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Orchestras, SOCAN, and Rights in the Age of Covid-19

With the recent shift to online content sharing, orchestras are facing new challenges when it comes to copyright. Orchestras Canada invited James Leacock, Manager of Media in SOCAN’s licensing department (and a 19-year veteran at SOCAN) to join us for a discussion and lively Q and A.  

Below are some key takeaways from the conversation: 

 

1- Know your tariffs!  

There are different types of licenses that Canadian orchestras typically use to secure live performance rights: 

  • Tariff 4B2 – Annual License for Orchestras, a license to publicly perform music as live performances at concerts or recitals of classical music for the period of one year. The tariff is based on a flat fee per concert, calculated on a sliding scale based on your orchestra’s budget size, and is payable on every concert you give, whether it contains copyright-protected music or not.    
  • Tariff 4B1 – Per Concert Classical Music License, also a license to perform music as live performances at a concert or recital of classical music.  The difference?  This tariff is based on EITHER 1.56% of your gross receipts OR (for a free concert) 1.56% of the fees you pay to performers, with a minimum of $35 per concert.  It is only payable on concerts that contain copyright-protected music; it is not required for programs containing only public domain repertoire. 

Do the math!  One tariff may be more cost effective for you than the other over the course of your season: it will depend on your repertoire choices, venue capacity, and ticket prices.  You cannot, however, cherry-pick:  look at your entire season, or calendar year (if that’s your licensing period), and opt for the Tariff that works best for you.  For 2020, the folks at Entandem may be willing to look at permitting mid-year shifts in tariffs to better accommodate your new realities:  please talk to them! 

 

2- Those tariffs cover you not only for in person performances, but also online concerts  

James helpfully defined a public performance as “music performed outside a home, a car, or a boat”, and this includes music communicated to the public by telecommunication, including the internet! Rights to perform copyright-protected repertoire concerts online are treated the same way as in person concerts, and this stands for single purpose (live performance only, online only) events, and hybrid events (both live and online).   

An example of this would be a concert where there are 50 people attending the concert in person, and at the same time, the concert is being live streamed. In this case, SOCAN considers this to be one event, meaning that you only need one license for hybrid concerts. Same goes if there are 50 people attending in person, and the concert is being recorded to be broadcast later: it is still considered to be one event.  

Your right to perform and communicate the music is covered by your chosen SOCAN performance license.   

 

3- Neither 4B1 nor 4B2 covers synchronization or reproduction rights.   

SOCAN only handles the public performance and communications rights, but not the reproduction and synchronization rights, which you’ll need to secure from the rights holder for the repertoire you’re performing (or their representative). If you don’t know who that is, start with the music publisher: they can guide you. 

If you’re looking for some quick definitions under Canadian copyright, this page on the Canadian Music Reproduction Rights Association can help you!   

 

4- Archival recordings require a different license 

If you are communicating recordings made in the past by your ensemble, you will need to secure an Online Audiovisual license ( Tariff 22.D.1 ) from SOCAN.  

If revenue is generated by these performances through advertising, per-program fee, or special subscription the fee is 1.9% of these revenues subject to a minimum annual fee of $15.00.  For services that generate revenue, reporting for the tariff is quarterly.  If the minimum is applicable, you need only remit the form once and pay your fee for the year. 

 

5- Facebook and YouTube have their own licensing agreements with SOCAN and other rights holders – and they enforce them! 

If you are using Facebook and/or YouTube as a platform to share your recorded musical content, those platforms are responsible for policing the licenses, and can take content down.  When you use these platforms, you are posting at your own risk.  

However, if you are selling tickets for the viewing of this concert, or if it is being promoted or advertised as a concert/event, then your organization will need to secure a license from SOCAN.  

Early pandemic experience taught groups that both Facebook and Youtube use bots as a first line of identification of material under copyright (whether it’s copyright on the repertoire or copyright on the recording).  Immediate and well-informed communication with YouTube or Facebook will escalate the issue to a live person, and you can then sort things out. 

 

6- Be mindful of copyright on arrangements 

If your concert includes works from the public domain only, you’re in the clear. If you’re using the 4B2 tariff, you’re paying a flat fee per concert, whatever the repertoire.  If you’re using the 4B1 tariff and only performing music in the public domain, then no license is required.  However, if you are performing an arrangement of a public domain “tune”, the arrangement will be subject to copyright protection if it was created during the current copyright term in Canada (which we’ll summarize as “death plus 50”). Check to make sure, and ensure that you have a license if required. 

 

Still have questions?  

You can get in touch with your account manager in Entandem, or contact SOCAN directly on this email address! Response rate is 1-2 weeks. 

 

Additional Resources: 

Video recording of the webinar 

SOCAN website 

An Orchestra Musician’s Guide to Licensing of Online Content by Gary Corrin 

Online Concerts_Summary from SOCAN as of October 2020 

ASCAP repertory list

Government of Canada resources on copyright: in English and French

 

Top 5 Hints for a Successful Online AGM

At Orchestras Canada, we have been hosting Annual General Meetings online for the past 7 years and we’re never looking back! Have you been considering hosting your own online this year with, you know, COVID and all? We have put together a guide for you. On October 16, we presented a webinar entitled “How to Plan an Online Annual General Meeting” for orchestra people from coast to coast, and here’s a quick recap of what we shared.

Note: at OC, we use the Zoom Meetings app, with a “Pro” level paid account. We are cost-conscious, and so we have taken advantage of TechSoup Canada’s Zoom offers.

1- Organization is key!

This is really no secret in the world of events, concerts and orchestras: any successful event starts with thorough organization, and in the case of AGMs, there’s a lot to keep in mind.  We recommend starting with your by-law or other governing documents and determine the following: 

    • Who can participate? Who can vote?
    • How many voting participants do you need to achieve quorum?
    • Will you allow non-voting guests, and how will you control voting?
    • Do you allow proxy or advanced voting? 
    • How far in advance do you need to issue your first official notice of meeting?
    • How will you share agenda and supporting materials and how far in advance of the meeting do you need to do that?
    • Communicate early and plan several follow-ups to achieve the quorum you need. Anticipate some no-shows, so get more than the minimum registrations.
    • What kind of post-AGM records will you need? Attendance list? Voting record? Requiring participants to register will help to capture some of this information. 

Once you’ve figured these things out, you’ll need to set up the meeting in Zoom! Here is a short video to show you how:

2- Script it all!

We all like to be spontaneous, but an Annual General Meeting is already stressful enough (and there’s an audience)!  So why risk it? Everything should be scripted to help ease nerves and ensure that you accomplish what you need to.  This includes who will introduce motions, and the exact wording of the motions. Create an annotated agenda, indicating who speaks when, who handles continuity between speakers, who asks for seconders, timing of polls.  To help you out, here’s an annotated agenda from OC’s last AGM. 

3- Practice makes perfect

As in music, the more practice you do, the better you get at it! We highly recommend scheduling a practice session a day or two before your AGM with all of your speakers. You can trouble shoot for technical issues, and check for unstable internet connections, slides that don’t make sense, and polls that don’t want to work. This does not need to be a long rehearsal: ours was only 15 minutes long, but it was really useful in confirming our plan for the day of the meeting.

4- Make it look good!

Create a single PowerPoint presentation for the entire meeting and assign one person to advance the slides. This will eliminate awkward pauses as speakers attempt to share their own screens. 

Set up a welcome slide that members will see when they join: it should include the event title and some technical tips for participating. 

Other tips:

  • Include the name and role (e.g. president) of individual speaking in the footer of each slide
  • Apply usual principles for slide presentations: not too much content per slide, attractive design, uniform font size, and strategic use of images
  • The 5/5/5 rule may be a good guideline: no more than five words per line of text, five lines of text per slide, or five text-heavy slides in a row.

Your PowerPoint presentation is essential to the success of your online AGM, so make it look good! It should please both the eyes and the brain. Make sure the font is big enough, make the slides colourful, make it informative! Include where the Polls will happen, who is speaking at the moment, and why not a couple of photos? Here is an example of the PowerPoint presentation that we put together for our last AGM.

5- The ultimate task list

You’ve been waiting for it, so here it is: our compilation of mostly-background tasks that need to be thought-through and assigned to ensure a smooth meeting.  You could think of them as the jobs that need to be done by the meeting secretary, the meeting host, and the meeting technician:

Meeting secretary:

  • Starting and pausing recording if needed
  • Taking attendance (for the record and quorum) 
  • Reporting to the host at the start of the meeting when the first AGM notice was issued 
  • Launching Polls
  • Reporting to the host on votes received by advance ballot, if you have that option
  • Sharing poll results and confirming a motion is passed
  • Taking minutes (recording will be a helpful back-up)

Meeting host (can be one of the presenters)

  • Welcoming participants
  • Ensuring meeting continuity 
  • Identifying seconder for motions (from raised hands)
  • Confirming results of polls
  • Monitoring and managing the chat: posting any relevant links and bringing any questions to the attention of the chair

Meeting technician

  • Serving as contact person (email and/or cellphone) for members needing a reminder of meeting coordinates, or trouble shooting technical issues before and during the meeting
  • Letting participants into the meeting room, both before and during the meeting
  • Sharing and advancing the slide presentation (host will pass screen share to this individual)
  • Making motions (presenters can do this and motions should be in the annotated script)
  • Starting and pausing recording if needed

Bonus: Post AGM tips and tricks

Recordings and Reports

  • Download any Zoom reports within 30 days of the meeting – they are deleted after that
  • You’ll want to keep some information for your records:
    • Registration report
    • Polling report (can also serve as a back-up attendance list)

Here is a video showing where to find those reports:

  • Help with Minutes:
    • If you’ve set it up to do so, Zoom with notify you when the meeting recording is available – typically 3 files are generated: video, audio, and the text file of the chat log
  • Follow-up Communications:
    • Report on AGM activities and updates, and thank participants in a post-AGM newsletter or other communication

Still curious and want to learn more? Here are some useful links:

Recording of the Webinar

Slides of the Webinar 

Reopening your Orchestra, part 2 with Janet Sellery

Top 10 Learning Points from Janet Sellery – Reopening Your Orchestra, Part II

On September 10, health and safety expert Janet Sellery led an in-depth workshop with Orchestras Canada members and friends on risk assessment, planning, and preparing for the new normal in the time of COVID. While we urge you to review her PowerPoint deck, worksheets, and affiliated resources, OC’s friend Dr. Roydon Tse has prepared a summary of 10 key takeaways from the in-depth session. Thank you, Roydon! And thank you, Janet!

A Collective Commitment to Reopening Safely
At this moment, the priority is on keeping everyone healthy and safe, and – as conditions permit – creating an environment where patrons feel confident to return. A social contract where all parties agree to take precautions, understand their responsibilities, and have the tools and training necessary, will take time to build.

Know your rights and responsibilities
Be informed of your rights and responsibilities as an employee, employer, or engager, knowing that workers (paid and volunteer) have a right to participate, right to know, right to refuse work, and right to be free from reprisal should work be refused. It is the employer’s (engager’s) responsibility to provide a healthy and safe workspace.

Be informed of current Public Health restrictions
Inform yourself about the public health regulations and restrictions in your jurisdiction. Stay current on Federal, Provincial, and Municipal regulations as they evolve.

Create a COVID-19 leadership role in your organization
Whether you’re a large organization or a small one, it is best practice to identify someone in your group who can serve as the COVID-19 point person, to work closely with your stakeholder groups, your venue, and your community to enforce compliance with all protocols.

Know and Assess Risks
Take a detailed look at the various roles in your orchestra to identify tasks and their potential hazards. After conducting a risk assessment, plan the activities you can safely commence with, scaled to suit your capacity for compliance.

Eliminate, Control, and Prevent
Referring to the Hierarchy of Controls (referenced in Janet Sellery’s slide deck, and replicated below), start with an assessment of the hazards you might face, and determine which can be eliminated entirely, and which can be managed via engineering and administrative controls. PPE (“personal protective equipment”) should be used in combination with engineering and administrative controls: PPE are not a complete solution.

Consider Programming Re-design
Identify programming that can be presented safely and consider alternative programming to ensure the safety of all involved.

Prepare a Healthy Workplace
Implement steps and procedures for each activity to ensure all artists, workers, volunteers and patrons are safe, feel safe, and have adequate information and equipment to function safely. There may be a need to reassess existing schedules, create additional roles, and allocate additional resources to prepare a healthy workplace for all.

Watch out for “magical thinking”
We all want to return to “normal” as soon as possible: music is essential to our well-being as individuals and as communities. We miss it! But we need to be careful not to cherry-pick our information sources to justify our actions. Evaluate the credibility of your information sources: look for peer-reviewed research, undertaken as locally as possible, by academics and medical professionals.

Take Baby Steps
With so many details to manage, it’s best to plan a gradual and staged return to work. Test your procedures through small and controlled experiments. It is beyond important to get it right the first time: the best way to move forward is to take small, thoughtful steps first.

“If you can’t afford to do it safely, you can’t afford to do it at all.”

You can listen to a recording of the session here.

Session materials:

Reopening your Orchestra Janet Sellery presentation slides

OC Risk Assessment Janet Sellery-EN

OC COVID-19 Response Planning Janet Sellery EN

Orchestras Canada Reopening Resources Sept 10 2020

Community Theatre Reopening Guide Ontario Aug 10 2020

Risk Assessment Form inc Risk Rating Sept 10 2020

Standing Committee on Finance 2021 Pre-Budget Consultation: OC Submission

On August 7, Orchestras Canada/Orchestres Canada submitted a brief to the federal Standing Committee on Finance as part of the annual pre-budget consultation process. Drawing on the perspective of OC members, the measures we proposed in the brief will:

1. Retain jobs and key talent in arts and culture in towns and cities across the country, so we’re ready for a swift re-launch of the live performing arts sector when conditions permit;

2. Enable arts and culture groups of all sizes – from the most grassroots collectives to our major flagship institutions – to respond to their communities’ cultural needs in new and compelling ways at a time of crisis;

3. Incentivize philanthropy to encourage individuals, philanthropic foundations, and businesses to play their part;

4. Enhance cultural spaces where Canadians gather for transformative arts and culture experiences to ensure they are supported, modernized, and made safer, more accessible, and more environmentally sustainable.

We invite Canadian orchestras to read the brief, then share it with your MP or MPs: OC PreBudget Brief 07 August 2020

You can link to a customizable email message here:  Cover Letter Template_Pre-Budget Brief EN

Standing Committee on Finance 2021 Pre-Budget Consultation: OC Submission August 2020 and Template Letter

Orchestras Canada is grateful for the opportunity to present the perspectives of our  member orchestras to the Standing Committee on Finance. The measures that we propose in this brief will:

1. Retain jobs and key talent in arts and culture in towns and cities across the country, so we’re ready for a swift re-launch of the live performing arts sector when conditions permit;
2. Enable arts and culture groups of all sizes – from the most grassroots collectives to our major flagship institutions – to respond to their communities’ cultural needs in new and compelling ways at a time of crisis;
3. Incentivize philanthropy to encourage individuals, philanthropic foundations, and businesses to play their part;
4. Enhance cultural spaces where Canadians gather for transformative arts and culture experiences to ensure they are supported, modernized, and made safer, more accessible, and more environmentally sustainable.

Read the submission in full here: OC PreBudget Brief 07 August 2020

Customizable template cover letter for members: OC Cover Letter Template_Pre-Budget Brief EN

Reopening your Orchestra, part 1 with Chris Walroth

Top Tips from “Reopening Your Orchestra: Part I”

On August 14, Orchestras Canada hosted a webinar with Toronto Symphony Orchestra Production Manager Chris Walroth. Chris shared some key insights on how orchestras should be planning for a safe re-opening. While it’s hard to condense his presentation and the resulting discussion into just a few short points, here are some highlights.

1. You need to know the public health regulations in place in your municipality, province, and country.

2. You need a customized plan that takes into account the specifics of your orchestra

Reopening your orchestra safely requires planning and consultation with artists, organizers, operators and permit holders. You are responsible for assessing risks and implementing measures to reduce the risk of infection among all who participate in your activities, whether they’re paid or volunteers, whether they’re artists, backstage workers, administrators, or board members.

3. Slow down, and maintain safe bubbles

We know that longer contact between people increases the risk of transmission, and so we need to reduce the length of contact as well as the number of people who are working in the same space. Slow the process down, work with fewer people at the same time, take longer to do the job, and allow only mission-critical people to work in any given area.

4. Communication is Key

Communication and enforcement are the most challenging aspects of reopening safely. We all have routines and are used to working in a certain way, but reopening is a team effort that requires everyone to be on board 100%. Be consistent, be persistent, and embody the behaviours that you want to see others adopting.

5. Document and Organize Everything

We’re in a chaotic and fluid time, and the science and interpretation of the science) continue to evolve. Be organized, document your actions and interactions carefully, and try to over-prepare. This will enable you to concentrate the necessary energy on contact tracing and other new protocols that will need to be in place when you reopen.

6. Best Practices for Orchestras

Sharing of equipment (from chairs and stands to percussion equipment, and more) must be discouraged. Rehearsal procedures should be re-examined to minimize duration of exposure, and the number of people who are working together at one time. The flow of concerts should be examined, with consideration of shorter concerts with no intermission. PPE such as face masks should be mandatory for everyone until they’re seated in place on stage and ready to play. And, as Chris said, “wherever there is great art, there is also a lot of garbage!” Make sure you’re making it as easy as possible for your people to wash their hands, and safely dispose of items they’ve touched.

Orchestras Canada will continue to monitor the state of safe re-opening in jurisdictions across Canada, and we look forward to continuing the discussion and the learning with you!

Presentation slides: Reopening Your Orchestra Chris Walroth – Slides

Bibliography: Reopening Your Orchestra Chris Walroth – Bibliography

An audio recording of this session can be found here.

Reopening your Orchestra, part 1 with Chris Walroth

On August 14, 2020, OC presented the first of two webinars as part of the Re-launch online learning series designed to equip orchestras with the information and ideas they need for a safe and successful return to activity.

Session description: COVID-19 seems to have turned orchestral music-making into a high risk activity.  As orchestras reopen, old routines and procedures need to be revised to keep musicians and audiences safe.  This webinar focuses on the most promising evolving practices for orchestras from a practical standpoint, and examines the steps necessary to keep everyone safe. Led by Chris Walroth, Production Manager of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Presentation slides: Reopening Your Orchestra Chris Walroth – Slides

Bibliography: Reopening Your Orchestra Chris Walroth – Bibliography

A summary and audiofile will be posted soon.

Submission to the Ontario Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs

Image: Timmins Symphony Orchestra, Credit: Karina Miki Douglas-Takayesu

Regarding the study of the recommendations relating to the Economic and Fiscal Update Act, 2020 and the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on certain sectors of the economy – Culture and Heritage sector.

Summary

Ontario orchestras commend the Standing Committee on Finance for studying the impact of COVID-19 on the Culture and Heritage sectors.

Like others in the live performing arts, orchestras have been deeply affected. Compared to the same period in 2019, the revenues of Ontario orchestras have already contracted almost $15 million since March 15 (about 20% of their annual revenues) due to the cancellation or postponement of all ticketed events, including concerts and fundraising events, during the last part of their 2019/20 seasons.

Orchestras are looking to all levels of government to help them bridge this crisis, so they can continue to serve their communities in creative ways, retain key team members, and ensure a quick and complete recovery when the crisis is over.

To achieve these goals, we recommend that the Province of Ontario:

  1. Provide stabilization funding for arts and culture;
  2. Provide incentives for individual and corporate giving;
  3. Invest in built and digital infrastructure;
  4. Sustain and increase investments in arts and culture through the Ontario Arts Council.
About Orchestras Canada and Ontario’s Orchestras

Orchestras Canada/Orchestres Canada (OC) is the national association for Canadian orchestras. Established in 1971 as the Association of Canadian Orchestras, OC represents 130 member orchestras, including 69 in Ontario. They range from volunteer-driven community groups, to youth and training orchestras, to regional and major professional orchestras. Most are organized as registered charities, and all are not for profit organizations.

In the 2018-19 season (a time period that typically mirrors the academic year), Ontario orchestras drew a collective audience of over 860,000 and generated over $76 million in revenue. That year, overall revenues of Ontario orchestras were a careful balance between:

  • Earned income (from ticket sales and sold services): 38.3%;
  • Contributed income (from donations, sponsorships, and fundraising special events): 42.9%
  • Government investment (from municipal, provincial and federals bodies): 18.7%

Ontario orchestras raise a higher proportion of their annual revenues from their communities, through ticket sales and fundraising, than is the case anywhere else in Canada. In return, our orchestras invest just under 70% of their annual budgets in salaries and professional fees to artists, arts workers, and people in related businesses.

Early Impact of COVID-19 on Ontario Orchestras

In June 2020, Orchestras Canada asked our members to provide a forecast of their year-end results. From this survey, we learned that – overall – Ontario orchestras anticipate that their 19/20 seasons’ revenues will contract by an average of 20% compared to last year, due to COVID-19 cancellations. This represents a collective revenue loss of nearly $15 million since March 15.

These findings are supported by an April 2020 survey of the arts sector by the Ontario Arts Council. The 441 Ontario arts organizations surveyed by the Ontario Arts Council in April estimated that they’d lose as much as $128 million due to COVID-19 – an average of 16% of their total annual revenue. 71% said they’d be laying-off people. Another 21% indicated that it was too early to say.

Impact of COVID-19 on Ontario Orchestras – 2020/21 and Beyond

Compared with the last “typical” orchestra season, we believe that as much as 80% of Ontario orchestras’ revenues are at risk in 2020-21 and beyond. Unless governments and arts supporters act quickly, we risk losing even more than money.

The pandemic-era 2020-21 orchestral season that we want Ontario’s communities to experience includes:

  • physically-distanced performances by smaller orchestras,
  • outdoor performances,
  • short performances in venues that will permit flexible seating,
  • new partnerships with educators and community organizations, and
  • creative approaches to digital sharing and musical

These programs will make use of musicians’ talents and creativity, and enable even more Ontarians to access the work of orchestras. They will also ensure a smooth and seamless return to normal programming when the time is right: by “keeping the band together”, retaining key staff, and staying in close musical contact with our communities during a time of crisis, we are confident that orchestras will be well-placed for re-opening as soon as it’s feasible to welcome large audiences back into close proximity in enclosed spaces.

However, these kinds of programs simply don’t and cannot generate the kind of revenues that a typical concert season does: they will require strong partnerships between all levels of government, a commitment to exceptional levels of government investment, and incentives for private sector involvement, too.

This is an existential crisis for the performing arts. We were one of the first sectors of the economy to be affected by the pandemic, we are among the most deeply affected, and will likely be slowest to recover. By helping us bridge to the time when we can once again convene large gatherings, the government of Ontario will help preserve the value of its long-term investment in Ontario communities through our artists and arts organizations, and ensure that Ontarians can continue to engage with the arts at a time when solace, emotional release, and collective enjoyment are more important than ever.

We support the recovery principles proposed by the Canadian Arts Coalition:
  • Equity must be fundamental to the province’s approach. Due consideration of Indigenous, racialized, deaf, disabled, rural, Francophone and otherwise marginalized artists and their organizations is fundamental.
  • Collaboration with federal and municipal programs is vital, to ensure that gaps in policy and investment are bridged.
  • Time is of the essence. If arts and culture are going to play a role in Ontario’s recovery, they need help NOW.
Our Recommendations to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs
We respectfully recommend that the Province of Ontario:
  1. Provide stabilization funding for arts and culture to complement and address gaps in existing federal support and help artists and arts organizations maintain core activities during mandated closures. This could be delivered through an agency such as the Ontario Arts Council. We see this as complementary to the Ontario Non-profit Network’s call for the establishment of a $680 million stabilization fund for the province’s charitable and not for profit sector.
  2. Provide incentives for individual and corporate giving to arts and culture by establishing a short-term (3-year) donation matching program for charitable gifts towards operating costs.
  3. In collaboration with federal and municipal governments, invest in infrastructure to:
    • Support renovation and retro-fit of existing cultural facilities to ensure that public health protocols can be more easily accommodated; and
    • Equip cultural venues for digital content capture and sharing so that artists and arts organizations can develop, capture and share their work while traditional venues are closed or have only limited capacity.
  4. Sustain and increase investments in arts and culture through the Ontario Arts Council:
    • To encourage Ontarians to connect with the arts, now and when our venues re-open;
    • To re-establish Ontario as an arts and entertainment destination for people beyond our borders, when the time is right;
    • To permit signature “re-launch” artistic programming, to bring Ontarians and the world back to our cultural venues and events, when the time is right.

We thank the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs for your careful attention to these issues, and are standing by to further support your work.

Producing & Monetizing Digital Content

In this digital “new normal,” how can orchestras monetize online performances to offer innovative programming while recreating the exclusivity and intimacy our patrons value in our concert hall performances? On July 6th, OC welcomed Lana Leprich (Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra), Neil Middleton (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra), and Tricia Baldwin (Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts) to share their experiences, advice, and the future they see for monetizing online content.

An audio recording of this session can be found here.

Read on for a few key learnings from this session:

1. Collaborate!

Tricia emphasized the importance of collaboration to expand market access and ensure that artists are paid for their services, especially for smaller organizations and smaller population centres. Partnering with fellow arts organizations, festivals, ensembles, and more helps to pool resources for artist fees, in addition to combining audiences for greater impact.

You can also forge unlikely partnerships to incentivize ticket purchases – such as Tafelmusik’s partnership with a gelato company, offering a treat to enjoy with tickets to their digital events!

2. Where possible, create live or time-restricted events

Lana and Neil emphasized the importance of offering live or time-restricted events as part of selling an experience to potential ticket buyers. This can take the form of a true livestream performance, with musicians playing in real time. If the technical issues stress you out, though, you can pre-record performances to broadcast at a designated time (as Tafelmusik did for their Tafelmusik at Home series).

Tricia highlighted their success in engaging audiences, with the ability to ask questions and react in real time, either via social media tools or through a live Q&A with the performers.

3. Create for the medium, and take sound quality as seriously as your in-person performances

Tricia offered tips on creating high quality digital content that patrons will want to pay for: 1) High-fidelity sound, with particular attention to excellent source sound, 2) Varying camera angles throughout the performance to keep audiences captivated, and 3) Brighter lighting compared to live performances for better appearance on camera.

For their Bader and Overton Canadian Cello Competition, the Isabel Bader Centre provided a guide to performers for setting up high quality live recording technology in their homes. See the guide here.

4. Test, test, test! Prepare to handle technical difficulties

It is important to test your digital performance on the source and viewer side. Lana recommended testing on a variety of devices – smartphones, computers, tablets, smart TVs, etc – to ensure your content looks and sounds the way you want. All recommended having enough staff support at show time, monitoring and addressing any issues at their source, providing technical support to viewers if needed, and moderating chat and comments.

5. Your digital content may reach audiences beyond where you’d expect

Originally, the Vancouver Symphony predicted that the audience for their Digital Concert Hall would exist predominantly among their existing subscriber base. However, Neil and the VSO found that the audience demographics for their digital performances have gone far beyond typical expectations. He sees digital as an opportunity to reach audiences who would not otherwise travel into the city for a typical concert.

Similarly, Lana remarked that Tafelmusik’s post-concert surveys revealed that 35% of their Tafelmusik at Home patrons were new to Tafelmusik.

6. Different monetization models – Experiment!

There are many ways to approach monetization, and experimentation can help inform your efforts going forward. You may encourage a donation, require purchase of a ticket to access, or some combination of the two – e.g. a virtual “ticket” using a Pay-What-You-Choose model. Tafelmusik used the PWYC model to “test the waters” of digital content monetization – they found that, with options ranging from $5 to $20, the average donation per virtual concert ticket was a solid $13. They will use this data to inform future digital content monetization initiatives.