This week on The Diamond Mine, David is joined by the fabulous Kariné Poghosyan.

Kariné, a concert pianist in New York, like so many other artists, was suddenly cut off from her life playing to audiences and performing by COVID-19. Her solution was to create a series of performances from her apartment, streaming live every Friday night in what she has come to call her Mini Concerts.

An incredible artist and performer, and a truly warm and giving human being!

Key Takeaways:

• As a concert Pianist your whole life is about being on stage, and suddenly it's gone!
• The one thing that wasn't gone was the powerful desire play, to share
• It wasn't meant to be a series...
• It's not hitech, it's just an iphone - that's all you need!
• The value of artists as a business
• The artist is priceless, but the window into their world can have a price tag
• Wrap the value around what you offer, not yourself
• Before COVID, the idea of doing a live concert in front of people all over the world was too much
• Doing it pushed her to another level
• In the old days artists had benefactors to support them
• Patreon is a way to for the 'crowd' to be an artists benefactor
• Incredible value from $ to $10 per month
• Being paid for her art allows her to do her art (rent out concert halls, put on performances, etc)
• Somehow artists are supposed to survive without money, and often don't want to be seen as needing help
• Wants to demystify the journey of a classical musician
• An entire psychological reboot needs to take place
• We fear judgment, but people want to help
• The opportunity as an artist is to build super fans who support everything they do
• You can be creative about the option of performance, and wrap a high value ticket around that
• Until you try you don't know what people will pay
• Wrap the value around the experience, not you
• The control needs to be with the artist. It a change of paradigm from the old manager/promoter controlling everything
• Amanda Palmer as a role model
• Crowdsourcing taps into the super fans
  Francis Ford Coppola wanted complete artistic control, so had to control the money
• We have a brilliant opportunity today to bring people into our world as artists
• In the old days you had a small window to promote new releases, today releases are evergreen and be promoted for years on the internet.
• Don't just watch an artist's performance, share it and support them
• Going forward the possibility of regular private concerts for a fee
• What are the diamonds in your business you are ignoring
• Talking about it isn't enough, you have to do it!
• The classical world is slow to adapt