Introduction

 

It is not uncommon these days to encounter articles in academic journals and across the mainstream media that speak of the demise of the classical music industry. Some commentators have gone as far as to suggest that classical music is an outdated art form, the music of composers who have long since passed that holds little or no relevance to younger audiences, even those who appreciate other cultural forms, such as literature, theatre, and visual art of the same vintage. Although such rhetoric is not without foundation, talk of the demise of the classical music sector is somewhat exaggerated. Indeed, I am writing from my home in London on a beautiful summer’s day in July that happens to be the opening night of the BBC Proms, an annual eight-week season of daily classical music concerts that predominantly take place in the Royal Albert Hall, a venue that accommodates 5,272 audience members. This evening’s opening Prom concert is a performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and my partner and I are two of the lucky 5,272 people who managed to purchase tickets for what is a sold out event. In fact, many of the 84 concerts that comprise the BBC Proms festival in 2023 will sell out, or at least be close to selling out, and so clearly any discussion on the current state of the classical music industry needs to be tempered to ensure a balanced view that considers both the challenges and opportunities that classical music performing organisations (e.g. opera companies, orchestras, and professional choral groups) and solo classical music artists face in the twenty-first century. 

 

Two key challenges that are commonly cited in discourses on the current state of the classical music sector are a greying audience and a reduction in arts funding, important themes that will certainly surface from time to time throughout this book. The issue of a greying audience for classical music points to an urgent need for performing organisations to attract younger and more diverse audiences beyond the mostly white middle class demographic for whom this art form has traditionally served. The need to reach new audiences is reflected in the mission statements now commonly disseminated by orchestras and other classical music ensembles. Sentiments such as ‘Inspiring music-making for everyone, everywhere’ and ‘…to perform, present, and promote music in its many varied forms at the highest level of excellence to a large and diverse audience’ now form the core focus of the mission of these ensembles as they attempt to promote an image of classical music as inclusive rather exclusive, the latter being commonly associated with the art form. Transforming common perceptions of classical music as elitist represents a significant challenge to organisations operating across the classical music sector as they attempt to remain relevant in an era defined by disruption technology and one in which audience attention has become a scarce commodity. 

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Digital technology is impacting just about every aspect of life in ways unimaginable back in 1993 when the World Wide Web was launched into the public domain. I recall working in the Image Acquisition Group at the Microsoft Corporation in the United States in the mid 1990s when the CD ROM format was the preferred media for the distribution of products such as the Encarta Encyclopaedia and CDs dominated the market for recorded music content. In just three decades the technological landscape has shifted beyond recognition with innovations in social media, streaming, digital marketing, e-commerce, and mobile technologies revolutionising how products and services are produced, marketed, distributed, and consumed. As consumers we enjoy the conveniences that these and other innovations bring to our lives from booking a flight from a mobile phone or downloading the entire recording catalogue of a favourite artist, to navigating the streets of an unfamiliar city. And yet, like previous technological revolutions, the digital revolution presents challenges to us as individuals, to organisations and the fields in which they operate, and to society more generally. A key characteristic of digital technology is its tendency to encourage distraction with continuous exposure to digital interruptions impairing our ability to focus attention on important tasks. 

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In considering the relationship between digital technology and classical music it might reasonably be argued that the former is antithetical to the latter because as an art form classical music demands a certain level of attentiveness from the listener. Nowhere is the distracting nature of digital technology more in evidence than in the almost scared settings in which classical music is performed. Indeed, it is rare these days not to be disrupted by the sound of a mobile phone while attending a classical music concert and often during the quietest moments of a symphony or concerto performance. And then there is the concertgoer who is determined to capture the “perfect” photograph during a concert performance; I once witnessed an audience member who was sitting in the front row at the Barbican Centre in London almost encroach on the stage as she moved in for a photograph of the soloist in a performance of Shostakovich’s cello concerto, much to the disgust of those around her, including me.

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