[Dixielandjazz] The "Business" of Music

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

Most of those folks in the Symphony "ARTS" arena often make lots of money in 
a totally different Business of some sort, yet have no clue that their dearly 
beloved Symphony should be made to operate the same way any other business 
does.

I have been waiting for 40 years for those Big Donors to drop off some big 
check in my business, but they just never seem to show up.  :))

I believe that if I wanted to go to the Symphony I would go out and buy a 
ticket to do so, If I don't care to go to hear them no amount of additional 
advertising dollars spent is going to persuade me to go buy a ticket and attend.

I am a firm believer that if you can't sell enough seats to cover your 
operation expenses perhaps you have just gotten too big for your britches and should 
move into a smaller venue with a smaller operation if need be, to maintain a 
solid sense of operating it like a business.

In a case like Baltimore stated in this article, I say if they have 40% of 
the seats empty, simply go out to the schools and or the streets the week before 
the performances that have all those empty unsold seats and give the tickets 
to folks who cannot afford to buy them.

This way they would have enough folks in the seats to keep the paid customers 
warm during the performance, and they more than likely would convert some of 
those folks into eventual paying customers.  Much more effectively than taking 
out Full page Advertisements in the Newspapers which should be doing their 
part with lots of editorial articles to help promote the Symphony rather than 
just selling them advertising.

For any event that needs publicity, there is always available editorial 
space, but you need to get your Public Relations Director motivated to go out and 
hustle for it.  I have seen far too many of them just simply buy advertising 
space when it was not necessary.

Ever notice how well the Newspapers cover the BIG Opening Night GALA and all 
the beautiful people have their photos all over the paper the day afterwards.  
Would be much more effective if they had the big Gala a week in advance of 
the opening night to get some advance Promotion and Publicity about the event 
they want to sell tickets to.

Many of those Beautiful people make donations and attend the Gala's to see 
and be seen and thrive on getting their photos in the newspapers as VIPs.  A 
good number of them also do not attend all the concerts either, but only the 
important ones where they can be seen and be a STAR.    "Everyone wants to be in 
"SHOW BUSINESS"


If Art is so Adamant about Art for Art's Sake, then perhaps Art should buy 
all those empty seats and give them to kids hanging out in the hood in Baltimore 
with nothing to do.

Musical Content

"You're So Vain"

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins
Guest Conductor for     "Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Orchestra"

Now where did I put that Gold Plated Baton ??