Positive Examples of Social Media in Fine Arts: Orchestras

With the surge in popularity of social media, orchestras have discovered ways to utilize this technology as a marketing and promotional venue.  In the article “Orchestras, opera companies flirt with social media, but does it matter?” by Roland Flamini, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra capitalizes on new media by using youtube to display interviews with its concert pianist Andre Watts in order to gain publicity for his future performances.  Another example of orchestras using media to gain performance publicity is the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  It uses live HD broadcasts of performances in order to reach people across the country simultaneously and allow them to experience the orchestra from the comfort of their living room.

In the press release posted on businesswire.com entitled “Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Strikes a Chord with Social Media to Drive Increased Concert Sales”, it shows how the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has used the media platforms Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and E-mail to create publicity for the organization and connect with its audience.  By seamlessly integrating these social media platforms with one another, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has developed a strategy that allows them to converse with their audience on a myriad of levels. It has even branched out to the “third screen” or the mobile screen by creating android and iphone applications which allow audiences to follow its social media presence on the go, purchase tickets, stream performances, and download music from their current locations.  According to the press release, 40 percent of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s e-mail subscribers purchased tickets last season, and its Symphony on the Prairie performance increased a record 19 percent in ticket sales.  The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has been awarded The ClickZ Connected Marketing for its outstanding integrated marketing system, which proves that social media is the new tool for those in the industry to reach their audiences with music.