The Record Industry Sells Records

As a student of classical music in a distinguished and hyper competitive conservatory, I often find myself wondering, where the hell are these kids going to get the 100,000$ to pay off their graduate school loans.  I recently read that there are over 40,000 bachelors of music graduates a year.  Wikipedia currently has listed 178 functioning orchestras in the United States, many of whom do not have their own website let alone a separate wiki page.  In Canada, Wikipedia lists 28.  The most prominent and well known of those the CBC Radio Orchestra, which was just last year privately restructured as the “National Broadcast Orchestra.”  Out of those two hundred some odd orchestra’s maybe ten are hiring and even worse maybe three are in the black. 

What am I trying to say?

You may think to yourself, “yes, I get it nobody like classical music except for myself and my friends.  I have chosen a life-long career of disappointment, isolation, and poverty.  Thank you.”

It is exactly that perspective that most classical musicians are fixated upon which does nothing but further isolate classical music from the mainstream and create a toxic industry.  Yes, we are in an “R” word and music sales have plummeted due to the decline of product sales.  It is in times like these that musicians must fight for the ability to pursue their passion.  It is all too safe to settle in the comfort of a gated conservatory.  Classical music lazily hides behind the security of academia to preserve itself.  And although you, dear reader, may be responding, “I don’t care.  I like conservatory.  I want to teach.”  Ask yourself, was it really in an academic setting that first ignited your creative passion for music?  The real answer to the preservation of classical music then lies not within the sheltered walls of conservatory.  It is in the world where normal people are able to hear and enjoy the beauty of a Beethoven trio, or the solemnity of a Chopin Nocturne.  It is up to us as the newest generation of musicians to break free from the constraints imparted upon us.  We as musicians are naturally warriors, we rebel against social norms, we vie for gigs, and our strength and intensity in our battle for the preservation of classical music should be no different.