Steven Schwartz wrote:

>...  Imagine, if you will, a season of Charlotte Church, Shania Twain,
>Andrea Boccelli, Celine Dion, and Elton John, all of whom would outdraw
>Beethoven or any other classical composer you'd care to name and whom you
>would book to maximize your bottom line, as any good business person would.

I would wonder if Beethoven, taken over the years, has not out drawn any
of the above.

>Furthermore, does an artistic entity simply confirm the prejudices of its
>audiences or does it take the occasional risk? It's not a question of
>educating the ignorant, but of introducing audiences to new, possibly
>life-long pleasures.

Or perhaps the more basic question as to what is the difference between
popular music and art music...with the success of popular music being how
popular it is?

 From my perspective, even if you take the art out of classical music and
view it in business terms, it seems to my that those in classical music
have yet to define their product and have yet to develop an approach to
marketing that is in keeping with the product.  While I am no student of
such things, it appears to me that those in the business of classical music
strive to increase market share using the marketing techniques of popular
music.

Karl