An orchestral audience : classical music and continued patterns of distinction

Crawford, G; Gosling, VK; Bagnall, G; Light, BA

Abstract

This paper considers the key findings of a yearlong collaborative research project focusing on the audience of the London Symphony Orchestra and their introduction of a new mobile telephone (‘app’) ticketing system. A mixed-method approach was employed, utilising focus groups and questionnaires with over 80 participants, to research a sample group of university students. This research develops our understanding of classical music audiences, and highlights the continued individualistic, middle-class, and exclusionary culture of classical music attendance and patterns of behaviours. The research also suggests that a mobile phone app does prove a useful mechanism for selling discounted tickets, but shows little indication of being a useful means of expanding this audience beyond its traditional demographic

Citation

Crawford, G., Gosling, V., Bagnall, G., & Light, B. (2014). An orchestral audience : classical music and continued patterns of distinction. Cultural Sociology, 8(4), 483-500. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975514541862

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jul 23, 2014
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jan 28, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Cultural Sociology
• Print ISSN: 1749-9755
• Electronic ISSN: 1749-9763
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 483-500
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975514541862
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1749975514541862
• Related Public URLs: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/journals/Journal201779