Orchestras and New Media
“Smart companies
will get out of the
way and help the
inevitable to
happen sooner.”
By Marc van Bree. Version 1.0

Road Map
The Changing Print Environment and the New Media Revolution
New Media: Tools of the Trade
SWOT Analysis: Orchestras and New Media
Measuring Results

The Changing Print Environment
and the New Media Revolution
From slow and stationary to fast and mobile

Art in print. In proportion.
“At the Chicago Tribune,
the daily Tempo section,
which contains arts,
culture, media and
technology, represented
only 5 percent of the
papers pagination.”
National Arts Journalism Program
at Columbia University “Reporting the Arts II”

Culture up. Resources down.
“While more Americans
are participating in cultural
activities than at any time
in our history, and
although the arts have
evolved to unprecedented
size and complexity, the
resources that
metropolitan newsrooms
allocate to the arts are
generally flat or in retreat.”
National Arts Journalism Program
at Columbia University “Reporting the Arts II”

Column inches declining
Column inches about arts
in 20 newspapers around the country
5,600
5,500
5,400
5,300
5,200
Column Inches
5,100
5,000
4,900
4,800
4,700
1998 2003
National Arts Journalism Program
at Columbia University “Reporting the Arts II”

Music critics: a disappearing breed
Full-time classical music critic positions eliminated
over the past couple of years:
• Los Angeles Times
• Chicago Sun-Times
• Miami Herald
• Minneapolis Star Tribune
• Kansas City Star
• Seattle Times
• And more…

The lunatic suicide of the press
“[…] it would be an error to attribute
this dispiriting attrition to a philistine
attack on the arts, or to focus too much
on its meaning for cultural pursuits.
The de-criticization of American
journalism is a symptom of a much
deeper tragedy in civic life: the lunatic
suicide of the press.”
Justin Davidson, critic for New York Magazine and former critic of Newsday, in an article for Musical America

It’s not just anecdotes
Statistics from the 65,000
Newspaper Association 63,000
of America show a 61,000
decline in circulation 59,000
numbers since the mid 57,000
55,000
1980s; from a daily 53,000
circulation of over 63 51,000
million in 1984 to a 49,000
daily circulation of 52 47,000
45,000
million in 2006.
1981
1987
1993
1980
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Total Paid Circulation in Thousands
Newspaper Association of America

The good news: the Internet
Monthly unique visitor numbers
for newspaper Web sites rose
from 41 million in January 2004
to 69 million in May 2008.
In active reach percentages,
numbers rose from
27.5% to 41.7%.
Newspaper Association of America

A shift in strategy

What is today’s Internet?
“A powerful global conversation has
begun. Through the Internet, people
are discovering and inventing new
ways to share relevant knowledge
with blinding speed.”
The Cluetrain Manifesto

What does this mean?
Terms such as new media, social media and
Web 2.0 are used to describe the Internet’s
move to more:
• Participation (encourage contributions)
• Openness (no barriers to content and feedback)
• Conversation (listening, not just broadcasting)
• Community (gather around a common interest)
• Connectedness (content sharing)
Icrossing’s What is Social Media?

What can new media mean for the arts?
“[…]an invigorated conversation about the arts, a
built-in audience of readers who have been betrayed
by the local paper and the beginnings of a strategy for
surviving the implosion of traditional news.”
Justin Davidson, critic for New York Magazine and former critic of Newsday, in an article for Musical America

Brand and media proliferation
Brand proliferation
In the 1990s, the number of brands on grocery store
shelves tripled from 15,000 to 45,000
Media proliferation
13,500 radio stations (4,400 in 1960)
17,300 magazine titles (8,400 in 1960)
82.4 TV channels per home (5.4 in 1960)
…and billions of Web pages
Weng Wah Wong. Social Media and Marketing: Evolution or Revolution. On Slideshare

Messages getting lost in the noise
34%
24%
13%
9%
1965 1974 1981 2000
Percent of adult evening viewers who can name a
brand advertised in show just watched
Weng Wah Wong. Social Media and Marketing: Evolution or Revolution. On Slideshare.

Be their steward
“More than just realizing that they have lost some of
the control over their audience they once enjoyed,
organizations must embrace the relationships they
have with their customers and work twice as hard to
make sure the information customers are using to
form their opinions comes from the organization.
Customers want help, they want to
be led—and organizations can, and
should, fill that need. You must be
their steward.”
Brian Reich and Dan Solomon. Media Rules!

New media:
Tools of the trade

New vs. old
Old Internet New Internet
You look for content Content is delivered to you

Syndication and RSS
Web or RSS feeds are the standard
method of distributing dynamic
content to subscribers.
Dynamic content can include: blog
posts, newspaper or magazine
articles, news releases, audio files
and videos.
Whenever you see the image to
your right, you know you can
subscribe to the content.

Syndication and RSS
Create your own
newspaper
Use a service such as Bloglines
or Google Reader to pull
together a collection of Web
feeds, which is known as
aggregation, and customize
your own news experience.

Tagging and folksonomy
Tagging is the core social element
of many Web 2.0 services. Tags, or
key words, can make content
searchable and findable. Tags
can make content social.
The buzzword for this
phenomenon is “folksonomy,”
which translates to “user
generated classification.” Users
tag and categorize data and create
new ways to find information.

Tagging and folksonomy
Tagging in action
The editors of Chicagoist.com
use a special “chicagoist” tag in
Flickr, an image hosting service,
so that their readers can share
and mark photos that might be
interesting for Chicagoist’s
readers and blog posts.

Blogging
A blog, short for weblog,
is a Web site with
regular entries on any
topic imaginable, an
online journal.
Important questions for
organizations are “how
does our organization
connect with bloggers?”
and “why should our
organization blog?”

Blogging: key elements
Openness
no barriers to content, news
and information
Participation and
Conversation
blogs are a two-way street
with feedback and discussions
Community and
Connectedness
linking, tagging and sharing
with a community of similar
interests

Connecting with blogs
Consider this: how did your organization connect with
your hometown newspaper and local journalists?
Read (know who is writing and what they are
writing)
Participate (comment first, pitch later)
Build relationships (provide the same level
of service you would provide a journalist)
Adapt materials (if you think journalists are
weary of press releases… personalize your pitch and
remember you are working with a multi-media outlet)
Drew McManus. How to Connect With New Media. On Adaptistration.

Why Blog?
Keeping up with the Joneses is not the right answer;
there should be a strategic objective for starting a
blog. If you’re not sure why, perhaps you shouldn’t be
starting a blog.
Culture (does your organization have particular cultural traits worth revealing?)
Transparency (transparency is crucial to establishing credibility and trust)
Time (it takes a lot of time to set up, research, write and engage)
Dialogue (ability and willingness to engage with the community)
Writing Style and Personalization (bring a human side to a blog)

Institutional blogs
Institutional Info Blog
(blogs that distribute news about the organization)
Community Content Blog
(blogs that take the content and
offerings of the organization and
try to open it up to community input)
Specialized Content Blog
(blogs that are typically linked to a
special event or festival)
Personal Voice Blog
(blogs in which individuals or a
small panel of staff offer personal
commentary about their organization).
http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/

Digital storytelling
Perhaps the most
intriguing aspect of
blogs, content
communities and other
social media services is
the opportunity to tell
a digital story and give
others the opportunity
to tell your
organization’s story.

Content to be shared and syndicated
When you tell your
story or want others to
tell it for you:
“Create content that is designed to be
syndicated, to be absorbed by other
venues and promoted widely. Don’t
just deliver prepackaged stuff. Offer
information to people that can be
reproduced and redelivered, raw
materials that can be molded to
match almost any situation.”
Brian Reich and Dan Solomon. Media Rules!

New media tools: youtube
Social content
communities
Videos on YouTube, images
on Flickr, they can all tell a
story. “Tag and title your
videos with relevant
keywords—that’s how users
will find your content as they
navigate YouTube.”
Make content social: sharing,
user ratings and information
filtering presents media that
are of likely interest to other
users; feedback and
discussions opens up
conversation.
http://www.youtube.com/t/ngo_tips

New media tools: del.icio.us
Social
bookmarking
Follow stories online and
keep track of conversations
on the Web. And share
alike.
Users store, organize,
search and manage
bookmarks of Web pages.
Each bookmark is
accompanied by a tag or
several tags, making your
content searchable and
findable.

New media tools: twitter
Micro-blogging
Sound bite stories: Twitter allows
the user to post short (up to 140
characters) messages for the
public to see in a process called
micro-blogging.
Twitter’s uses are multiple:
networking, sharing information
but also conversation monitoring
(even if you’re not ready to jump
in the conversation yourself, you
can monitor what is being said
about your organization)

New media tools: yelp
Social city guide
People’s stories: online city
guides now combine yellow
pages, city guides and social
networks with user-generated
content.
Users can find, review and talk
about places, restaurants,
doctors and anything local.

New media tools: wikipedia
Social encyclopedia
Allows users (not employees!)
to freely contribute to or edit
content, operating on the
philosophy that the more users
participate, the better the
content.
The collective intelligence
empowers the community.
A credible story.

New media tools: last.fm
Social music
Ultimately, for orchestras,
music is the story. Through
recommendations, users are
presented information items
(movies, music, books, news,
images, Web pages) that are
likely of interest to them.
A recommender system
compares the user’s profile to
some reference characteristics.
These characteristics may come
from user input or the user’s
social environment.

New media tools: social networks
Image: http://www.esv.org/assets/blog/2007.01.nt.social.network.big.png

Social networks
Social network services are the embodiment of Web
2.0; more than any other service they encourage
participation, openness, conversation, community,
and connectedness on the Internet.
Just as telephone, fax and
e-mail changed the way
we communicate; social
networking has
revolutionized our
conversations and social
interactions.

Social networks: key elements
Openness and
Community
A public profile serves as a
base from which the users
build a network of friends
and contacts.

Social networks: key elements
Connectedness
and community
Relationships and
connections are no longer
hidden; you know who your
friends’ friends are.
Opening up professional
(LinkedIn) and personal
(Facebook) opportunities.

Social networks: key elements
Participation and
conversation
An MTV/Nickelodeon study found that
“despite the remarkable advances in
communication technology, kid and
youth culture looks surprisingly
familiar, with almost all young people
using technology to enhance rather
than replace face-to-face interaction.”
http://sev.prnewswire.com/multimedia-online-
internet/20070724/NYTU10924072007-1.html

Social networks: key elements
Openness and
connectedness
Openness without barriers to
content (photos, streaming
audio etc.) and conversation
(comments and discussion).
And connectedness through
sharing content and links with
your community.

Social networks: key approach
Online
relationships
Add value to a complement
user’s time offline
and life relationships
Why social networks? Provide
content to be
shared and
Social networks enhance a user’s syndicated
life by being accommodating
through constant connectivity, on-
demand content and expanding
social capital.

SWOT analysis:
Orchestras and New Media
A good start in sizing up
an organization’s
situation and crafting a
strategy is the SWOT
analysis, which appraises
a company’s resource
strengths and
weaknesses and its
external opportunities
and threats.

SWOT analysis: strengths
Materials and media
• Vast amount of interesting (archival) content to share with its constituents; many materials
are easily accessible or adaptable to the new media environment;
• Expertise in producing media and content (audio, program notes, knowledgeable
employees and intellectual capital in regards to content);
• Facilities and human assets to create content (recording studios, high profile guest artists);
• Strong global distribution capabilities.
Engaged and involved audience
• Orchestra audiences are involved and engaged with the product; pride, participation and
community are important factors in audience experiences;
• Strong, involved market; classical music has an enormously strong and engaged community.
Established infrastructure, sites and places
• A powerful brand name within the community, country or world;
• Extensive and established Web sites;
• Established as an authoritative and credible organization;
• Classical music is established on the Internet with several communities;

SWOT analysis: weaknesses
Financial resources
• Budgets are stretched beyond facility; a weak balance sheet;
• Short on financial resources to grow the business and pursue promising initiatives.
Human resources
• New media is unchartered territory for many organizations; no intellectual capital or
knowledgeable employees to make effective use of new media;
• Non-profit job descriptions are stretched and wide-ranging; very few to no orchestras have
employed a new media person. Questions as to who is responsible for new media and how
much time is devoted to new media.
Contracts and Copyright
• Musician contracts and copyright laws prevent full and open use of materials and media

SWOT analysis: opportunities
Openings to exploit emerging new technologies
• New media can significantly extend the life a performance, reaching more patrons and
increasing customer service;
• Online relationships work best when there is an established offline relationship. Online
relationships will complement and add value to an offline relationship.
Expanding into new geographic markets and serving
additional market segments
• The Internet is not bound by geography; patrons and fans from all over the world can enjoy a
geographically confined orchestra outside of limited tours and recordings;
• Changes in social patterns online; 64% of teens are online content creators, therein lies a great
opportunity to connect with a new market segment.
Openings to win market share from rivals
• Through a wide geographic coverage and strong global distribution capabilities, orchestras can
capture market share from rivals that are not represented in new media.
Entering into alliances or joint ventures to expand the
organization’s market coverage
• Collaboration with other arts organizations, community organizations or orchestras.

SWOT analysis: threats
Cluttered environment
• Breaking through the noise; with so many different niche markets and different media, it is
hard to break through the clutter and determine the most effective channels;
Ever changing landscape
• Key rivals introduce innovative new products;
• Changes in technology and markets.
Demographic structure
• Difference in demographic makeup between orchestra audience and new media users
limits demand.

SWOT analysis: what’s next?
Use company strengths and capabilities as
cornerstones for strategy
Use available materials and media, engaged audience and established sites
Pursue those market opportunities best suited to
company strengths and capabilities
Maintain strong relationships with patrons, extend the life of a performance and open the
door to other geographic markets
Correct weaknesses and deficiencies that impair
pursuit of important market opportunities or
heighten vulnerability to external threats
Set a budget for new media, hire or train staff, review contracts and copyrights and keep
track of changes in technology and markets (and don’t put your eggs in one basket)
Thompson, Arthur, John Gamble and A.J. Strickland. Strategy: Core Concepts, Analytical Tools, Readings

Measuring results:
Return on Investment

Measuring results
“In social media and the
blogosphere, being able to measure,
track and compare the results is a
requirement for determining next
steps and strategy.”
First, an organization needs to find out what it is trying to
accomplish. Are you spreading a message, building a
community, raising awareness, forging relationships?
From there, find out what to measure.
Earlier, we established some key elements of social
media: community, conversation, participation and
connectedness. And of course content; content drives
the community. Now, how can we translate these
concepts into measurable attributes?
Dow Jones. Tracking the Influence of Conversations.

Measuring results: triad of measurement
Interest
What and how much is the interest in
your organization
Attitude
What attitudes do people hold about
your organization
Action
What actions, that matter from a
business perspective, do people take
as a result of your campaign
Kami Huyse. The Triad of Measurement.

Measuring results: interest
Activity
(how many people did you reach)
Page views
Unique site visitors
And many more metrics
Community
(who is your community)
Demographics
(age, location, income etc.);
Psychographics
(lifestyle, behavior, values etc.)

Measuring results: interest
Activity
Unique page views over
2-month period (May 1-July 1)

Measuring results: interest
Community
Facebook fan demographics
CSO Fans on Facebook
• Over 50% of our fans are younger than 24
• Over 85% of the fans are younger than 34

Measuring results: attitudes
Conversation
(what is the community talking about)
Conversation Index (ratio between blog posts and comments-plus-trackbacks);
Influential Ideas (memes; how long does a message remain in the arena of
public opinion and interaction)
Connectedness
(what is your relationship with the community)
Relationships and Connections (influence within a specific community)
Content
(what is the focus of the community or conversation)
Relevance (how relevant to my company
is a particular blog post);
Tone (what is the sentiment associated
with the response, positive, negative or neutral)

Measuring results: attitudes
Conversation
blog postings on “Chicago Symphony” from April 11-July 9

Measuring results: attitudes
Conversation and
Content
Keeping track of the
conversation on del.icio.us.,
where you can learn about
tone and relevance of specific
conversations, blog posts and
Web pages.
Here you see conversations
about San Francisco
Symphony’s “Blogger Night”

Measuring results: action
Participation
(what is the community doing; what are its actions)
Engagement (the recipient responds to a message; a
comment or feedback; initiating a conversation)
Sales (ticket or product sales as a direct response)
Community Activation (sharing and recommending
products or events; word of mouth)

Measuring results: action
Engagement
Posts on discussion boards,
your Facebook “wall”

Measuring results: action
Sales and community
activation
You can measure user action in
various ways on Facebook. To the
left, action can be both sharing
the event invitation (community
activation) and confirming
attendance (sales)

Orchestras and New Media
Wrapping up
Back to The Cluetrain Manifesto: thesis number 57 pleads the case
that “smart companies will get out of the way and help the inevitable
to happen sooner.” Seeing the decline in traditional arts coverage, the
inevitable, it seems, is an increase in participation and conversations
with your community.
But I leave it to each individual organization to create its own set of
lists, draw its own conclusions and determine its own course of action.
This brief and incomplete analysis merely serves as a guide and as a
provoker of thought on orchestras and new media.

Orchestras and New Media
By Marc van Bree
This presentation was produced from the series “Orchestras
and New Media” on my blog Dutch Perspective. Many sources
have contributed to this series and presentation. If I have
inadvertently left any attribution out, please do let me know.
For any question, comments or feedback, please feel free to
contact me at any time:
dutchperspective (at) mcmvanbree.com
mcmvanbree.com/dutchperspective

Orchestras and New Media
Special thanks to
National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University “Reporting the Arts II”
Newspaper Association of America
The Cluetrain Manifesto
Icrossing’s What is Social Media?
Justin Davidson’s Whither Withering Criticism on Musical America
Drew McManus’s How to Connect With New Media on Adaptistration
Weng Wah Wong’s Social Media and Marketing: Evolution or Revolution on Slideshare
Brian Reich and Dan Solomon’s Media Rules!
Nina Simon on Museum 2.0
Beth Kanter on Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media
Kami Huyse on Communication Overtones
Dow Jones’s Tracking the Influence of Conversations.
Thompson, Arthur, John Gamble and A.J. Strickland Strategy: Core Concepts, Analytical
Tools, Readings