How to Build an Audience for New Music
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Composers want to share their musical ideas with others too. We get satisfaction from completing a score to be sure, but somehow completing a piece and just letting it sit on a shelf doesn't feel quite right. We initially wrote the piece with the intention of communicating something to someone, and we want to share that something with musicians and audiences. In this day and age though, with so many things competing for our audience's attention, it can be very tough to get folks to attend a concert.
Though I don't have the 'increasing audience attendance' subject mastered by any means, I have learned a few things over the last six years organizing concerts for the Iowa Composers Forum - both in terms what to do and also what not to do. Here are a few tips.
Pick an exclusive date and time for the concert - With a dwindling concert music audience, the biggest potential mistake is scheduling a concert at the same time another concert is taking place in town. It might be difficult to avoid this in a big city, but the first step in organizing a concert should be to look at the calendars for the major local music organizations to see what they have lined up. Late May concerts or summer concerts often don't have the same competition as those during the typical school year and this approach will help with performer availability as well. If you schedule a concert opposite of the symphony, you're doomed.
Choose a concert setting with a built in audience - Retirement communities with a decent performance facility are ideal spots for new music concerts. Most retirees grew up in an era where sales of classical music and jazz albums almost equalled those of popular music. As a result, they enjoy attending concerts. In May of 2009, the Iowa Composers Forum hosted a new music concert at the Methwick Retirement Community Center in Cedar Rapids and had an engaged and appreciative audience of roughly 75 folks, the vast majority of whom requested we return for another event.
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Involve Young-uns - Parents go and see their kids' performances period - need I say more? Involve the high school choir on one or two numbers and watch the attendance skyrocket!
Host Concerts at Regularly Occurring Intervals - It's hard to develop a following with one or two concerts a year. If you can afford it, try having concerts on the first Saturday of every month, so people know to look for it. Or, perhaps more feasibly, create a summer concert series each year, with one in June, one in July, and one in August. Use the program as an inexpensive way to advertise the next two concerts.
Traditional Music Concert - By far, the easiest approach toward getting a good crowd to listen to your music is by having your work included as part of a regular subscription series event of a group with a regular concert schedule. These organizations have built in credibility and an audience that follows them. This year, seven members of the Iowa Composers Forum have had works performed by Orchestra Iowa, right alongside Mozart and Tchaikovsky - and the audience turnout has been tremendous.
Give-aways - Have a drawing for a free CD at your concerts. Design the drawing so that people need to fill out an entry form with their email address. Use these entries to form a database of email addresses of individuals you can invite to future events.
Talk from the Stage - Living composers have an advantage over dead ones - we can speak to our audiences live! Have each composer talk for a minute or two ahead of the piece about the inspiration for the piece or have them provide some background context for what the audience is about to hear. The Iowa Composers Forum has received so many positive comments about this approach over the years - it really helps the audience relate to the music, and just as importantly, it begins to build a following for future concerts with the same format.
Host Concerts at Regularly Occurring Intervals - It's hard to develop a following with one or two concerts a year. If you can afford it, try having concerts on the first Saturday of every month, so people know to look for it. Or, perhaps more feasibly, create a summer concert series each year, with one in June, one in July, and one in August. Use the program as an inexpensive way to advertise the next two concerts.
Market, Market, Market - Marketing can be expensive, but it really pays off. Advertisements in the Arts Sections of local newspapers seem to work really well. For a couple of hundred dollars, you can get a decent sized ad in the Sunday edition of a medium market newspaper, and it will reach up to 200,000 people. There are inexpensive approaches too, posters around town 1-2 weeks ahead of the event, press releases to local media 3-4 weeks ahead of the event. Many cities have local arts and entertainment publications - contact them 2 months ahead of time and see if you can get some free coverage. Make sure to include your events in all online arts calendars in the area. Lastly, don't forget to put upcoming events on your website, and tell friends through email, social networking sites, and in-person (always the best approach).
Speaking of marketing, if you're free on Saturday, April 10th at 8 pm, come and check out the premiere of my Psalm 66 for choir and organ at Coe College's Sinclair Auditorium in Cedar Rapids. You can also catch the same work on April 18th, as part of the 9:30 service at First Lutheran Church in downtown Cedar Rapids. A schedule of my upcoming concerts can always be found here - Ralph's upcoming events
Oh, and you might want to get a blog to help build an audience for your upcoming events too!
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Just wanted to write, that whatever issues I disagree with you on, you have provided a great insight into my residence every day.
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