Declining Audience, Declining Market

Reading through several articles about concert attendance, management is concerned about the declining audiences to all concerts. Rock concerts, jazz concerts, Christian artists, ensembles, symphony concerts, and musical events in general are down nearly 30% in attendance. Is this a trend or an anomaly? Why are athletic events so supported with over 50,000 attending a professional football game but auditoriums are rarely filled?

A performing musician works hard for years to develop skills, to achieve a high level, to communicate music to others, to offer his years of training and talent to the world. But what happens when the world is no longer interested? Where will those performers go? What will they do? Will they be found on youtube videos, recordings, mp3 files but not in the concert hall? If we look into the window of the future, it is starting to look dismal for performing musicians regardless of what they are bringing to the table.

As a classical musician, I accepted many years ago that I would have a limited but appreciative audience for my music. I recall working very hard for my Masters horn recital, only to have about 35 people in attendance. As a college teacher, most of my recitals were well-attended but I do not remember a full house. When I taught public school, every band concert was a guaranteed full house of parents, grandparents, friends, administration, and often other teachers. But when I returned to university teaching, once again the auditorium remained empty with the occasional 400+ audience for special events.

On the other side, I attended a Kansas concert last year with a packed house and a Stevie Wonder concert a few years ago where our seats seemed nearly a mile away. Knowing rock concerts will attract more people, it surprises me to read that even rock concerts are in decline. Perhaps it is the economy where people do not feel led to spend $50 or more for a ticket. Or maybe the proliferation of music on the web is interfering with the desire to attend live concerts. Or maybe people need more than just music for their experience. They may need a greater integration of the arts to include sound, media, theater, art, food, and social times.

Maybe the choices that are out there--go to a movie, go to a party, attend an athletic event, go to a play, go play golf, drink coffee with friends, go to the park, the mall, the museum, and the list continues--are so many that we are dividing our potential audience into small compartments. Or maybe the stresses of life make people prefer to stay home watching television or reading? I think the internet has brought every kind of music experience to everyone at a moments notice. There is no need to attend concerts other than to be supportive of the performer. This means parents will always attend but general appreciators have no need for the live experience.

It is a frightening thought to imagine an entirely digital world, a world with little need for live music. Thinking through this then, is it possible to create a music training world that is viable, educational, and necessary? Yes but it will take some creative thinking to reimagine a new musical world and how to approach that academically. The market for live performance may be in decline, but the market for music is at an all-time high. We simply need to fit into the changes.