More Choice, Smaller Audiences?

There is more choice for classical music in Scotland than ever before. “Things have changed dramatically. For a start, more people are actually listening to classical music, thanks largely to the populist phenomenon of Classic FM. The radio station that rams lollipops down your lughole with the systematic Pavlovian persuasiveness of Radio 1 may chop up the classics into snippets that match the diminishing concentration span of today’s average listener – and may be driven by blatant commercial forces such as one-sided Faustian contracts with artists and recording companies – but it has had the astonishing effect of shaking up BBC’s Radio 3.” One problem thoug – many of the live concerts don’t sell many tickets, and that’s because…