other professional groups that are not symphony. They tend to partner with symphonies. 90 Appendix B: Interview #2 Mark Swed Interview Transcript Conducted by Justine Saquilayan January 16, 2015; USC; Los Angeles, CA In 2008, there was an issue with a lot of…you hear about orchestras like Minnesota and other orchestras that kind of just have collapsed over the years. So you consider that as part of a normal? Things die. New things come along. Minnesota was an abhorration. You had a very, very good orchestra, and actually a pretty vibrant musical community. You had a completely and utterly incompetent administration. You had a group of musicians who were avaricious in the extreme. And you had a showboating conductor who was only in it for himself. So you had three of the forces all competing, and it fell apart. Part of that failure was its success - everybody wanted something out of it, and if there’s a threat to music today, it’s the commercialization. It’s the threat to all the arts. It’s bad in the world, basically. Society in general - music is no exception to that. And Minnesota was, you know, a little microcosm of that. I mean, the contract that the musicians wanted…and they really held the administration hostage to this. They had been planning this for years - it’s not part of the story - was completely and utterly outrageous. What Vanksa wanted - it was all about him. He wanted everything for him which really bankrupted the orchestra, and the board were a lot of non-music people who had these ideas of, these vain, glorious ideas. So it had to fall apart. So who do you see as being a great example of a successful orchestra that has been able to adapt to the new realities of today? Well, the LA Phil is the obvious choice, and they're doing fabulously well because they are part of the world today. The Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra is part of a community. I mean, for all of the problems in Venezuela, you see an orchestra that is part of the world it lives in. And it is responsible to the world it lives in and its community. I was once on a panel - it was a few critics by Grammophone Magazine - where we were asked to pick the 10 best orchestras. I was one of those - there were maybe 10 of us from around the world. I had this big debate with them because my idea of the best orchestra is not the orchestra that plays the best; it's the orchestra that functions the best. It means the most...performance is part of it, but that means the most to its community, that has the most responsibility to our musical culture and society, in general - which is why I put the Simon Bolivar, which was then the youth orchestra - you know, it was before it became the full-time professional orchestra, but it felt to me that what they were doing, and they were terribly exciting to hear, which was part of it, but also their impact was so important that, to me, they meant way more than *inaudible* did and certainly than the Philadelphia Orchestra did. 91 I want to go back to something you said - that the biggest challenge to orchestras today (or performing arts in general) is commercialization. Can you elaborate a little bit more about that...what exactly do you mean by commercialization? I mean it in all aspects. It's a big, big subject. It's the concept of, it's the corporate model that I object to, and that I think is really harming music. I mean, I would say iTunes is probably one of the great threats to symphonic music because it functions as a commercial product that has no interest whatsoever in the art form itself, and can be very disruptive to the art form, in terms of the way it presents music, which is without any context, the way it tends to lead you to where the big bucks are, kind of insidiously, the incredibly poor quality of the sound that they put out - that Apple intentionally does because it makes more money that way and tries to hurt the other people that champion. It's things like that. It's an orchestra like the Minnesota Orchestra which, again, it all became money or glory, and not about the music itself. But I think it can be about the orchestra's, for example, since you're dealing mostly with symphonic music, so many orchestras now are kind of based on the corporate model and that means they have a very, very top-heavy administrative component, which then causes ticket prices, for example, to be higher. And to me, that's one of the great problems, I would say, with symphonic music. We're, more and more, making music something to consume and not make on your own. It's like, people are interested in baseball because they played baseball as kids. It's part of their lives. Have you seen in recent years a significant change in programming trying to cater to different audiences? There has been some of that. It's something that's always existed in one way or another, and it depends where you are, to a certain degree. I mean, in Los Angeles, we have had a huge move towards putting on more music and having the orchestra be more representative of our times, and it's been very successful. Now, it's been very difficult to make that happen and something no other orchestra has done, which is built an audience. The idea is that you don't just attract - you can attract kids to come and check it out, and they'll go check something else - this is to build an audience to do things that get people interested enough to keep coming back. That takes time, that takes trust, that takes the willingness to lose some money. It's a long term investment. And LA has done that better than any other orchestra in the world. And so we now have, far and away, the most modern orchestra in the world. We do more new pieces in a year than all of the major orchestras in America combined. And, you know, we have the biggest star in the business music director who is doing all these new piece. I mean, people think of Gustavo as a traditionalist from a backwater South American culture. In fact, he is the most progressive music director of any major orchestra in the world. And part of that progressiveness - he has a natural born curiosity - but he was never doing any of that stuff until he got here. He got here, and he just soaked it up. And he became part of it. But that's because Isa Pekka Solomon built this thing up over 17 years and created and the administration and other people in town. They built a concert hall that people actually want to go to. Why didn't anybody else ever think of that? Build a strong community, and you need a strong administration. All these conductor changes that you see. Every orchestra, just about. They hire a music director who is the opposite of who they had before because they got sick of them or something. So they hire the opposite. Then 92 what happens? This guy, or, on the rare occasion, woman, you know, enough already...we want the exact opposite. We rushed too much just to get somebody who's different - not just the best one. And they keep doing this. And LA didn't do that. I mean, Solomon was here 17 years and really built something. And Solomon was part of the discovery of Dudamel - he was on the jury that discovered him. He was the one who made sure LA got him first - his US debut. And only left because, he'd been wanting to leave for a year or two, but it was hearing Dudamel conduct in the Disney Hall - he said, "Okay, now I can leave." And paved the way for Dudamel to succeed. And they're very close, the two of them. So, you know, they built something here. They built a family, and, again, it's the most natural way to do things. And it doesn't happen very often, in part because so many of these orchestras are competitive, they're corporate, and everybody's looking out for themselves. Now you are seeing, people are seeing the success here, and they're trying to copy it. So it's having a good influence around the world. It's a very good influence. What do you see as the future of symphonic music? I don't know. I don't want to see a future. I mean, the whole point is that we live in the present. And to do what we're doing now to matter to us. Beethoven was not writing for the future. He was writing music that, at the end of his career, was really for a future audience because it was beyond what, not all, but the majority of his listeners, could comprehend. But in fact he was writing for them. He was writing for that moment. And, you know, I really think we have to do what we're doing right now for this moment, for the community we're in, for our audiences, for us, and do what really matters and what really means the most. And if it's important enough, and if we've figured it out well enough, then it will last and things will grow and be built from that. I don't think, you know, when you think about the future and you're not thinking about the present, it doesn't matter. I think you have to be in the moment and use all of history that you have, and take advantage of everything you know, and make history and make something that matters for us right now. Because if you don't, you really don't have a future anyway. Again, the business, the music industry, which is mostly loathsome - it operates now where you've gotta sign people up years in advance. It's worse now. It's the worst in opera where typically seasons are planned 3 to 5 years in advance. And with the big stars, they're booked 5 years in advance. Who knows what they're going to be singing like in 5 years? What they're gonna want to sing? I mean, somebody's booked to see an opera 5 years from now who really might have undergone a major life change who might really feel like doing something else is far more important. And so you have that singer doing something - you're thinking about the future, but actually that singer is being an artist of the past based on a decision that was made a long time ago. So, you know, you obviously do have to plan ahead of time and, one of the huge challenges right now in America, it's not so much elsewhere because elsewhere we have the subscription system and that's not so common overseas. They didn't need it in the past because they have more government support than we do. And the subscription system is a kind of insurance that means what we know, pretty much, what our income is next year, so we can program based on that, and we can take some chances. We can expose people to things they might not think they'll like, but guess what, might be interesting to them, but they wouldn't otherwise just come to see it. But people don't want to do that anymore. The subscription season is just on its way out. People just don't live their lives that way anymore. In the past, there were fewer distractions, there were fewer this, that. People enjoy the energy of going on a regular 93 basis and having that commitment, particularly with the younger people, but basically true with everybody. Nobody really wants to set up that, "all my Thursdays are going to be doing this." People want to decide at the last minute what they're going to do. And that means you can still get a good audience, but orchestras then begin to feel like they have to make each program that they think will well, and that can be a problem. Now, the European orchestras - they didn't really deal with that in the past. Actually, as the government funding has been reduced in the past few years, they've started to look more and more into the subscription series, and that hasn't been doing them the slightest bit of good. And everyone's grappling with that right now and no one has a solution. But it is something that is very, very worrisome. There are always things that change and there are always new things - that's just one of them. So you see a change in the business model in the next few years? I just think people are going to have to figure out a way to get around that. They will, but I know it worries administrators enormously. It worries them, and LA has its own problems, and one of its problems is just trying to get people to come downtown in the traffic. And, if you have those tickets in advance, and if you live in Santa Monica, as I do, if you have those tickets, then maybe you'll just say, "Alright, I'm going to leave early enough, and I will sit on the 10 for an hour and a half to get to the concert. But if you don't, then you probably won't. I mean, there are times when I thought, "well, I really want to that concert, but do I want to fight that traffic?" Well, I have to because it's my job, but if it wasn't...I mean, last night, I went to review something at Red Cat. Usually I just try to get there early, but I couldn't. It was just a nightmare. Why did I? This is crazy, it's an hour show, and it's over two hours. And this horrendous traffic just to get there. And that's particularly to LA. How do you feel about outdoor concerts, for example, when the LA Phil goes to the Hollywood Bowl? Is that a good way to get more exposure? It was always thought that the Hollywood Bowl was a great way to filter people into downtown. I don't think it is. I think it's just a separate thing altogether. I don't like the Hollywood Bowl, personally. But to me, it's not a place where you're inclined to really pay attention to music - it's just something that's going on while you're having a picnic. I'm happier at the Bowl now than I used to be because they upgraded the sound system. Before, it was just a nightmare for me. Now, they actually have a pretty good sound system. And there a few places that have really spectacular sound systems. I'm hoping that people are starting to re-look at new ways of doing things. People have always loved going to hear music out of doors. I'm not necessarily one of those people, but it can be magical. There's a new hall that Frank Gehry built in Miami Beach. In the World Center for Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony. And they built this big blank wall outside for the performance to be projected on this big blank wall - it's a park, it's Miami Beach, and it's just fabulous. And, the sound guy at Disney Hall, actually, the sound guy who installed the new sound system at the Hollywood Bowl, he built the speaker system in Miami Beach around that that is the best I've ever heard. I mean, it really is good. And those concerts, they really turn people on. They're free for the public - they can go and they can, you know the public - it's not in the hall, they can sit outside on a balmy, wonderful day in Miami in this park, see in high def a really good projection of the concert. And the concert's in the hall, the hall is multimedia. Frank designed these sails, these concrete sails which are intended for 94 projections, so it's very multimedia concept. It translates to the outdoor thing - they're called wall casts, and they're hugely popular - they seat about a thousand people. They can be quite effective. There are ways of doing things outdoors that can be wonderful. A lot of people love the Hollywood Bowl. I don't think it attracts people - I just think it's a different experience. I don't know what it does. I don't see people getting particularly turned onto music there. At least in the boxes where I sit. I do remember, in the old days, well, like 20 years ago, they used to really sell the Hollywood Bowl as this idea that you could bring people...it would bring people downtown. I remember one night, it was opening night at the LA Phil in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Surely enough, there were a couple of people who had been to the Hollywood Bowl because they brought their picnic basket, and they sort of set it up in the lobby, and the administration was furious. The Hollywood Bowl is worse than most, in some ways, if you go to Tanglewood or Ravinia in Chicago, acoustically, you're in a much more, you can sit on the lawn and picnic, but if you sit in the sheds in these places, you're almost like you're in a concert hall. So, that's a very different experience. 95 Appendix C: Interview #3 Kenneth Foster Interview Transcript Conducted by Justine Saquilayan January 20, 2015; USC; Los Angeles, CA What is the state of symphonic music in the United States, currently? Well, I think whenever you have this conversation or you start thinking about these kinds of questions, I would distinguish between symphonic music and the industry of the symphony orchestra because those are two pretty different things. I think the symphonic music is actually in a very interesting time in its development. I just was at the LA Phil this weekend to hear the Gorecki 4th Symphony which is a brand new piece - it had its LA premiere this weekend. Music is being composed for symphony orchestras - some music is being composed for symphony orchestras. So the state of, I think this is kind of true for all of the arts, the anguish, the worry, is less about the state of the art and more about the state of the mechanism by which the artist [inaudible]. So, symphony orchestras, which are sort of 19th century institutions as we know them in the US...they came about because of the migration of the European immigrants to the United States and the desire to have markers of their arrival and of their cultural awareness. So, for the same reason that people like JP Morgan collected art, and all of those sort of robber barons from the 19th century collected visual art from Europe and brought all that over and started museums and stuff like that, that's the same impulse that led people to create symphony orchestras. That impulse then began then spread over the rest of the 20th century. It's because of its marker as a sign of civilization that it became a marker within a country, a city that is serious. A serious city has a symphony. If you don't have a symphony orchestra, there's something wrong with your city. So, that's all well and good up until the 50s and up into the 60s. There was a real proliferation in the 60s, and the Ford Foundation was giving a lot of money to cities to support their orchestras. And it carried us through into the 70s and into the 80s. In the 80s, it became a little challenging because, more than a little challenging because of the culture wars and the desire to...the questioning of whether government support for the arts should be there. At the same time that that was going on, the demographics of the country were changing dramatically. They obviously, up to today, are continuing to change. So the idea that a western European art form that is grounded also in a particular type of structure and dynamic - a single leader leading a bunch of people into a shared endeavor - is, over time, is now running counter to the way our country is and the way we understand ourselves. Interestingly enough, ironically enough, it started in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected President, and the whole shift began away from this idea of doing things for the public good and towards this idea that I should do what's right for me. And collectively, all of us doing what's right for us is going to create a society that we want to be part of. But if you can't do it or you can't participate, it's your problem - it's not my problem. So the structure and the very idea of the symphony and what it represents goes counter to the cultural ethos of the country, both economically and the way we were thinking economically, but in particular the values. And, when you add into that the changing demographics where the country is increasingly non-Western-European, then none of those things bode particularly well for the future of the symphony orchestra as an entity that was a 19th century entity. 96 So, I think we're in a little bit of a, more than a little bit of a transition phase right now in that many orchestras are struggling to survive. The older white people that started them are dying. Their kids don't care, and even if they had a lot of money and they're passing it on to their kids, their kids aren't putting them into symphony orchestras because they just don't care. At the same time, the traditional hold of the symphony orchestra as a marker of arriving is still quite strong. And so, many cities and localities are working really hard to sustain their orchestras and to find ways to sustain their orchestras. So, now what's happening, and, if you look at Symphony Magazine you'll see that there's a plethora of approaches to presenting symphony music from all these orchestras that are, frankly, trying to find a way to get audiences. We've gone away from the subscription model of 50 weeks a year, concerts every weekend, it's all classical. For many years now, symphonies have gone into the pops field. Apropos of your question about Millennials, they're trying new music, they're trying visuals, they're trying all kinds of strategies to bring people into the concert. So, some symphony orchestras are dying, are going away, and some pretty major ones have struggled. Minnesota has been very recently in the news, Atlanta is in a really bad situation. So part of what - if you dig underneath that and sort of find out what's happening, again, this has very little to do with the music and very much to do with the organization, the business of the symphony, and how the business is run. And because we, starting in 1980, shifted away from the idea of "music is for the public good" and towards this idea that arts needs to pay for itself because if it can't, it's not worth happening - then one of the ways that orchestras responded was by hiring business people to run those organizations and business people whose first interest is not on creating great music, it's creating a survivable organization, and we'll do whatever it takes. At the same time that all this is going on, the idea of labor in the United States is also changing pretty dramatically. Labor unions are in decline as the idea of the economic engine has been developed. Labor is a cost of production, so we don't see labor as you, as a person creating a life and having a job and supporting your family and contributing to your community. That's all very important. We just see you as an input into the production. So, therefore, if I can get you to do this for less money, then you are now, all the better for me and all the better for the organization, at least in theory. So there's this huge pressure to push downward on labor cost, which is all about unions, which had their heyday in the early part of the 20th century and had reached the point where symphony musicians had viable jobs. Better than viable jobs. Jobs that many people in this country would be envious of having. A started musician at the LA Phil makes over a hundred grand, right? That's pretty nice. So those two competing forces started working, and a lot of what you're seeing in both Atlanta and Minnesota, in those two cases, what you saw was a board that said, "we're going to cut the costs. It's ridiculous that these musicians make so much money." And always, always, always in a non-profit organization, the salaries of the people working there is the biggest block of your budget. It's a people-invested business. And obviously an orchestra is 80 to 100 musicians - it's a big part of your budget. So, that, you know, desire to reduce the cost by reducing the amount of money that musicians are paid... With that being said, who is the target demographic of symphony orchestras, then? You're a Millennial and, let's say the best that happened to you during your school career is that you were schlepped off to an orchestra concert, which is probably the experience of the majority 97 of that generation. I mean, certainly many of them probably took violin lessons, got really involved, but the majority probably their experience with symphony orchestras is limited to the occasional field trip, which, I'm sure you can recall from your elementary field trips, it's more of a fun, vacation-y thing. You may have a transformative experience. You may have an experience there where you're like, "Oh my God, I want to be a symphony musician." But that is pretty unlikely. The amount of time that you spend buying candy or escaping to the bathroom to be with your friends takes precedence. So we have a whole generation, then, of people, who, for any number of reasons, that's one of them, another is their family background, where they came from. The growth of the population in this country is about new immigrants who are largely coming from Latino and Asian countries where a symphony orchestra experience is not exactly a cultural icon - not that it doesn't happen - but it's not the cultural icon that it is for Western Europe. So you have all these people with all these people who have no interest or knowledge or concern about symphony orchestras. Now, symphony orchestras are being run by people my age and older, they have historically been funded by people my age and older, and they have a really hard time making that connection. So what they generally say, and I've heard this a million times, is that we can take kids to elementary school kids to concerts, at some point in middle school age, we lose them, and we lose them until their children are grown. They go all the way through adolescence, they have children, they get married, their children have children, their children are grown - then they come back to classical music. Classical music is for people who have the time, the money, and the intelligence, the maturity, to understand this remarkable music. You can agree or disagree with that, but that's the way people tend to think. So, you'll hear a lot of people say, "I look out in the audience and I see all that gray hair, and it doesn't worry me a bit because I know these young people, when they get gray hair, they'll be there in the audience. But that might have been true in the 50s, but now there's no reason to expect that to happen because they've had no exposure. As an overarching cultural value, it pales in comparison to television, you name it. What I'm trying to say is symphonies want to diversify their audiences, they want to appeal to young people, they want to appeal to people of other cultures, but they're run by people who are not of those demographics, and therefore the things they decide to do are irrelevant or ineffective, in the same way that when your parents are picking out clothes for you as a child, your parents are picking out clothes for you that they think you'll like, but they're picking out what they like. It's the same kind of thing. What happens is that the intended target may be one thing and the actual target is something else. The real trouble is when they, and this is what worries all of those administrators is that we target a younger audience by changing the rep, making it easier, making it more informal, making it casual, putting it at a different time of day, having food and drink - if we do all that, and the younger people don't show, the older people hate it, and they're fleeing them as well. As somebody who has been in charge of performing arts centers or different programs, how do you strike the balance between pleasing your donors and ushering in this new generation? I know that the majority of revenue that orchestras get nowadays are from private donors. Well, I would say that's a dynamic balancing act, and by "dynamic," I mean it's constantly changing. So, whereas we think we would want to figure out the formula - you know, 50% of our music is 17th, 18th, 19th century music and 50% is contemporary music, and that's the correct 98 balance to reach both young people and old people. One third of our program will be targeted towards young people and two-thirds will be targeted to the older people. You can start your thinking in those kinds of ways, but if change is so dramatically based on what you learn and what the results are that there is no fixed point. The first guide I said to myself, I was not running symphony orchestras - I was running major presenting programs, but I was dealing with multiple audiences, multiple art forms, some of which was very interesting to students at the University of Arizona, but some were not. I would say that if you're a symphony orchestra that is devoted to what one might call as the "canon of symphony orchestra," that Western European 17th through 20th century music, that may well be the core of what you're doing and there is quite possibly a substantial amount of programming you do that would fit into that ideology. The question that you would have to find out for yourself is to what degree today's audience of, let's face it, at best, 50 and 60 year olds are willing to pay for that. That is going to determine how much you're able to do. Whether you're able to do 2 concerts a weekend or 3 concerts a weekend. Or one concert a week. Or whether you can do a 9 month season or 12 month season or 6 month season. I think there's a need to, and I see this in my students here all the time because I have a lot of students here who are in classical music and who are honestly and sincerely in love with that music and find that it speaks to them in these really extraordinary ways, and I was just reading an article in the paper this morning about an opening of this new concert hall in Paris for the Orchestra de Paris...this new concert hall. They had this day where everyone could come and do whatever and the writer was saying that, I can't remember exactly what, but it was a very straight ahead classical program with a lot of kids, but it was quite remarkable and people really loved it. The writers said something to the effect, "proving that classical music canon does still speak to people." So I think there's something about the music itself that remains really extraordinary. We wouldn't want to get rid of all the art museums because people don't want to see the old paintings anymore. So we wouldn't want to get rid of the music. What we probably have to do is think about new strategies for connecting the music to the people that we want it to connect to. And that's part of the dynamic in terms of figuring out different strategies for doing that. Sometimes that will mean that you get to sit quietly in a room of 2500 people and no one is coughing and no one is cell-phoning and no one is doing any of that and you have this incredible auditory experience. I think that's a really unique, valuable experience that cannot and should not ever go away, but it also means that you have to expand your idea of how people might engage with that. So, the pops strategy really subverts that in a really bad way because it just does popular music, and that's fine if you accept it for what it is - but don't kid yourself and think that by doing a pops thing you're bringing people to [the symphony]. It's like the Nutcracker. We'll do the Nutcracker so it will bring people - no - Nutcracker builds audiences for Nutcrackers, it doesn't build audience for dance. So, then I would say, can we experiment with the time, the place and the setting within which this music is being created. Let's talk about Millennials. What is it that drives Millennials? Well, we know about the short attention span thing, we know about the social thing (they like to do things in groups, they like to do things together), they like to have the social aspect of that. We know, and this is the hardest part for everyone in classical music to get - we know that what we might call "multi-tasking" or "multi-experiential" experiences are not foreign to Millennials. In fact, that's the way they experience the world. So, I'm reading my book, watching TV and listening to a podcast all at the same time. I'm doing all of that at once and not saying to you that I feel, "Oh my gosh, I feel like I need to drop one of these activities to really focus in. Maybe I 99 will, but maybe I won't." So, for example, one of the great ones I always look to cause these gasps is the whole issue of Tweeting your experience during, you know. I understand as someone who goes to symphonies and loves, I understand why I would hate to be surrounded by a bunch of people Tweeting, a bunch of people talking, a bunch of people drinking, a bunch of people nudging each other or giggling or that sort of thing when I want to have that amazing experience. But I can't support the whole thing, so maybe there's a section of the auditorium. Maybe there's a specific performance time that you're able to...we believe that you can't fully engage this music unless you stop everything else and focus on it. Millennials do that almost never on almost anything. They really have learned to have multiple stimuli. So why not experiment with that and try to make that? Why not? There's a lot here in LA - it's not symphony music, obviously, but there's a group here called Wild Up which is an ensemble of musicians who come together and do concerts in all kinds of places. They do them in the train station, they do them downtown, they do them in the museums. So why do I have to go sit in a chair in Disney Hall and sit very quietly for 2 1/2 hours at 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon in order to have this experience? It's tough with symphony because you've got 80 people. So that brings up the technology piece and then you have Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony in Miami where they've built a whole new hall which has all this screen stuff going on. These things are all anathema to classical music lovers that I would think the experience of classical music is something that I've had that experience by watching it on a screen. That I'm having that experience when other people are doing things around me that are distracting. It's a huge cultural shift, but it recognizes the reality of the contemporary population. Can the future of the industry of the symphonic music be salvaged with good public relations and good marketing? No. No. First of all, we are inundated with messages of that nature. Absolutely inundated. We're on a 24/7 constant basis, and now with every single app and every single website loaded with ads, there is just so much noise out there that I don't know what the effective public relations or marketing strategy would be that would make this work in terms of taking a symphony experience as we understand it now and effectively marketing it or creating an effective public relations campaign that would address these issues of younger people. I don't think that's going to do it. There's a fundamental change that needs to happen in the way the music is shared that will require an effective public relations and marketing strategy, as always, right? But I think one of the big mistakes we've made, and a lot of people have been hurt from this - people get fired as marketing directors and PR people because they can't sell the tickets. Well, you know, you're just pushing a boulder up a hill all by yourself. You generally don't have enough money as Coca Cola does in order to advertise their wares. You're faced with a population that is unfamiliar with your product, if you talk about symphony music as a product. You are not allowed to change the nature, you can't go back to the executive director and say, you know what, I can't sell Bach, but if you were doing the Beatles, I could sell that. They're like, no we're not doing the Beatles, we're doing Bach. You need to learn how to sell Bach. So you're selling Bach to an audience for whom that has no connection whatsoever, except possibly as something their school or parents forced them to do and that they found boring. No amount of marketing or PR is going to fix that situation. Believe me, listen, I've been doing this for thirty years and I remember back in the 80s, even then, before there were Millennials, we were dealing with this problems and we were 100 thinking, how are we going to get young people to come. So we got into very descriptive imagery and language around what was going to happen to you. We finally got that we had to talk about the experience and not the thing itself. Some of us did. So then we started talking about the experience in these really dramatic ways - "get swept away," you know. And then people would come and not get swept away. It was the same old thing - they were convinced by your PR and they took a chance, but no, it's the same thing that happened to them in the third grade - they were bored out of their minds and they didn't know what was going on. You call this dramatic? My rock concert that I went to last week was way more dramatic than this, people were flying off the stage and surfing in the crowd. So, the marketing and PR has to be an important part, but that alone is not going to get Millennials to see the Beethoven Symphony. That's not going to do it. Take the music and figure out how to re-contextualize the music so it feels more like a part of the Millennials' experience. I was trying to figure out who it was - a substantial amount of their orchestral performing work was outdoor concerts, concerts in the park, concerts in the plaza. There's this famous YouTube thing in Vienna, some place in Germany, it's just a town plaza, people are walking around, doing their shopping, whatever. A guy comes out and starts playing. Pretty soon other people start playing. Pretty soon they all start to come together and they reach the critical mass of literally an orchestra in the middle of the town. Playing, it's Beethoven or something. People have stopped and they're watching. The phenom - creating a phenom about what you're about. That might make me, as someone who never goes to symphony orchestra, say, "I really enjoyed that. Maybe I should try it." Then I should be able, and this is true for Disney Concert Hall, to go to the website, get a ticket quick and easy and cheap and get that experience. Cheap is a big deal because I'm not sure I'm going to like this, so I'm not going to spend $130 on a ticket. But you can buy a $25 ticket and sit in the seats behind the orchestra. I've done, and that's pretty cool. That's a really great point. That's what the history of the symphony orchestras has developed has created was this idea among people of your age that I probably can't do this. I look at the tickets and I see tickets of $130 and I'm not even thinking about that. So part of what the PR part is kind of the democratization of this and to really make it real that you can get a ticket. And a good ticket. That's the nice thing about Disney Concert Hall - a lot of these places are saddled by these gigantic halls, and that's fine, but the cheap seats are in the 5th balcony, and you're like, well, what kind of experience am I going to have? You know, when Rent opened on Broadway, they did this incredible thing - Broadway tickets are a hundred and something dollars - everyday they would put the two front rows on sale for like $25 dollars. You lined up and you bought it then. Young people liked to line up, they liked the excitement, the fun of that. Plus, you get those young people mixed in with the old subscribers and there was a different energy in the hall, which the musicians probably like. The old subscribers might have to get over themselves a bit because they might not behave the way people want them to. But, you know, isn't it worth it? So there's strategies like that can be applied, but I think some really deep thinking about - that's why I did the whole long history - because the history really informs where we are now. Just one last question - you said we're in a period of transition. What will signal the end of the transition, and what does that mean for the future? That's a good question. I'm not sure what will signal the end of it. When I say we're in a period of 101 transition, I think we're going to see a lot of change. I think we will see orchestras who don't have creative leadership will not be able to survive. Personally, I don't think that's a bad thing. I think the idea that every community in the United States needs to have a symphony orchestra is foolish. Even those conservatories like Thornton continually churn out music students galore, I don't think there's enough talent and enough people willing to be in Oklahoma City and wherever else to participate in it. Part of what's happening there and despite what everyone's on about, you know, democratization, after a time, if I go to mediocre performances by a mediocre symphony, I really lose interest. I mean, it's tough work and musicians really do earn their money and, if you are able to create this sort of extraordinary experience. So, anyway, I think losing some orchestras is not a bad thing. I think especially as the demographics begin to change, I think you'll see it become a minority art form just as you see the people who love it become a minority in this country. Frankly, you know, those kinds of questions I find kind of interesting, but so what? So what if the symphony is an art form that is appreciated by the same percentage of the population as mariachi music? This country is becoming incredibly Latino - there's a movement to make mariachi the national music of the United States. There's a certain point where rancho music, mariachi music, whatever, is going to reach its healthy minority status, and it's going to stay there. So, why would that be a bad thing for a symphony orchestras for classical music? This is not a mono-cultural country, it's a multi-cultural country, so there ought to be room for multiple cultural expressions, and in order to make room for multiple cultural expressions, some dominant cultures are going to have to recede. I don't think that's a bad thing. The county of Los Angeles has something like 5, 6 or 7 symphony orchestras. Now, it provides a lot of work for musicians, and that's great. But you can't tell me that all of those symphony orchestras have a mandate on county tax money to survive. I just don't see it. How that winnowing out occurs is always a question, and I don't have an answer to that because I'm a little mixed...I don't believe that the market place can effectively winnow out the good ones from the bad ones. 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