As part of the OMAI series of talks, we sat down with Arts Entrepreneur and Digital Consultant David Taylor. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, David wrote several articles, talks and blogs as a call to action to bring about change in an industry that resists the inevitable. Having collected these ideas into two books, he has spoken at conferences world-wide, and this month shares some practical advice about how socials can impact our work as artist managers…raising not just our own online profiles but those of our artists too.
In recent years, you’ve commented extensively on the future of classical music and the need to change. Why is it important to question the status quo now?
Change is ever-present and our industry faces greater challenges, on a much wider scale than ever before. The digital age has accelerated change in our society and new technology has touched all aspects of our lives. For classical music to survive, we need to talk about what the future looks like and how we get there.
Although evolution has become the norm in many other types of business, from manual industries to the tech sector, classical music has remained static for a long period, particularly around online advances. As an industry, we haven’t adopted a progressive culture of embracing little changes regularly, so are not as equipped to be flexible or intuitive. Keeping up with digital trends can therefore feel like a big upheaval, but the choice we face is simple; adapt or become irrelevant.
It was the COVID-19 crisis that substantially grew demand for your services, as individual musicians and performing organisations across the UK, North America and Europe rushed to develop online presences. What steps could artist managers make in that direction?
Covid isn’t necessarily the reason for the issues we face collectively, but it has become an accelerator of pre-existing trends. In 2020 we were all forced online, connecting via video calls and developing new skills and expectations; with musicians creating and sharing their recordings, and audiences having direct and meaningful access to their favourite sports personalities, entertainers, actors and singers. There are now many more demands on audience attention online and if we aren’t in the digital space we simply won’t be seen.
TIPS FOR CREATING YOUR SOCIAL POSTS
- There’s often not enough that’s truly individual about artist management websites and social postings, with a tendency towards a faceless corporate image and limited personality. No one goes on socials to see adverts, in the same way that no one turns on their TV to watch adverts. So, try to avoid just listing events; be authentic, bespoke and connect meaningfully with others. In simple terms social media is media that is social. All of this is about sharing. That’s the way forward… conveying your connectability.
- How you do this is different for everyone and should be aligned to your own skill set and what you are comfortable posting – writing, photos, short-form videos etc. The best advice is to adopt your preferred communication style, the way you prefer to connect with people, and adapt for the digital space. Pianist Stephen Hough shows how a high-profile artist has played to his strengths as a writer on socials.
- Social media success is more than the number of views, so consider instead the quality of the comments or discussions which your posts stimulate.
- As artist managers, document what’s happening and try to capture, rather than create. Show yourself with your artists as social proof of your work. Aim for authenticity, not glossy press photos but backstage in dressing rooms, in the wings. Social media responds well to faces and smiles – so choose the right content for that context. This isn’t too onerous in terms of expense or production value either, and can be easier to produce. Lean into this in your posts and encourage your artists to do so too.
- In terms of frequency, try to think about what is enjoyable and sustainable. Don’t start too big in terms of your time commitment, build habits slowly so that you keep doing them.
Artists often have personal and professional profiles across a variety of social platforms. Add to that agency profiles also promoting their work (and promoters/venues too), how might a joined-up strategy be devised which doesn’t confuse or contradict that professional persona?
There can often be cross generational anxiety about how to post, what to post and doing it incorrectly. In terms of artists, managers should set expectations for how they expect their artists to post on socials and the reasons why. This is important. Asking an artist to tag the agency is a way to extend the reach of that post to a wider pool of promoters, companies and potential employers. You may find that once some artists do this well, other artists will see the benefits and it will become part of the normalised culture of your roster.
In terms of personal Profiles and professional Pages on Facebook, a personal Profile is a closed group, where people are required to connect as a friend in order to see your content or be tagged, which can become a barrier to engagement. A professional Page, in contrast, is designed to be externally facing and is more likely to have extended reach beyond your existing contacts. Although you may get more likes and comments from your personal posts, this is a misleading metric, as that engagement is likely to be from the same pool of friends and less likely to have a wider impact. A good rule of thumb is to post the main content on your Page and then reshare to your Profile.
TIPS FOR COLLABORATING WITH ARTISTS ON SOCIALS
- Providing a fact sheet/basic guidance on the primary platforms can be useful for artists coming from different levels of experience and familiarity on socials.
- Focus on the social media presence that’s appropriate for each artist. What is their natural communication style? Only adopt a regime that’s sustainable – know what frequency of posting is achievable and start with that.
- Show caution before critiquing an artist’s social media as opinion. Posts are often personal and subjective so, instead, you might indicate how a post has or hasn’t helped in securing dates or enhancing an engagement (it also generally helps to affirm the positives rather than mention the negatives).
- Work with your artists collaboratively to ensure the right people are made aware of your social media content (beyond family and friends on personal Profiles).
- Reference previous social media success when speaking with companies, orchestras and promoters, to see what you and your artist can do to fit in with their marketing strategy.
Can you think of any success stories from other industries that artist managers could apply to their work when promoting artists?
Artist managers may feel that social media is not within their skillset or becomes overwhelming as workloads increase and the industry adapts. However, there are related examples which we could look at for inspiration.
In sport, clubs empower their players to have their own social profiles, actively training and supporting them to develop their personalities online. Sometimes these might be unrelated to the sport itself, but still promote value for the player and club. Marcus Rashford’s free school meals for kids campaign, was an incredibly successful initiative for both him and Manchester United. Seek out ways where your artists have something unique to say and support them in that endeavour online.
As an industry, Estate Agents have also embraced digital and become online content creators. We often see videos of houses and virtual tours online, but increasingly individual agents are featured themselves, giving a sense of connection beyond the product being sold. This can be compelling when done authentically. Featuring behind-the-scenes content can be fascinating for audiences who enjoy our artform, but do not have access to the process of rehearsal to performance.
We might not instinctively embrace self-promotion but, for fun, we could all learn from pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who became unprecedentedly idolised in the 19th century. Here we can see that entrepreneurial spirit, power of self-promotion and reaching new audiences is part of our DNA in classical music…and is as relevant now was it was in the 19th century:
“Before the concert, Paderewski distributed leaflets in the busiest parts of the city, which on one side featured a portrait of his head with his signature hair, and excerpts from enthusiastic reviews on the other. One of them said: ‘His music is at once intimate and universal, for this is the music of angels’. Nobody knew that the sentence had been taken from a local newspaper in Kraków and was written by an admirer with no musical expertise whatsoever. By the time he arrived in Paris for another series of concerts, he had already prepared another slogan: ‘The artist who filled the halls of Vienna’. After France, he set off for England where he was advertised as a ‘Parisian lion’.”