garfield Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 (edited) This is purely fictitious and does not represent any corp or director. As a show host I am constantly trying to find events for corps to do when in town for our show. A parade, a music festival, a performance at the State fair, etc. The exposure for the corps and activity, and possibly a profit-point for the show, make arranging extemporaneous performances very worthwhile and, in general, corps directors love to show off their corps and present the activity to an, otherwise, unknowing public. Yet, as a corps director, floor time and practice time are supremely important during the tour. Anything that takes away from those two potentially costs the corps in performance placement which, as a result, might compromise sponsor funding, equipment deals, or DCI payout. A "simple" parade say, from 10:00am until noon will cost the corps about 6 hours of practice/floor time when one considers the breakdown, feeding, dressing, performance, travel, and loading/unloading. A four-hour music festival performance schedule (imagine two performances during the four hours) could cost a corps a majority of their practice day and, potentially, some floor time for the MM's despite the exposure to a willing and interested audience base. I'd like opinions from two perspectives: first, from the director's point of view of what is best for his corps and its placement, and, from the show host's and fan's point of view. (Again, this is purely fictitious and not directed at any corps, director, or circumstance.) Edited October 1, 2014 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleran Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Can you add to this hyphothetical the projected $$$ income of participating in the parade or festival, if any? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 Can you add to this hyphothetical the projected $$$ income of participating in the parade or festival, if any? No, but you can. Is that a contingency to one position or the other? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 I get the benefits of both.BUT say practice 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I get the benefits of both.BUT say practice I agree; is there actually any hard market research that shows that these sort of performances actually lead to substantially new ticket or merchandise buyers? I suspect that thought is similar to the "DCI on TV = exposure to millions of more people" when in fact it didn't necessarily correlate in ticket sales. It's possible new people would discover drum corps through this type of event, and there might be anecdotal stories that back that up; but largely I suspect it would be a nice PR move, and maybe a fun day for the corps (if the members could wonder the fair after their gig) but not the most beneficial in the long run. Unless the corps was getting paid a substantial amount to make it worth their while. FWIW it seems as if may corps have stopped participating in I&E because it takes up rehearsal time, so it seems that is a pretty clear message that short of some sort of substantial compensation of some sort (doing gigs as directed by a manufacturer who sponsors them, doing a gig to get free housing or something, financial payment, etc) corps might not be inclined to do this sort of thing. When I was teaching a small Div. 3 corps who could use the extra exposure, performance opportunities, and/or pay the corps would jump at stuff like this; I guess it depends on how stable/viable a corps is (i.e. do they need to do something like this or not) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 (edited) I agree; is there actually any hard market research that shows that these sort of performances actually lead to substantially new ticket or merchandise buyers? I suspect that thought is similar to the "DCI on TV = exposure to millions of more people" when in fact it didn't necessarily correlate in ticket sales. It's possible new people would discover drum corps through this type of event, and there might be anecdotal stories that back that up; but largely I suspect it would be a nice PR move, and maybe a fun day for the corps (if the members could wonder the fair after their gig) but not the most beneficial in the long run. Unless the corps was getting paid a substantial amount to make it worth their while. FWIW it seems as if may corps have stopped participating in I&E because it takes up rehearsal time, so it seems that is a pretty clear message that short of some sort of substantial compensation of some sort (doing gigs as directed by a manufacturer who sponsors them, doing a gig to get free housing or something, financial payment, etc) corps might not be inclined to do this sort of thing. When I was teaching a small Div. 3 corps who could use the extra exposure, performance opportunities, and/or pay the corps would jump at stuff like this; I guess it depends on how stable/viable a corps is (i.e. do they need to do something like this or not) This is the key. Come up with the right appearance fee and most corps will make time for an event. The other exception that comes to mind would be local (to the corps home office) events where the investment in "community good will" would be worth the tradeoff. Edited October 2, 2014 by corpsband Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 This is the key. Come up with the right appearance fee and most corps will make time for an event. The other exception that comes to mind would be local (to the corps home office) events where the investment in "community good will" would be worth the tradeoff. what he said. it's gotta pay enough to justify it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 It's gotta pay enough to justify it. Anybody have thoughts on how much that is? How much is the corps making by practicing for six hours? Which means: how much better will it make them, and what will that mean for them in terms of (a) eventual payout from DCI based on their average historical placement (which is rumored to be the way that corps are compensated) and (b) appreciation from fans that drives membership/camp fees, merchandise sales, and donations? Have corps directors actually done this math? "Every day of practice equal X dollars earned in the long run?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleran Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 As someone who thinks the entire DCI circuit is too geared towards the competitive side anyway, as opposed to the entertainment side, I say do it (within reason - I would not necessarily agree to do so ever stop of the tour). However, one concern would be: you indicated these are "events for corps to do when in town for our show" ... are these events themselves gong to cannibalize attendance at the show? ["Hey, I just saw them there bands at the state fair this morning for free ... why should I go pay to hear them tonight?"] I'd also like to select the events based upon type and variety, so as to offer the members a little experience of the places they visited. Parades can be a bit redundant, but a State Fair one time, or a big athletic event or something ... I think those are worth it to the members. Traveling all across the country isn't as fun if the only thing you see on that trip is highways, gym floors, and football fields. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 (edited) As someone who thinks the entire DCI circuit is too geared towards the competitive side anyway, as opposed to the entertainment side, I say do it (within reason - I would not necessarily agree to do so ever stop of the tour). However, one concern would be: you indicated these are "events for corps to do when in town for our show" ... are these events themselves gong to cannibalize attendance at the show? ["Hey, I just saw them there bands at the state fair this morning for free ... why should I go pay to hear them tonight?"] I'd also like to select the events based upon type and variety, so as to offer the members a little experience of the places they visited. Parades can be a bit redundant, but a State Fair one time, or a big athletic event or something ... I think those are worth it to the members. Traveling all across the country isn't as fun if the only thing you see on that trip is highways, gym floors, and football fields. Highways, gym floors and football fields IS what drum corps is about ( and all that goes with that ) and always has been. Remember it is a competition , and unless the very fiber of the activity changes ( and surely it can )competition is about competing . Edited October 2, 2014 by GUARDLING Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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