An article on BBC News website highlights the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (in the UK) and talks about how they are pioneering regular podcasts in the field of orchestra administration. Other orchestras (notably the Boston Symphony) have produced podcasts before, but mostly for special events. This article raises the question of how any company with limited resources, non-profits in this case, should decide which of the myriad of new content mediums they should pursue.
I worked in the marketing department at the New York Philharmonic this summer and one of my projects was to explore new media and what would be worthwhile. Initially I recommended that the Philharmonic take some video content that they currently film for their website and recycle it for regular podcasts. The Marketing Director later informed me that he had taken that idea to the Executive Director and had been turned down. The Executive Director felt that if they were to put out podcasts, these podcasts would need to be very sophisticated with all kinds of bells and whistles. Of course the marketing department didn't have the budget or the staff power to pursue the podcast any further, so the idea fell by the wayside.
Should the Philharmonic have put out their video content and taken the opportunity to reach some of their dedicated subscribers as well as a potential new audience or should they hold out and not risk damaging their brand with lower quality content?
I would have been interested to pursue the podcasts further, maybe doing some in house research to find out what segments the podcasts would go to and how many people they would actually reach before canning the idea completely.
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