It seems that using revenue from subscription ticket sales to pay current debts is finally becoming recognized as a bad business practice.  Back in November I wrote an article about this very issue and suggested that orchestras need to eliminate their dependence on future subscription sales to pay current debts.  I was pleased to read fellow

Is technology really a worthwhile investment for an orchestra?  Even with the potential savings in reduced operating costs and creating more efficient rehearsals, you still have to lay out some initial cash to realize that potential.  And if you talk to many orchestra managers these days, they probably aren’t excited about the idea of spending

In a move away from the typical heavy duty management topics usually discussed in this web log, I offer the following: While reading the article linked in Arts Journal’s main page yesterday about organists in the UK spicing up church services by working funny little tunes into the regular liturgical selections, I was reminded of

The past year has seen quite a few executive directors move around from one orchestra to the next.  So who’s been filling these jobs?  Mostly executives from other orchestras.  Here’s a quick break down of some of the shuffling (I would love to have the time to draw up a little graphic so you could

Third and final in this series of how technology can improve efficiency in an orchestra is using recording technology to its full potential.  Recordings are a touchy subject among many in the classical music industry.   With taboo topics such as aggressively enforced musician’s union regulations, the high costs of engineering the recording, the ever shrinking

Second in this series of how technology can improve the efficiency an industry that has been described as a “stagnant service industry that benefit[s] very little, in terms of productivity, from technological innovations” is the use of digital music.  This is decidedly a hot button topic for many involved in that element of the industry,

Due to the inherent separation between musicians and staff, most orchestras spend a great deal of resources (financial and time) distributing information to orchestra musicians and maintaining communication.  This occurs in the form of printing reams of paper for mailings, memos, schedules, maps, as well as hours and hours of labor to collate and prepare

I was recently reading an article in the October, 2002 edition of Harmony by Douglas Dempster that talked about Baumol’s Curse.  One part in particular that struck me was this excerpt:  “[Economists] William Baumol and William Bowen considered all “service industries,” (e.g., education and food preparation, as well as the performing arts) as opposed to

Recently I’ve received a couple of emails asking why I keep referring to dynamic and static analysis. The simple answer is because I find that overuse of static analysis is one of the root causes for the lack of innovation in the industry.  Here’s a real life example: Orchestra X wants to attract a greater