Live recordings are killing live music

A big deal is being made in the classical music world about Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s latest business enterprise. A scheme set up by his own record label is allowing concert-goers the opportunity to take away a cd of the concert they have just watched as they walk out of the concert hall. For £10, before the concert begins you buy a cardboard record sleeve, and as you leave that evening you are given a track-listing and cd of the first half of the evening’s performance. Sir John said:

“The way things were going it looked as if audiences were going to be dwindling and getting older and greyer. And this is a way of actually bringing it right into the technological present tense.”

Most of you will will probably remember the slogan “Home taping is killing music”, and many of you will probably subscribe to the Musicians’ Union slogan “Keep Music Live“. The suggestion appears to be that younger generations will be enticed in by the promise of technical wizardry behind the stage-door. As they listen to Mozart their minds are racing away with the thoughts of hundreds of men working whirring machines in the car-park producing cd’s to order. But, pray-tell, why would that concert-goer ever wish to see that piece of music live again? If it is the gimmick which entices them in as Sir John suggests, how many are going to still be attending in a year, 2 years, 5? 

More likely, it’s a brilliant advance in the world of the concert reviewer. Now a reviewer can attend half-a-dozen concerts in one evening. Just take along your complimentary ticket, pay for the cd’s using your expense account, then listen to them on the tube home. Where do I sign up?

I have to say, I think the tube are going to be doing more to promote classical music. The BBC are reporting that TFL are going to pipe classical music into the underground in order to reduce crime and vandalism. A trial scheme in Tyneside reduced crime by 20%. I wonder how many took in the music by osmosis, and then thought they’d pop along to a concert to see if this Mozart guy was any good live onstage?

BBC News “Tube Heeds Metro’s Classical Tune”
Gramophone “Mozart to Go”