A blog, a MySpace page, and podcasts all within a single publicity front
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra recently began "Unmasked," their new media initiative, to take advantage of the Internet’s influence on networking and communication. It started with NoteWorthy, a monthly e-mail newsletter that has circulated since the 2005-06 season as a means to publicize upcoming concerts, artists, and events. The graphic-intensive newsletter also includes a trivia question allowing winners to receive a pair of concert tickets. Under NoteWorthy’s impetus a search started to identify and use as many new media opportunities as possible. "Unmasked" thus became a way to reach younger or different demographics and to take its music to the audience using media ranging from TV, radio, and the Internet.
In the summer of 2006, the DSO took its first step with the creation of Audio Note. The Audio Note is a sound file streamed through the DSO web site or available for download as a podcast on iTunes or other RSS distributors. Most recently, the Audio Note featured interviews with DSO staff speaking on the challenges and rewards of planning and executing a concert; another syndication included musicians’ tales from a memorable concert. The Audio Note’s length of five to fifteen minutes is just enough to give a preview of upcoming concerts, or recreate the buzz of past experiences. Additionally, an annual year-in-review podcast, which compliments the 2006 DSO annual report, will be one of the first ever released by an orchestra. The Audio Note has enjoyed a steadily increasing subscriber base.
Just after the first release of Audio Note, the DSO joined the MySpace community. Those familiar with MySpace know its capacity for networking and its widespread use in the pop artist community. With a heavy emphasis on pictures and graphics, the page allows for short communications between friends and allows for an orchestra to stream examples of music. The page also provides space to list upcoming concerts and to write a journal or blog. The DSO maintains the networking objective of MySpace by accepting nearly twenty friend requests a week.
The DSO plans to unveil several new components to the new media initiative. Without an official press release, the DSO blog is already operational and includes several posts. Upon its debut, the orchestra will invite guest artists to begin a thread by using a computer in the backstage guest room. The artist will be able to enter pre-concert thoughts on the blog before arriving on stage. The audience members will read the artist’s dramatic entries after arriving home.
In the future, the DSO plans to begin video podcasts, though these will not take the place of the Audio Notes. Soon, the DSO hopes to stream live audio from concerts, available only to subscribers and ticket holders who cannot be physically present at concerts. Although fidelity over the Internet would be reduced from the concert hall experience, the DSO will increase the educational value of the audio streams with concert narration, much like a play-by-play in a sports broadcast.
With so many ideas encompassed in the new media initiative, the DSO seeks to integrate the different facets into a unified whole. A method for technological updates in a centralized fashion is currently under construction, so that the blog, the MySpace account, the NoteWorthy newsletter, and Audio Note need not be individually manipulated when duplicate items appear at different sites. From the patron’s perspective, the integration occurs through cross-pollination between the web sites. Nearly every facet of the new media initiative links to a different page, with all leading back to the DSO’s main web site.
Where to go for additional info:
Michael Taylor II, new media specialist,
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Unmasked, the new media initiative web site
www.detroitsymphony.com