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A Very candid interview with Dan Acheson


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Jeff said this: "a few years ago, a corps wanted to do a tune that had several rights holders. All but one of the holders signed off.....the problem is they couldn't find the last one to sign! No legal address or phone number, and the other holders had no clue. So boom."

My guess is that Jeff was referring to the corps wanting to get the rights to arrange and perform the piece, based on the above. DCI is the party who would be acquiring the synch rights, long after the corps has paid for the arrange/perform rights.

Correct. I'm still guessing that that corps went ahead anyway with the tune. The marching arts has a long history of "no one will notice, so who cares?" when it comes to paying for rights. Or "nothing is going to get in the way of my vision" or "there is no other piece in the whole history of music that could work for this show, rights or no rights", etc.

Again, part of the DVD/Blu-ray mess (not all, but part) rests with any designer that doesn't care about sync rights, and only about points (IMHO). In some cases they seem to be choosing music/samples that won't be able to be on the DVD/Blu-ray, and they know that and are ok with that. So, in those cases, they share some of the blame, no matter how "evil" Tresona may be. Yes, I get that the rights issues are complicated and that holders can yank rights last minute, but we shouldn't put all the blame on rights holders changing their minds at the last minute, since that seems to be the exception and not the rule.

If a designer like this is in it for the points only and doesn't really care about the media (that can help grow the activity), then that person is also to blame.

Edited by Quad Aces
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If a designer like this is in it for the points only and doesn't really care about the media (that can help grow the activity), then that person is also to blame.

I keep thinking the flip side of this, though, is that DCI has the numbers. Maybe media sales, in their analysis, haven't made a difference to their recruitment, retention and attendance numbers. That would certainly explain the new "live performances are the only thing that matters" attitude.

Something else to think about - if DCI is no longer in the historical media business, would individual corps push to have the rights to their DCI performances returned to them? This was a big issue during the G7 discussions, and a strong point in DCI's favor.

Mike

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LOL, sorry. I misread your post. I thought you were saying Dan said on-demand playback is gone, and he didn't say that--he just said not now. But I have to agree, the product line he and DCI are least likely to offer in the foreseeable future is the past archives because of the adverse ratio between the time and cost required to acquire those rights and the number of people who are willing to pay to see it. I know we have some very vocal forum members here who want it very much. It's probably not practical for DCI to do, as Dan seems to be saying.

You're probably right. I just have a certain aversion to erasing history of any kind.

Edited by HornTeacher
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French Lake or French Lick? French Lick resort is a bit south of Indy and would make more sense.

I'm guessing they were at the French Lick resort, since Bill Cook provided the money and muscle for the renovation of the historic hotel and resort a few years ago.

From the resort's website: "It wasn’t until 2005 when French Lick Springs Hotel was purchased by COOK Group, Inc. The COOK Group, a global medical device manufacturing company, headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, that stepped in to preserve both French Lick Springs Hotel and West Baden Springs Hotel. Under the direction of Bill, Gayle and their son, Carl Cook, both hotels and their grounds received a multi-million dollar renovation returning them to the grandeur of the days of Taggart and uniting them as one resort."

Edited by oldsoprano
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One blank on past offerings finally heard back from a rights holder years afterwards. "oh hey, we missed this...do you still need it?"

I also know of this happening in theatre, where an organization wanted to use a particular recording as incidental music in a play, sent off the request, and didn't get a response until several months after the play had closed.

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What would it take to partner with Tresona and get all of this taken care of? Would it be so expensive that it wouldn't make any business sense? Is DCI being that stubborn that they want to do this by themselves, and it is taking way longer and costing way more money in the long run than if they just became a client of Tresona? Seems to me that if it is relatively reasonable price-wise, maybe doing the deal would keep everyone happy and allow DCI to move on to bigger and better things, no?

Bands of America has partnered with Tresona (who was one of the many "sponsors" handing the participation awards after Grand National Prelims this year), but there are still not going to be any DVDs of BoA shows.

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Bands of America has partnered with Tresona (who was one of the many "sponsors" handing the participation awards after Grand National Prelims this year), but there are still not going to be any DVDs of BoA shows.

That's true, I didn't think of that. So what does being a partner with Tresona do for BOA then?

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If Tresona was a sponsor, that meant that money flowed from Tresona to BOA, in return for publicity/association with a feel-good event. BOA got money to help put on its event, and Tresona got visibility and some of the warm/fuzzies associated with happy young people doing things they love doing.

Good point. So I guess the question then should be why doesn't DCI become a CLIENT of Tresona? Wouldn't that keep everyone happy (assuming it wouldn't be ridiculously expensive)?

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Money has a way of solving legal disputes, yes. The question always is: How much money?

But your suggestion doesn't really move the needle:

  1. Tresona is in business to make money.
  2. One of the ways it makes money is to collect license fees from performers, e.g. DCI, who want to use music Tresona either owns or represents.
  3. Tresona keeps composers happy by keeping the money coming.
  4. Tresona keeps performers happy by eliminating legal obstacles.
  5. In this way, both composers (No. 4) and performers (No. 5) are "clients" of Tresona. Tresona needs to keep both sides of its business equation happy.
  6. If what you're suggesting is that DCI pay Tresona money to make all the hassles of licensing go away, well, that's the whole point of No. 2. And we're back to where we are now.
Edited by 2muchcoffeeman
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