Back in 2005 (yeah, I’ve been around that long, “kickin’ it old skool” with CS), I wrote an article about lessons in marketing that we classical singers could adopt from rock musicians. A lot has changed since then. Social media has exploded on the screen, and more of our daily adventures are taking place in FarmVille than Seville.
The issue is that most models of Internet marketing are centered around the independent popular musician, not the classical soloist or ensemble member. Some techniques clearly work for both; others don’t. Here are a few examples.
Work-in-Progress Videos and Recordings
A popular artist will sometimes toss up a YouTube clip or SoundCloud mp3 of a new song he’s working on. Maybe it’s not finished yet, or maybe the song has been written but it’ll be awhile before it gets professionally recorded. The artist might point a camera at himself and play it in his living room with acoustic guitar (or, ever more popularly, ukulele), or maybe he’ll upload the rough draft of a new song he’s just made on ProTools with a few comments (“Gotta add live drums, overdub some more guitars, and fudge with the levels a bit, but I think it’s coming along”) and maybe ask for feedback.
How does this apply—or not—to us?
As a classical singer, you generally do not want to upload anything of yourself singing unless it’s really good. That probably means no works-in-progress. It would be interesting for your fans to see how the “process” works from the inside, but you really don’t want your colleagues and employers out there to see you at less than your best.
Some exceptions: If you really are looking for feedback, posting a clip to YouTube can be a great way to get it. But you never know who will see it, so you want to remain impressive—or anonymous.
If you are quite far along in the rehearsal process and want to show your viewers the polishing, that can be quite interesting—in fact, including snippets of late rehearsals is a pretty standard bonus feature of many opera DVDs. You can put together a little montage of working out the subtleties of your aria with your coach.
If you are working with a composer on a new piece, that falls more into the popular artist scenario. You can give a glimpse less into working out the vocal kinks and more into how the music is shaped and discovered as the artistic process goes along.
The Rockumentary
The “Making-Of” video is ubiquitous for bands these days. All you need is a friend with a camera and enough time on his hands to edit clips of the guys hanging out, playing gigs, recording in the studio, riding in the van, and getting wasted into a moderately coherent narrative. There is often no message other than “Look at how cool we are.” The idea is that if the band gets famous enough, the rabid fans will eat it up no matter what happens.
How does this apply—or not—to us?
If you are embarking upon an interesting project—a classical cabaret show, a touring program to statewide grade schools, commissioning and performing a new song cycle—this can be a really worthwhile project. If you are performing an opera with a major company, there will be too many people you must ask permission of, and you will probably be shot down anyway. A smaller company might embrace the publicity, especially if you are arranging the videographer and editing yourself.
Some things to consider: like any reality show worth its salt, the rockumentary must contain both good and bad happenings to maintain the drama. But in your professional situation, you are going to be loathe to broadcast your frustration with the tenor who can’t stay in time with you on the duet cadenza or the stage director’s falling-out with the producer. You will have to hope that something terrible happens that doesn’t make any of your colleagues look bad (Oh no, the streets are flooded on the big opening night and no one can get to the show!) in order to keep the plot moving.
Also, each soloist involved will have good and bad moments, and you don’t want to be stuck juggling every single person’s requests of “Could you please not include that high D I missed right there, or the entrance where I came in late, or the second and third notes of my cadenza, or . . . ?” Come to some sort of agreement in the beginning about what can and cannot be published with or without whose consent.
The “Life as a Professional Musician” Blog
The professional musician leads an exciting and unpredictable life. People will love to read of my crazy adventures, the fans will feel closer to me, the wannabes will learn from my successes and mistakes, and the public at large will be entertained by my stories! Thus are spawned the blogs of countless popular artists at all stages of their careers. The musician will talk about how sick of touring she is, share awesome pictures from her travels, complain how her label does nothing for her, and also publicize her upcoming performances while not seeming all gross and publicity-ish about it.
How does this apply—or not—to us?
This sort of blog can be one of the most insightful and endearing features of an artist’s website. However, there are a few inherent problems for anyone, especially the classical artist. The absolute most important quality of a blog-about-my-life is sincerity, and it can be hard to admit how things are really going when you’re trying to promote yourself.
You don’t want to badmouth an organization you work for, harp on technical troubles in your singing, or despair at the stagnancy of your career in such a public forum. And it is hard to be anonymous in such a tiny world—just releasing what roles you’re singing at what time, let alone where, can make it pretty easy for people to discover your identity. (Besides, an anonymous blog wouldn’t be very self-promoting, which is pretty much the idea here.)
If you’re willing to toe that line, this kind of blog can add so much to your Web presence. However, you will have to make pretty meticulous decisions about what to publish and what to gloss over. While you want to avoid making anyone look bad, you also want to avoid a plasticized, “Everything’s-great-I’m-so-happy-to-be-here-come-to-my-show!” attitude, which will be an instant turn-off to the majority of potential readers. Blogging remains a pretty tight community, and in this aspect of the Web marketing industry, saying nothing is better than coming off as phony or as a commercial for yourself.
“Come to my show! Come to my show! Come to my show!”
Popular musicians, especially those without labels and publicists, are responsible for getting people to their own performances. If you don’t get the butts in the seats, no one will. That being the case, bands and other performers can be a bit overzealous with their beckoning. Tweets, Facebook invites, and e-mail blasts—every orifice of the Internet spews forth the date, location, and cover charge of their next gig.
How does this apply—or not—to us?
Of course everyone should advertise their performances, but the extent to which this is expected of the classical singer varies depending on the circumstances. If you are producing your own one-woman show in a small venue that doesn’t do its own PR, it’s all you. If you are singing fourth-soprano-from-the-right in a well known choral ensemble, that’s really not your job. Of course you should still put the word out. No one will balk, and everyone who’s not selling out every single night would be grateful for the assistance. But you have to judge whether or not it’s worth cluttering up people’s in-boxes. In the Internet Age, attention is a commodity, and you don’t want to demand it from your followers when it’s not beneficial.
For some performances, you will want to pull out all the stops. Tweet the info and ask for re-tweets. Create a Facebook event and invite your contacts. Start blogging in advance about the show, the rehearsal process, your psychoanalysis of your character, the composer. Post suggested readings and recordings. Send out at least one e-mail blast to your mailing list, if not a follow-up reminder as well.
For others, a simple tweet of “Hey guys, I’m performing in this show tomorrow night—check it out!” will suffice. Maybe you’ll still blog about it, but concentrate more on exploring the city you’re in and getting to know the music better rather than hitting everyone in the face with details and directions. If someone else is handling the publicity, take the rare opportunity to not sound like a self-promoting narcissist. We artists have to do enough of that as it is!
