Where have all the classical music critics gone?

Greg Sandow: "In the Fray: Yes, Classical-Music Criticism Is in Decline; But the last thing the industry should do is blame the press."
Wall Street Journal: 16 June 2007

Yes, I'll admit it. I'm a nerd. As we went through the "7 Habits of Effective Public Relations Experts" and learned about the relation of the PR person at the not-for-profit arts organization to the ultimate power holder (aka- the "press"), I got excited and started making notes in the margins for blog ideas. One of my ideas stemmed from a brown bag lunch I attended as an intern this summer at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. We met with the Manager of Media Relations and discussed various strategies and challenges for the Lyric in terms of media coverage. We also touched on the state of press for the arts on a national level. This conversation occurred shortly after it had been announced that the classical music critic for New York Magazine had been fired, and furthermore, this trend is nationwide.

Music critics for newspapers are being let go, and furthermore, arts coverage in general is being decreased.

I later found this New York Times article that touches on this issue.

So, what does it mean? Mr. Sandow seems to believe that there are fewer readers for classical reviews and newspapers are justified in cutting them. He's doing something we try to do all the time: consider the audience. And, it seems pretty "black and white"- not many people read music reviews so why cover it?

I do have some reservations. Aren't newspaper readers the most likely to also be arts attendees? There is no question in my mind why performing arts lovers and advocates get nervous when newspapers and radios cut our coverage- these are our audiences, if we like it or
not! Yes, we need to use new media outlets to attract new audiences, but it is a fact that our current patrons and donors are old, educated, and rich. And, they just won't use these new media outlets.

Mr. Sandow goes on to question if "people in the classical-music business really understand the current state of our world" and describe the hum-drum of covering the arts- La Traviata was performed three years ago and Brahms last week- what's different about it today?

And here, he is right- we do not understand the state of the press world. What we need to do is change to appeal to the press and their readers. We need... the proper pitch! Or, maybe, we can just keep sending doughnuts and hope for the best.

--Mary