Keeping It Agile To Stay Ahead Of The Curve
Mon, Jun 6, 2017
by Drew McManus
Over the last few weeks, we’ve examined topics that circle back to a problem in the arts field where organizations tend to place artificial limitations on how they connect online with patrons. A key point of contact in that process is e-commerce, which covers everything from purchasing tickets to making donations. Instead of merely ranting
The Multiple Conducting Post Cash Cow
Fri, Jun 6, 2017
by Drew McManus
Norman Lebrecht published an interesting post at slippedisc.com that notices the trend in conductors holding multiple titled positions is in no danger of going away; at least in North America. We used to include pointing out conductors who held positions at multiple orchestras as part of the annual music director compensation reports but over the
Arts Groups Know Their Online User Experience Is Lacking, But Now What?
Wed, Jun 6, 2017
by Drew McManus
Capacity Interactive (CI) recently published their 2016 Arts Industry Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, an increasingly invaluable resource for a broad array of arts organizations. It provides a comprehensive survey of digital marketing and perhaps unsurprisingly, one of their key discoveries in a large portion of arts orgs know they are underinvesting in their online presence but
More Developments In Venezuela
Tue, Jun 6, 2017
by Drew McManus
The 6/10/2017 edition of the New York Times published an excellent article by Ana Vanessa Herrero and Nicholas Casey that provides additional details about the ongoing protests in Venezuela and how music is playing an increasingly important role. It’s important to make time in your schedule to stay on top of these developments as the
Artists As Representatives
Mon, Jun 6, 2017
by Drew McManus
I have something to confess: I wanted to make today’s post a rant against a sharp uptick in the number of instances where I’ve encountered artists behaving boorishly among patrons. Although it sounds wonderfully cathartic, it would have ultimately run afoul of this blog’s Code of Conduct. That’s when it struck me that the reason
Do You Suffer From Boring Mailbox Name Syndrome?
Fri, Jun 6, 2017
by Drew McManus
When it comes to email mailbox names, the tried-and-true approach for individual accounts is to use their name(first.last@). Beyond that, using departmental names is another good approach (marketing@). Each of those options are straightforward when it comes to assigning the mailbox name, but what about general organizational email addresses? Sure, you could use info@, contact@,
The Latest Musician Vs. Airline Incident
Thu, Jun 6, 2017
by Drew McManus
For all of the talk from United Airlines CEO, Oscar Munoz, about “doing better” in the wake of an incident that left a passenger injured, that message doesn’t seem to be reaching all of their employees. Case in point, violinist Yennifer Correia’s recent ordeal where a United Airlines supervisor allegedly attempted to wrestle away her
It’s Time For The League Conference And you Know What That Means…
Wed, Jun 6, 2017
by Drew McManus
If you’re in Detroit for the 2017 League of American Orchestras conference, I hope you took the time to update your resume! Sure, the League conference is all about constituency meetings, plenary sessions, and panels but there’s no denying that at its heart, it’s a giant job fair. Consequently, it’s never a surprise to see
We’re Smart Enough To Fix The Online Ticket Buying Experience (Aren’t We?)
Tue, Jun 6, 2017
by Drew McManus
I enjoyed a fascinating Facebook discussion yesterday that started off with someone ranting about ticket buyers being required to create accounts before being allowed to enter the online purchase process. The stream of anger and frustration from ticket buyers participating in the conversation was palpable but this problem has been known for years yet very
We Live In Angry Times. Here’s Something Positive You Can Do About It.