The world has changed... and so must we

This is my opening provocation from the digital session at the Association of British Orchestras conference in February 2022:

2020 saw orchestras adapt faster than at any time during our history. Within the space of weeks, we saw orchestras learn new skills, adopt new ideas, and create digital content on a scale never seen before. Even though orchestras across the world were at totally different starting points in their digital journey, those journeys were equally difficult for all. 

We should take huge pride in the effort that orchestras went to in order to keep music playing and making a difference to the lives of others, and it’s important for us to both celebrate and understand our successes. This is something we will be looking at during today’s session.

However, that was 2020. 2021 was very different and we now find ourselves beginning of 2022.

For the majority, digital has now either returned to being an afterthought or has in some cases completely stopped. Many have decided to “return to normal” and not have to worry about the additional burden of engaging with digital, even though it is clearly an integral part of the society we live in. We also have the additional challenge of the digital marketplace returning to normal after lockdown, and the competition with other highly effective digital content for people’s attention is now greater. 

The charity that audiences showed with our output in 2020 is no longer there and as a result we’ve seen the inevitable decrease in engagement, ticket sales, and subscriptions for digital performances. 

No longer can we create content that isn’t suitable for the digital world or that doesn’t conform to customer behaviour online and expect it to succeed like it did during the pandemic. 

 If we’re being honest, our rapid expansion of digital in 2020 was not innovation… it was playing catch up. We both were and are far behind the world when it comes to digital.

It is telling that despite the digital age being the biggest change in how we communicate as a society since the invention of the printing press in the 1440s, and that digital has been the main way that we have connected to our audiences over the last two years, that this is the only session on digital at this conference. 

If we were early adopters, the digital topics we would be covering at this conference would be about “how can orchestras balance the potential of NFT’s with the environmental impact they have”, “how could orchestras engage with the metaverse?”, and “what can we learn from sports teams like Barcelona launching their own cryptocurrency”.

 However, we are not the early adopters. Despite the fact social media platforms have been around for years, with Instagram being 12, Twitter 16, YouTube 17, and Facebook 18, we as a sector still need to look at what makes good digital content, how we use social media, and even in some cases if we use it at all. 

To reinforce how slow we are to adopt digital, we are having these conversations now when Facebook was launched way back in 2004… the same year Toxic by Britney Spears was top of the charts, Shrek 2 was the biggest selling film, and it is so long ago that Arsenal won the Premier League that year.

As well as showing how far behind we are, the pandemic also highlighted the digital illiteracy of classical musicians at all stages of their careers, with it being more significant for those with full time orchestra positions. It is vital that going forward we do more to support and empower them with the skills and ways of thinking to be able to do what is now required of them in their roles, as well as to thrive in the world we live in. 

The problems we face are less about digital itself, and more about how we adopt innovation in general. We are the laggards, trailing far behind the innovators and early adopters, hindered by outdated thinking and a systemic resistance to change. And this is largely because we are all trying to play an infinite game with a finite mindset. 

A quick introduction to Game Theory. There are two types of games, finite and infinite. In a finite game there are known players, fixed rules, and an agreed upon objective that ends after a fixed period of time. Football is a finite game. In an infinite game there are both known and unknown players, there are no rules, and the only objective is to perpetuate the game. Business is in infinite game, but businesses struggle or fail when they have a finite mindset. 

The video rental company Blockbuster had a finite mindset. Despite having near total market domination, they refused to change and adapt with the times because they were stuck in a finite mindset and only worked within their finite rules. “A video rental company gives people a movie for a set period of time, and if they are late returning it, they are charged late fees”. 

When the small start-up Netflix moved to a subscription service, Blockbuster refused to do the same as it would mean giving up their previous way of thinking and doing things, where late fees made up 15% of their revenue. Long story short, because Blockbuster stuck to their finite mindset there is only one store left in the world which is run as a novelty Airbnb.

Companies with a finite mindset will have temporary success before they get to a point where they fail and will be surpassed by a player with an infinite mindset who more often than not is an unknown player.

 So, at the start of 2022 we find ourselves at a fork in the road.

One path looks comfortable and familiar. We don’t have to challenge the way we think or operate, and we can go back to playing our finite game. It leads us back to where we were before the pandemic, going through the motions, hoping the world doesn’t change and that our audience will engage with us on our terms indefinitely. 

Ultimately, this leads to us not keeping up with society and going the way of other organisations that have been too rigid to adapt to the world they operate in, like Blockbuster, like Skype, and like HMV.

The other path looks uncomfortable and unknown. It leads us through challenges, requiring us to reflect on ourselves and our previous ways of thinking, and begin to adopt an infinite mindset. It entails continual learning and development, embracing a culture of curiosity and change. 

It also leads forwards, finding new opportunities, meeting our audience where they are in the world we live in, embracing digital, and developing the skills and ways of thinking to be able to constantly thrive in the future. 

In short, the world has changed… and so must we