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The Crisis of Classical Music 3

  Tobias

„Marketing“ seems to have become a dirty word. Which probably stems from the popular notion that Art and Business are enemies and can not go together. To put it bluntly: This is not only nonsense but anathema to the world of Classical Music.

This is, because Art and Business are not enemies, but rather inequal partners. You would not see them strolling down the parc, holding hands. But they are both in need of each other. The idea that it could be any different is probably the fault of the recording industry itself (which by many of its practices showed open disdain for the artists it was working with) and those artists that were outspoken, but unsuccesful (and managed to get their “rip-off” theory across). But think about it: No musician in an orchestra has any problem with their theatre manager arranging packed audiences. And I have never heard of any artist complaining that their agency was getting them too many live engagements. But when anyone starts selling too many records, hell breaks loose. Admittedly, this has seldomly been the case over the last few years. But even this period of decline hasn’t changed attitudes.

The reason that even intelligent and sane individuals are still clutching to this idea is that the art business is a bit of a contradiction in terms. There is no innocence, so don’t even start looking for it! How can an artists claim he is not in it for the money, when he is in fact offering his products for sale? The answer to this question is simple: By sticking to what you do best and let record companies do their job. Both sides have failed on this, but let’s continue  with the theme of the last article and stay with the record companies for a while. The argument that needs to be brought against them in my eyes is not that they have been doing too much marketing, thereby endangering art. Rather, they have been doing too little of it.

Marketing means bringing the product to the consumer. The more consumers, the better. But record companies have been focussing on a narrow potential of buyers and ignoring three important groups. These are:

• Concert-Goers: Strangely enough, the current situation, difficult as it may be, holds great potential. That is, because the live circuit is once again the main focus of the music. However you look at it, that’s a good thing, because the natural way for artists to sell their product would be after a glorious concert. There is a huge group of people who regularly attend concerts but do not buy any records. They should be a prime target of marketing.
• “The Young”: No, I am not referring to 17-year olds and I wouldn’t want to revert a HipHop-fan into a devote Bach-listener. I am even opposed to special target-group CDs, such as “Mozart for Students”. But there is a clear trend in slightly more mature Pop/Rock Music-audiences these days to “go individual” and to be anything but mainstream. Not including this group of interested and open-minded young people would be foolish.
• MASOMO’s: This is an abbreviation for "Middle-Agers in Search Of Musical Orientation". There is a point in most people’s lives when they grow out of the music they were listenig to when they were young. It’s a subtle moment of deep confusion, because it means that something that has meant so much to them for a long time has died. There are three potential consequences: Firstly, people wll cling to their earliest musical moments and idolise them. The only CDs they will buy are of the stars they liked in their youth (say, Phil Collins). Secondly, they will start buying new genres of music. Or thirdly, they will stop buying albums alltogether. Sadly, the latter is mostly the case. But what if record companies could assist this group in their search for orientation and coax them gently towards Classical Music?

As I will show in a later series of articles, the marketing techniques employed to win over these groups are similar and can therefore be bundled. But before we can move on to how to improve the current situation, I will just go on analysing its weaknesses for just a moment. So stay tuned for next week’s article, which will address the thing it’s all about: The music itself!

"The Crisis of Classical Music" by Tobias Fischer