Crowdsourcing: Orchestra Websites

[chronolith]

I am looking for input about orchestra websites around the world:

What do you like to see on a orchestra websites?
What do you hate about them?
What mistakes do many orchestras make?
How can they do better?
Who is doing it better than everyone else?
Privacy concerns?
Media (audio/video)?
Social Media?
Pet peeves?
Lessons learned?

So what turns you on and off about orchestra websites, both as a musician and as a concertgoer? All opinions are solicited and welcome.

Thanks!

[Tom]

Most orchestra websites suck. There, I said it.

In my opinion the #1 thing they should have, easy to find straight from the home page: easy to find concert calendar with easy to find links to who's conducting, who the soloist is, and what's on the program.

Many orchestra websites make it too hard to find the important stuff and their sites are too hard to navigate (having to wade through page after page of menus or series sponsorship pages to find real info sucks), lack to important info (again, see #1). Sometimes they get too carried away and form overtakes function: site with "high design" and limited usability seem to be all the rage these days...why? My favorite feature is when I can see a "season at a glance" page that shows me ALL conductors, ALL rep, ALL artists, ALL concert dates, etc., in just one click.

The biggest pet peeve these days would be sites that are flash-content heavy because they are not i-device friendly. If you're going to use a ton of flash, either have a separate mobile site with all the important stuff on it, or make sure that i-device users aren't left unable to navigate your site by giving them a non-flash option.

[chronolith]

I agree Tom. It's actually the reason for the post. I designed my orchestra's website and I am trying to make sure I avoid the pitfalls that others have experienced.

[bort]

In general, I think it's annoying when audio or video automatically loads and starts playing. I also dislike when it's hard to find the roster of musicians. There's usually a link called "members"... sometimes it means "here is a list of the musicians in the orchestra" and sometimes it means "this is the part of the website for members only, please log in."

[tofu]

I want to know:

Concert calendar, program, ticket prices and availability - plus where parking is available and cost to park. Smart orchestras work out deals with local garages to give discounted parking to concert goers. That's it. I hate these sites that take forever to load even with a high speed connection and make it so difficult to find tickets and prices. Make the sale process easy, quick and no hassle.

All the HD pictures, graphics, videos , popups etc are a waste of my time. I believe most of the sites are devised by people interested in creating something fancy/artsy and have no real understanding of the sales process or marketing. Waste my time and I will leave sites and consequently not buy any tickets. I'm not at the site for educational purposes - I'm there to find and buy tickets. People looking at the music organization website aren't there to be educated.

[bort]

All the HD pictures, graphics, videos , popups etc are a waste of my time. I believe most of the sites are devised by people interested in creating something fancy/artsy and have no real understanding of the sales process or marketing. Waste my time and I will leave sites and consequently not buy any tickets. I'm not at the site for educational purposes - I'm there to find and buy tickets. People looking at the music organization website aren't there to be educated.

If I'm there to buy tickets, then maybe... but if it's a group far from home that I just want to explore (maybe the Berlin Philharmonic?), then I'd love to see all of the media possible.

[Tom]

In general, I think it's annoying when audio or video automatically loads and starts playing. I also dislike when it's hard to find the roster of musicians. There's usually a link called "members"... sometimes it means "here is a list of the musicians in the orchestra" and sometimes it means "this is the part of the website for members only, please log in."

+1 on all of that.

Regarding ease of purchasing tickets (mentioned in other posts), that is absolutely important. In my opinion, EVERY concert detail page should provide a link for me to purchase tickets online. Bonus points for websites giving me to option of how I want to receive my tickets: mail, held at will-call, or print-at-home.

Anything else that makes the patron experience better (like parking details) helps, too.

[tofu]

All the HD pictures, graphics, videos , popups etc are a waste of my time. I believe most of the sites are devised by people interested in creating something fancy/artsy and have no real understanding of the sales process or marketing. Waste my time and I will leave sites and consequently not buy any tickets. I'm not at the site for educational purposes - I'm there to find and buy tickets. People looking at the music organization website aren't there to be educated.

If I'm there to buy tickets, then maybe... but if it's a group far from home that I just want to explore (maybe the Berlin Philharmonic?), then I'd love to see all of the media possible.

But too many times you have to wade through all that media crap just to buy a ticket. It's like the old thinking at grocery stores to make you wade through all the crap in the store when you just want to buy milk for your kids and a loaf of bread. Stores that do that no longer get my business. Bort wandering around the Berlin Phil website just for grins doesn't put any dollars into that organization. The chances of hordes of people from NYC showing up in mass on a regular basis to hear a concert in a paying seat in Berlin are NIL. Their primary mission should be first and foremost to put Paying Butts In Seats (PBIS) in their auditorium and not to entertain internet non-paying explorers. Chances are that 95% or more of any orchestra's paying patrons come from within 25-40 miles or less of the hall. Every orchestra should keep how to facilitate PBIS in every decision made across the organization including website design.

[bort]

Well, I don't doubt that it would be annoying to have to get past all of the "stuff" just to buy tickets. I haven't had that experience myself with orchestra Web sites, but again, I don't doubt that it's there.

Good websites (and good design in general) are expensive. I guess it's just another example of "good, cheap, fast... pick 2."

[bort]

Oh, and though it's only tangential to the subject, I did think it was pretty awesome a few years ago when I went to Germany, that I could buy my tickets online at home and just show up with my printout ticket in Berlin.

[Mark]

But too many times you have to wade through all that media crap just to buy a ticket. It's like the old thinking at grocery stores to make you wade through all the crap in the store when you just want to buy milk for your kids and a loaf of bread. Stores that do that no longer get my business. Bort wandering around the Berlin Phil website just for grins doesn't put any dollars into that organization. The chances of hordes of people from NYC showing up in mass on a regular basis to hear a concert in a paying seat in Berlin are NIL. Their primary mission should be first and foremost to put Paying Butts In Seats (PBIS) in their auditorium and not to entertain internet non-paying explorers. Chances are that 95% or more of any orchestra's paying patrons come from within 25-40 miles or less of the hall. Every orchestra should keep how to facilitate PBIS in every decision made across the organization including website design.

I don't know; but I suspect that the Berlin Philharmonic makes more money from their online viewers than PBIS.