Hi. I am new here.  My name is Tim and I am a fellow musician with all of the other guys who write the awesome stuff, but mostly I’m their friend. Hi.

I have another blog where I write about music too, so you might see some double posting.  There I rant about how everything sucks and nobody can listen to anything anymore. It’s very emo. Occasionally, I can make a good point and hopefully some people think a little more about listening.

So here’s an original thought: I think we (as classical musicians, composers, etc.) are doing it wrong. We live in a society of soundbites, and megabytes, all of which are “on demand.” Yet we expect people to dress up fancy, rearrange their schedules, skip dinner, all to hear us hack away at some obscure composer’s greatest hits for far too long. When you say it out loud, “I’m going perform an hour-and-a-half recital comprised of music you have never herd and may not like.” it really doesn’t make any sense.  Just because that is the way it has been done does not mean that is the best way to do it.

So what do we do? I think the answer is in the internet. There is no better way to reach an interested audience on their terms. Let’s face it, we are at the whim of our audience. If they can’t make it to our performance because their hamster has an irritable bowl and needs attention, they are not making it to our performance. At one time we were first on the audience’s list, but those days are past (for most of us, anyway). If we want to reach an audience comprised of more than our friends and family, I think the internet is the way to do it.

I think the best way to pull this off is to record shorter pieces of music more frequently and release them in a staggered way. Podcast style, but classier. Instead of an entire Haydn sonata, how about just the Adagio? Next week: Allegro? Maybe. It would depend on listener feedback, but we will get to that in a second. Oh while were at it, don’t even THINK about charging for downloads. In fact, monetizing it will be the least of our concerns at the beginning. OK, back to the point, listeners are then able to download your performance and listen to it at their leisure. Doorbell rings? PAUSE! I bet you have wanted to hit the pause button on a lot of recitals, I know I have. This kind of listening environment leaves the listener in control. If you don’t think that is a good thing, you should probably get used to off-brand cola and Wal-Mart socks. User control is everything in marketing these days.

OK, free and frequent releases on the internet. Got it. What next? User feedback via some sort of social network.  It can be as simple as blog comments to start, but there needs to be some way for people to tell you, and each other, what they think about your performance.  Think of it as the receiving line after a recital, but with less awkward fake-ness.

So, how do I eat? Please the audience enough and you will become in demand for playing live concerts. I know, right? That’s where we started! But this time, instead of a half-full hall of family and friends, people will pay to be there. They won’t be sleeping through it either. Through your frequent releases, you will play things for them they are familiar with, which will give them less opportunity to tune you out. Remember, the only reason anything is obscure is because not enough people have discovered it yet. (How Yogi Bera of me!) You can play the most dissonant stuff, if people like it and listen to it enough, they will want to hear it live.

So, what do you all think?