The modern perception of "the brand" of the stereotypical classical symphony, with formal attire for performers and audience, completely silent audiences, etc, is the biggest reason that symphony attendance has been on a long, continual decline. It makes middle-class types who might otherwise like the music but don't want to get looked down on by snobs like Mr. Branch himself go elsewhere for their entertainment.
Compare, for example, to the popularity of musicals. They operate under the same basic "spend a lot of money to sit your butt in a seat for two hours and listen to musicians perform" principle, but many musicals have intentionally aimed themselves at all kinds of audiences, like politically-conscious artists (Rent), middle-class white girls (Wicked), families with children (Lion King), twentysomethings worried about their futures (Avenue Q), people who are into furries (Cats), etc.
Your note about the brand is so true that even their self-awareness lacks self-awareness, such as this note from the SF Symphony first-timer's guide:
6. What should I wear to a San Francisco Symphony concert?
Contrary to what many people think, formal attire—such as tuxedos and evening gowns—is not required at Symphony concerts. In fact, most people only wear formal clothing to our Opening Gala. At our other concerts, most concertgoers wear business or cocktail attire.
It is really the other way around at other places. The orchestra in my town (my old employer before tinnitus ended my carreer) has a big image of the solo clarinettist in a quite out-doorsy clothing saying something about how you should come as you are and ignore the fact that the whole orchestra looks like penguins.
And in my city they’ve started live-streaming the operas and concerts to big video walls in multiple squares around the city, most of which in low-income areas.
Eh... As a moderately frequent concertgoer, I don't recognise much of this. Possibly regionally specific, but in London, a ticket to a big-ticket repertoire symphony with the LSO or whatever can be had for about £10, and a pretty nice seat for £25-30, which is about what I paid to see Nile and Suffocation, surely more niche than Mahler, and probably half what you need to see a big pop act. (Opera is eye-gougingly expensive, though.) The orchestra dresses formally, the audience doesn't (unless they want to). Silence between movements is observed, however, which sort of freaks me out.
I'm ambivalent about the video game music thing, simply because what works in one setting doesn't necessarily work in another. A game score's primary virtue is to withstand repetition and respond to non-deterministic events (which may be a more interesting way to approach a VGM concert than just a tour of Final Fantasy's 'greatest hits' or whatever; certainly there are precedents in the post-war avant garde for that kind of thing). A symphony proper is designed ground-up for the sort of setting in which you are likely to hear it - an acoustically-tuned concert hall, with a highly-trained band of musicians extracting every bit of dynamic range and expressive potential out of their instruments. There's nothing quite like it when it works (there is also nothing quite like, since I've mentioned it, death metal, or techno, or ...)
The problem with 'high-culture' institutions going for populism is that it can be done in a really shallow, instrumentalist way: the VGM concert as the loss leader for Schoenberg frankly isn't going to do any favours to the VGM. It has to be treated seriously, or it won't even be fun - not used as a gateway drug for what the orchestra/concert hall really wants you to listen to.
I agree. A few years ago I attended a performance of Dvorak's 9th in Dolores Park and it was fantastic. People came out in droves, set up picnics, played frisbee, and had a great time. We need more like that: more clapping, more cheering, more t-shirts and sneakers — none of this stuffy suit-and-tie nonsense. Take a page from jazz, rock, or — really — any other form of popular music. There's certainly room for more focused, intense music appreciation, but that shouldn't be the default; most people don't engage with music like that.
Perhaps, or perhaps the people who go to the symphony do so because they enjoy the snobby atmosphere and wouldn't go if the concert hall looked like a Southwest flight.
Meanwhile the Southwest flight people won't go to the symphony either, because they don't care. Unless, of course, it's video game music.
Compare, for example, to the popularity of musicals. They operate under the same basic "spend a lot of money to sit your butt in a seat for two hours and listen to musicians perform" principle, but many musicals have intentionally aimed themselves at all kinds of audiences, like politically-conscious artists (Rent), middle-class white girls (Wicked), families with children (Lion King), twentysomethings worried about their futures (Avenue Q), people who are into furries (Cats), etc.