Re:The Board of Directors Announces the Dissolution of the S...
by tinus_hn on Friday June 17, 2022 @04:52AM
(#31775679)
Obviously two years of lockdowns had nothing to do with it!
Re:The Board of Directors Announces the Dissolution of the S...
by lelag on Friday June 17, 2022 @05:02AM
(#31775746)
2 years hiatus of public performance would have been a non-event in the 20th century. You could just have used the time to release some new records.
Yes, COVID has nothing to do with the classical music industry woes. Spotify and its terrible redistribution model is the main culprit.
Of course, COVID might have been what pushed this particular formation over the edge but it is just the extra drop spilling over. Fees from public performance has never been enough to fund a full symphonic orchestra.
Re:The Board of Directors Announces the Dissolution of the S...
by yakak on Friday June 17, 2022 @05:31AM
(#31775939)
> You could just have used the time to release some new records.
If you were a soloist you could have used the time. If you were a 5 piece you could use about half the time depending on region. Larger groups had a lot of problems given time delays in remote communication.
The subscription model that has replaced album purchase has now destroyed the revenue stream for the classical industry. To make matter worse, most recordings from the last 50 years were recorded with great qualities making it hard for new recordings to stand out: you are effectively competing with huge catalog of high quality music available for next to nothing on the mainstream streaming services.
The end result is that orchestral formation are now back to be being dependant on donated money (individual donation, corporate patronage and public funds).
Genre requiring a single or few performers will probably be fine, but orchestras are so expensive due to the number of people involved they have no chance to make enough money just performing.
We should not be surprised to see more of lower tiers orchestra disappearing in the coming years.