Of course orchestras can make money online... here's how
We’re now well into the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing restrictions. I would say how long, but to be honest I’ve lost all sense of time.
Now that we’ve been in it a while, many orchestras, opera houses, and festivals have started to go online. Uploading full concerts, live streaming performances, and making other videos, there has been a ton of content… which is great!
From writing about classical music going online quite a lot now I’ve noticed a theme being repeated over and over again which is really bugging me, and it sounds something like this:
“orchestras can’t make money online”
I’m to here to tell you… that’s nonsense. Of course orchestras can make money online.
Well, I’m actually here to tell you why we perceive that orchestras can’t make money online, and what orchestras can do to generate income from their digital output. But… you know… that isn’t a great clickbait title.
So why do we perceive that orchestras can’t make money online?
It’s actually a relatively simple answer. We’re attempting to measure the success of digital output through a 20th century direct and transactional system, rather than a 21st century indirect system that’s based on values, connections, and relationships.
Considering I just made most of those terms up as I was writing them, let’s unpack what I actually mean.
The vast majority of classical music organisations largely run their performance related income on the idea that “there will be a thing”, “people will want the thing”, “people pay money to have the thing”. In this case, “the thing” is the performance or an event.
This has been the case for the last century, and all of us in the classical music world have worked on this model that our audience are there to pay money straight away and pay it directly up front to see us. And… IT WORKED.
Success is measured in the terms of “will people pay to see us” and “how many people will pay to see us”.
In terms of making money online, this doesn’t really cut it. Just look at your own experiences. Do you pay money upfront to watch anything on YouTube? Or on Facebook? Or hosted on someone’s website? I sure as hell don’t.
Also, why would I pay say £5 to watch a single concert online on one day, when ALL of Disney Plus is £5.99 for a month and ALL of Netflix is £5.99 for a month. Paying to watch a concert online doesn’t provide comparable value in terms of both cost and time.
And yet despite, we’re STILL trying to measure our success in the same we measured live concerts. On top of that, we’re trying to get to the point of charging for our content as soon as possible. Yes, we’ve put some free concerts online for a bit, but we’re now going to charge for them.
For example, The Royal Opera House has been livestreaming previous recordings and will now be doing reduced live performances, but after the first show they will charge £4.99 to watch the others. Now, I totally empathise with this as we’re all rightly worried about money, which ROH have been transparent about, but in the long term isn’t going to be as effective.
To use a ridiculous analogy, receiving money from audiences online is like dating. If you go on your first date and while you’re waiting for the starter to arrive you go in for a snog, you’re probably going to get a slap and they’ll leave. But, if you invest time, care, and attention, maybe show random acts of kindness, and even take an interest in the things they like over a long period you might end up with a spouse.
To use a more tangible analogy for the orchestra world, we should treat our online audience like big potential donors. Take time to understand who they are, make them feel valued, and then finally ask them for money.
If you want to know more about this sort of approach, the book “Jab Jab Jab Right Hook” by Gary Vaynerchuk is incredible.
So, if the old ways aren’t going to work, how do we change to a “indirect system that’s based on values, connections, and relationships”… and WTF is that David.
Welcome to the exciting bit…
How orchestras can make money online
The good news is people are making money online from loads of things, so we can just use their model. Regardless of the genre, everyone makes money online using the same basic setup.
1 - Generate attention with content that provides value to an audience
2 - Use that attention and value to build strong connections and meaningful relationships
3 - Monetise those strong connections and meaningful relationships through multiple income streams and advocacy that also provide value.
Simple right?
Well if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. It’s hard work. Think about it though, so is learning an instrument. It doesn’t happen overnight.
I’m going to break down how this works, and then run through a non-musical example, and an orchestra example.
1) Generate attention with content that provides value to an audience
Things are kind of crowded online at the moment as… you know… everyone is online. But it doesn’t mean you can’t create content that generates attention and provides value.
Also, I wanted to dispel a myth about attention online. You 100% should aim to be the biggest in your world. Notice the word “your” instead of “the”.
You don’t need a gazillion followers, or likes, or views, but you do need to aim at being the biggest in your world that you operate in. Yes, being online means you have a global audience, but using is to connect well to as many people in your world has way more benefits. This can be a world in terms of both local geography or niche.
With the content, it also needs to provide value. Although spamming content to get noticed as much as possible gets results, it’s working out how you can provide value to your audience that will have the most benefits for stage 2. Spamming content isn’t about frequency but more the type of content. For example, if your orchestra posts 20 times a week saying tickets are on sale (don’t worry, we’ve all done it) isn’t going to work for you.
2) Use that attention and value to build strong connections and meaningful relationships
Once you start to provide value you can start to build relationships. This is done in the same way as a friendship. By continually providing things that are of value, and by taking an interest and connecting to build relationships.
The first is easier to do at scale as you continue to put out the same amount of content whether you have 100 followers or 1 million.
Taking an interest and connecting to build relationships… this is going to take some legwork. Some of this can be including your audience, asking for feedback, and finding opportunities to interact. The hardest parts will be directly communicating with individuals and offering individual acts of kindness.
3) Monetise those strong connections and meaningful relationships through multiple income streams and advocacy that also provide value.
The fun bit! How do you actually make money? Well, if you see any YouTubers etc, direct advertising on their videos only makes up for a small amount of income. So in order to make money they have multiple income streams.
There are two categories for this, and both monetise the connection and relationship you have with your audience
A – from your audience
This is in essence asking for money from your audience. Donations can be a feature, especially on Twitch, but the vast majority is offering a product or service in return for money. For example, products that provide value for your audience, online courses, merchandise, the list is endless. Anything that you can think that your audience would want and gives them something of value that they would part money for.
B – through advocacy – “Be a George”
Mini story time. I have a friend called George. Over the time I’ve known him, we’ve spoken about films, music, TV, life, everything. On top of that, I know about George’s strengths and expertise.
The result is, I listen to George. So when a film comes out and the reviews are bad but George says that I’ll like it I go to the cinema. When he sends me a recommendation of a band I’ll drop what I’m doing to listen to them. When he suggestions a microphone I’ll buy it without doing any other research because I trust his expertise. When he advocates something I don’t just listen, I act, and I buy.
In the online world, you need to “Be a George” for your audience. Getting to that point of trust where your audience see’s their thoughts, values, and tastes aligned with yours. From here, you can be an advocate.
Fun fact, you can REALLY monetise advocacy. Whether this is offering sponsorships in your content, brand affiliations, amazon affiliate links, there are plenty of opportunities to generate income base on your ability to advocate other companies’ products and services
Now that’s all the theory blurb out of the way, lets run through a non-musical example, then what an orchestra could do.
Non-musical example – Peter McKinnon
Peter McKinnon is a Canadian photographer and YouTuber who makes videos on photography and filmmaking. He is also one of my favourite YouTubers.
I’ve watched him and his content constantly for a few years, as he puts out high quality content of great value that he doesn’t charge for.
1) He regularly uploads videos, sometimes multiple times a week. Either tutorials, Q&A, travel videos, interviews, entertainment, but something that always gives value
2) He connects with his audience. There will be regular collaborative photography or filmmaking projects where the audience get involved, and he then showcases what others have made. There are also requests for tutorial topics and Q&A’s. On top of that he spends a ton of time talking to people in the comments
3a) He provides products and services that his audience want or needs. He has a range of digital download packs so you can colour grade your photos like him, sound effects, graphics. He also now has a range of camera gear including his own specialist backpack and lens filters. And then he also has a range of coffee (he’s big into coffee), hats, and other merchandise.
3b) then there’s the advocacy. He regularly talk about the equipment he uses and provides affiliate links to buy them. Then there are product reviews with affiliate links as well. On top of that there are brand affiliations with Canon, Squarespace, Skillshare, and Epidemic Sound. And finally sometimes he will travel and make a video which is sponsored.
So what is the impact? As a Yorkshireman I pride myself on refusing to take my wallet out of my pocket unless I have to. And yet I own every single digital download he’s sold. Pretty much the sole reason all my equipment is Canon is because of watching his videos. I changed to iPhone after a video he made reviewing the camera. There pretty much isn’t a camera related purchase I’ve made where I haven’t consulted his opinion.
I’ve repeatedly spent large amounts of money on either his products or things that he has recommend. And those recommendations are things that as a creator he’s been able to monetise.
What an orchestra could do
Right, so how can this work for an orchestra.
1) Put up digital video content at scale - performances, individual recitals, educational content, entertainment, interviews - as much as possible that provides value to your audience
2) Include the audience in musical challenges, masterclasses, Q&A’s. Reach out to your audience, involve them, highlight what they’re doing and get them to be a part of a community
3a) Provide products or services that the audience needs – so anything you can think of, both musical and non-musical. Musical being things like lessons, masterclasses, workshops, education projects, recordings, digital downloads, and even equipment and instruments. Who would want to use the LPO’s strings or have a Berlin Phil reed? Non-musical being merchandise and hospitality related experiences.
3b) Endorsement time. There is big money in instrument and equipment sales. So partnering with strings companies, instrument cases, brass mutes etc. It doesn’t have to be garish “THIS IS SPONSORED BY YAMAHA” content. If you always see LA Phil use Larsen strings then you’ll probably want a set.
Think about children round the world buying Cristiano Ronaldo’s football (soccer) boots, or Venus William’s tennis racket… or the marketing phenomenon Air Jordans. Basically, the world’s top athletes and sports showcase Nike, then position orchestras to do the same for music related brands.
If you don’t have the partnerships, use affiliate links to monetise anything that you recommend that can possibly be purchased.
Then there’s the non-musical advocacy. In a rare bit of praise for Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra being forward thinking, they always talk about what the orchestra are wearing for the New Year’s concert. So why not pair with designers to showcase fashion? Then reverse engineering what most classical music audiences like to find other potential sponsors. What wine does the orchestra drink on tour, what watches do they wear to keep time, how do they keep fit, what cars do they drive, what newspapers do they read, which department store do they shop at, what glasses do they wear. Literally, the possibilities are endless when you start to think about brand synergy and what sort of companies and marketeers would like to reach the audiences that orchestras have.
These are all ideas off the top of my head with little thought too. There is SO much potential and room for exploration and experimentation here.
I know that this is a bit of a culture shift. I really do. But we really need to start thinking differently in order to generate incomes for orchestras, and doing so online is going to have benefits right now when we can’t perform live, and later to add to our revenue streams when we do. Like playing an instrument, making money online is hard to do, and had to do well instantly. But there are obviously rewards out there.
As a final note, these are the five highest earners on YouTube in 2019:
Ryan Kaji - $26 million
Dude Perfect - $20 million
Anastasia Radzinskaya - $18 million
Rhett and Link - $17.5 million
Jeffree Star - $17 million
Wouldn’t it be great to see an orchestra up there in the next decade?
