Artist Managers: Bringing modern marketing to classical music

With a name that could have been custom-made for the singing career he once hankered after, Nicholas Boyd-Vaughan has instead chosen to opt for professional roles, offering support to performers rather than joining them on the concert platform. As communications and marketing director at the Intermusica office, his focus is on ensuring each of the company’s artists enjoys the benefits of an effective media profile. Now, in addition, Intermusica’s new Amplify initiative is offering another level of bespoke marketing to those on the roster — possibly the first paid-for package of its kind to be provided by an artist management.

Boyd-Vaughan trained as a singer at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, but swiftly found the idea of operating behind-the-scenes more attractive than the life of an itinerant performer. Before arriving at Intermusica he held positions at the Royal Opera House, ISM, National Opera Studio and St Martin-in-the-Fields, where he found himself adjusting the nuts and bolts required to hold together a programme of some four hundred concerts a year.

Everywhere he’s gone, Boyd-Vaughan has developed promotional skills exploring the breadth of digital possibility, to the extent that he’s currently a visiting lecturer in marketing at Middlesex University. Never mind the fact that the digital domain now seems almost over-familiar to us all, he reckons that ‘the classical music industry needs to adopt even more of a sense of contemporary thinking… a better feeling for how the market place has shifted in recent times. Some may not like the idea, but I believe it’s important to look at how big international brands like Coca-Cola and Apple are doing their marketing and learn from their example. I absolutely believe that. So much of modern marketing exists within the digital landscape… and you can get a lot more for your money in that environment than employing other forms of marketing.’

According to Intermusica founder and chief executive, Stephen Lumsden, Amplify fits with the company’s track-record of cutting-edge activity. Looking back over his company’s 41-year history, he sees it as having always sought to be ‘a catalyst and energiser. Our marketing offer has received major international awards including Webby and Pixel Awards in 2016. We’re continually evaluating the role of the artist manager and helping to shape the development of the industry through innovation, expertise…and our passion for music.’

Amplify builds on the commitment to a range of marketing strategies applying to all Intermusica artists as a simple matter of modern management. Something under constant evaluation, says Boyd-Vaughan. Amplify, meanwhile, is priced at ‘a fee below that which artists would pay if they had to look for marketing expertise outside Intermusica. Part of the exercise has been to assess where the gaps exist in what’s available to artists while also recognising what PR/marketing responsibilities will always rest with interested parties — venues, festivals, record companies and so on.’

The à la carte range of individual elements covered by Amplify embraces such areas as managing websites, video, graphic design, wiki pages, photography, social media… and overall digital strategy, which includes covering issues relating to digital piracy. ‘Removing the necessity to engage independent consultants cuts out the need for the artist to spend time managing such relationships,’ Boyd-Vaughan observes. ‘And our involvement means artists don’t have to be thinking all the time whether they’ve posted enough on Twitter or need to update their websites.

‘The beauty of a digital strategy, if it’s set up correctly, is that you can constantly monitor its effectiveness and adapt things where necessary to be more effective. All in all, the artist management is perfectly positioned to handle all these marketing elements from the inside — for one thing, we’re used to keeping a close track on what’s in artists’ diaries and which engagements offer marketing/PR opportunities.’

Amplify isn’t being given the hard-sell to Intermusica’s musician clients, just presented as an offer alongside the process whereby they work with individual managers to identify which services could be of benefit. There’s no expectation that the service will be a major source of income in itself, but if it can be shown to produce results in terms of engagements then it will pay its way. The take-up among artists thus far? It’s early days, says Boyd-Vaughan, but the signs are promising. As to initial evidence of the effectiveness of this approach, he cites the example of an early trial exercise. ‘We moved a prominent conductor’s Wikipedia page onto a new template, as well as updating the content and making sure the page was appearing in all the right places. Over the six months since that work was completed, the page has seen a 79% increase in views in comparison to the previous year. This is just one of the products where we know there can be an enormous positive impact.’

As things stand, Boyd-Vaughan is handling Amplify with the assistance of one other member of staff, Matthew Beale. As things develop, the expectation is that vetted, trusted and trained freelancers will share the load, ‘with every care taken to ensure that every artist enjoys the same level of expertise and approach. If at any point we feel we don’t have the necessary skills to meet a particular need, then we’ll offer every help to the artist in securing that assistance elsewhere.’

So, is all this appropriate just to switched-on artists of the younger/emerging generation? Absolutely not, insists Boyd-Vaughan. ‘We can work with anyone, regardless of age or experience. There are many well-established performers who have a media presence, who understand its importance, but see the need to extend and develop that presence. Even they have to be thinking of how what they do now affects where they’ll be in ten or fifteen years’ time.’

This assuredly won’t be the last bit of forward-thinking enterprise to emanate from the Intermusica crucible. Says Stephen Lumsden: ‘It’s always, “What more can we do to help artists reach their full potential, their creative heights, their visions and goals?” Helping to answer that question is at the heart of Amplify.’