Does Your Orchestra YouTube (again)?

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A few years ago, before YouTube became a gravitational force strong enough to bend light, I posted a blog about orchestras showing up on YouTube. Back then there were less than a dozen search hits (none of which were posted with the orchestra’s permission) but if you do a search for "symphony orchestra" at YouTube today you’ll get "about 38,500" hits including everything from Metallica with the San Francisco Symphony (see below) to the now famous VB Beer commercial…

It’s stunning to see just how much YouTube has grown and how
orchestras are getting better at using the medium for positive gain.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, you don’t always have to include something with
music to make an effective online video; such as Bill Eddins’ videos from his time in France conducting Porgy and Bess.

Speaking of Inside The Arts authors on YouTube, Neo Classical
author Holly Mulcahy recently demonstrated that in addition to some
serious violin skills, she has a mean set of trombone chops:

You can’t avoid finding a video from Arts Addict author, Jason Heath.

Does your orchestra have something creative up on YouTube? If so, please share.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

View all posts by Drew McManus | Website

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2 thoughts on “Does Your Orchestra YouTube (again)?”

  2. I’m curious about the orchestras that have things up; do their contracts have a special clause for YouTube?

    I don’t want to go into anything here, as one does have to be cautious on the massive internet billboard, but there are roadblocks up that maybe need to be changed. And I’m not talking about management. You know?

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