An article on Bloomberg about a recently founded for-profit orchestra really rubbed me the wrong way. It's a free advertisement masking as journalism, with absolutely no analysis or attempts to dig even slightly below the surface of its subjects.
At first glance it all sounds very exciting. In contrast to orchestras that survive thanks to arts grants and donations, all while struggling to retain their relevance in an exceedingly crowded entertainment market, here is an orchestra that is refreshingly run like a actual company, with stockholders and everything. And they plan to turn a profit right from the start!
How is it possible? You have to read between the lines to get even a semblance of how it will work. What do these people know that hundreds of top orchestras in the world have yet to figure out? The JNO will offer a subscription-style membership service and a premium membership tier to enhance the fan experience. That's a great way to bring in money, and is presented in the article as something remarkable and novel, but plenty of other orchestras also do that. The key, I believe, comes from this line: "...operating an orchestra is relatively simple because most of the expenditures are labor costs." So there you go, as much as they want to present themselves as fair employers paying out "millions of yen in annual remuneration depending on [the musicians'] contribution", the business model is simply to underpay the players compared to what they'd earn from a publicly funded orchestra.
Presumably the musicians' could also supplement their income through the one-on-one or group tutorials that the JNO will offer its subscribers. There may be some innovation there, but it could also be little more than a glorified Cameo for classical music fans. Either way, the JNO will be sure to take its cut out of every appearance.
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