Reader Response: Controversy Over Commissions

Several orchestra managers and industry insiders wrote in with concerns about my ideas surrounding the use of commission based compensation in the orchestra industry.

In general, they all took issue over my suggestion that commissions should be included as a portion of some executive and staff member compensation. All of the emails I received were well thought out and articulate, but I began to pick up on one consistent theme: everyone was assuming that the commission structure was universal and all encompassing.

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The Controversy Over Commissions

I have to start off this article by employing the use of a shockingly dirty word.  A word so heinous that it’s mention can curve an arts administrator’s spine, infect the soul of a donor, and cause America’s orchestras to fall into ruin.  If you have a child reading over your shoulder you had best cover their eyes.  This filthy word is: commissions…

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