The baby boomers are getting older. Look at this graph in lurid default Excel type colors. See how those big baby-boomer bulges push up-and-up? Well, that means that in a few years (as everyone knows from hearing everyone complain about how the social security system is gonna fall apart with the load) there is going to be a much bigger chunk of the population above the age of 60 or so. I wonder if this is going to affect the popularity and cultural awareness of classical music.
Apparently (judging by, for example rockcritics and Alex Ross) the average age of an classical concert attendee is about 50 years old. this means that – as everyone already suspects coz classical music is supposedly for old farts, right? – classical music is something that old people get into. It’s something which people seem to appreciate later in life because they are older and wiser. Err, right?
Well, if there are more old people, and old people tend to like classical music, doesn’t that sort of imply that there will be more classical music listeners in ten years? Perhaps it’ll boost concert attendance and then the orchestras will have more money to spend and then finally, with all that money someone will work out how to market to a younger audience.
Yuck. There’s something perverse about grabbing at marketing straws through the gills of an aging audience. It’s horrible to think that something you love so much should need to be marketed to appeal to others. It’s true though, even if it is uncomfortable. I suppose that in a way this is why I started this site in the first place. Every time we tell someone we enjoy a particular something it’s a form of marketing. Sort of.
