New Media & Classical Music: Turning Change into Progress

1. New Media & Classical Music:Turning Change into Progress Skip Pizzi Technology Consultant Fairfax, VA

2. “Change is scientific, progress is ethical. Change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.” --Bertrand Russell

3. Tuning the future • We are entering the Third Media Age • First Age: Live performance only • Second Age: Electronic Media (analog recording & broadcast) • Third Age: Digital Media • Incremental or disruptive change? • Hard to know while it’s happening • Consider past models

4. Impact of change • Negative impact of new technology on legacy is often exaggerated • Movies will kill live theater • TV will kill radio • VCR will kill cinema • A generally uncited case: • Did radio affect the audience for classical music performance? • If so, how will this change in the Third Age? • For better or for worse?

5. “The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealized past.” -- Robertson Davies

6. Historical analysis • Art & science are forever intertwined • From cave paintings to streaming media, tools affect creative process • Delivery systems affect audience access • Sound recording changed music from a composers’ to a performers’ milieu • Defining the boundary between classical and popular music • Many examples demonstrate the aesthetic impact of technology

7. Lessons learned • Technology can have fundamental effects • Some results can be unintended • Not all forecasts are correct • Real assessment requires substantial time • Proactive perseverance wins the day

8. "We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years, and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.” -- Bill Gates

9. Harnessing trends • Personalization • “Tell me more” functionality • Integrating music commerce • Adapting to the changing broadcast ecosystem

10. The changing ecosystem -- old Network Station Listener

11. Networks Networks Syndicators Networks Networks Networks The changing ecosystem -- new Station Listener Internet Satellite Radio

12. Recommendations • Develop a rich Classical content community • Blend radio with events (mix real and virtual experiences) • Promote and engage audience interaction • Stress branding of public radio • Subscription is the ultimate goal of any niche-caster • Balance management of legacy vs. new services • Sustaining vs. repositioning -- new branches that don’t threaten roots • Avoid the non-profit trap: Don’t scale back out of pure economic caution • Content, content, content… • Filling the ever-widening margins abandoned by commercial radio • Service, service, service… • New partnerships & acquisitions • Explore all new media venues

13. New media options • Satellite radio • Broadband & wireless Internet • Home networks (Wi-fi, cable modem audio service, emerging standards) • Digital terrestrial radio • Airline audio • CD/DVD • Combinations • This convening provides a unique evaluation opportunity: input requested!

14. "Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless." -- Thomas A. Edison