Skip to main content

A radical plan for opera and the arts

A radical plan for opera and the arts

What we do is plan just one performance of any opera or play. Perhaps two, just to be safe. We would save a fortune in performance costs. We then film and record it in HD super surround sound and maybe, just maybe, in 3D!

We charge people something like a tenner per month to subscribe to a streaming service. They can watch it at home on telly, on their phone, their iPad, their Kindle. Wherever, whenever they like, just as iTunes Match says. Just think of the millions who'll take this up in order to discover opera and theatre; one minute Justin Bieber, the next, Coriolanus or Gawain. They wouldn't have to leave home. They'd love it.

Now here's where it gets really clever. We don't make these recordings in a studio but in a theatre! Then we charge people a premium - like, a really big amount of money - to be AT the recording. People will love to tell their friends that "they were there when..." The tickets would be like gold, we could charge loads for them. Imagine what people will pay to actually be there, live, when the cameras are rolling? We could consider letting them watch in a cinema, sort of "half" the theatrical experience, but with close ups, their friends and some popcorn.

We would have to be careful though. After a few years of this, there may be a growth in the number of people who want to experience the real live performance and as such there could be pressure to provide more of them. If we succumb and we have to provide extra live performances, we could see a drop in streaming revenues, and the cost of the live tickets would fall as well because the exclusivity will have evaporated. Seriously, if live opera or theatre catches on we might be in trouble.

Comments

  1. Anonymous5 November 2014 at 13:56

    Hello?? and what about the singers, instrumentalists??? do you take them from where? where do they get the experience? from what will they live? do you believe it is possible to perform for them on the high level requested without doing many performances before? just on a amateur level or will you pay them for one performance a fortune? I think your theory is very selfish and shows the point of view the managers in opera houses do have. Not caring at all about the people who is doing the work and from where they get their stunning abilities! just using them and than throwing them away......No wonder opera is in such troubles!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael Volpe5 November 2014 at 14:04

    hmm, am I being double bluffed here?!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gelb and The Met

Having posted a piece that was kind to critics and thus risking opprobrium from all quarters, I suppose I ought to be wary of writing a piece that is sympathetic to the current opera demon, Peter Gelb.  Let us be clear, I don't know what the detailed financial situation at the Met is, I don't know how its budgets are split and allocated, I don't know how much they spend on sets and productions. I just read selective figures used negatively and that is always something we should be wary of.  What Gelb and the Met are going through is probably entirely unique in the opera world given the scale of economics involved and the accusations of mismanagement that are being thrown around are hard to reconcile with some of the realities; it is certainly true, for example, that Gelb has taken the Met's turnover from $222 million to over $300 million in eight years which doesn't immediately suggest mismanagement, but that is as glib and superficial an analysis as anything else I...
9 comments
Read more

Journalists: keep it simple!

An open letter to Eva Wiseman Dear Eva I read your recent piece on the Guardian website ("Is there anything worse than a man who cries") with mounting horror. I also noted the nearly 3,000 outraged comments below it and, I have to say, you brought it all upon yourself. I have no sympathy, but I am happy to help you by explaining where you went wrong. The most important thing to note - and Eva, this will stand you in good stead hitherto should you hold it in mind - this is 2015. Why is that relevant? Well, this isn't 1928, for example, when a book like "A Handbook on Hanging" by Charles Duff could be published and people "get it". And you're no Henry Root, love, let me tell you. And can you imagine what the world would say now if Clive James's line about that Chinese president "whose name sounds like a ricochet in a canyon" was published on Twitter? There would be bedlam. You can't possibly hope to get away with writing a piece t...
8 comments
Read more

My name is Jose Mourinho, and I'm not Special (at the moment)

.....The words that Jose Mourinho needs to utter to himself, the reality he has to face in order to change himself and the fortunes of his team. Such a recalibration of self-image won't be easy for a man who frequently embroiders his press conferences with 'I' and 'My' and references to his past achievements. He is a winner, not a loser and as such won't take easily to his new role, one that has to feature a cold-eyed acceptance that his magic, such as it is, has been diluted.  Mourinho is an egomaniac - not unlike many successful people - but he has an edge of narcissism that makes it difficult for him to see the success of his teams through any prism but his own greatness. When his club wins, "I" win. So when things are not as they should be, Jose takes it personally, as an affront to him, an insult, he is embarrassed. He'll take it out on players, make grand gestures by dropping his best, and he'll search for outside influences - excuses - ...
4 comments
Read more