How Does DCI draw in a new fan base?

[HLDmello28]

One way is to have DCI sponsored marching band leadership camps that coexist with local shows (so the kids could attend a show and see it live). I know BOA has some marching band camps, but why not let drum corps get in on it. That, and expose drum corps to more marching bands throughout the country (not just in the midwest) at state marching festivals and whatnot. I've now worked with five different high schools in the last two years, and I would be lucky if 10% of them knew anything of drum corps.

The high school I went to every one of us knew about it, and plenty of us went on to march (a few in world championship corps), but more importantly, is that quite a few of us would make the trip to California, Arizona, or Utah to attend a shows (Las Vegas didn't have a show within a few hours).

[barigirl78]

I think that we all agree that we need to draw in a new fan base (and I don't mean different (i.e. a hip hop fan base), but I mean draw in younger audiences to enjoy the same art that the older audience enjoys)).

Why does it need a new fan base?

Why is there an attendance problem?

Answer that question honestly and you have the answer to the question.

Any marketer who is selling something that people aren't buying needs to look honestly at the product and admit the product may be the problem.

[JimF-LowBari]

Why does it need a new fan base?

Apparently I'm around the age of this poster so hope I can throw my .02 without it sounding like a flame. Personally I'd change "new fan base" to "add youger people to the fan base". Also sounds like what some Alumni-type orps are going thru. They need to get younger members without loosing what they already have. Or the city church I used to go to that is about 10 years from closing its doors. Just can't get enough new members to counteract the old ones who are leaving (mostly permanently). Went to some sessions on the church problem and amazing how much it parallels what DC is going thru.

Probably a topic for a new thread but DCI/DCA/all other corps groups also need to look at why people are not attending the shows and/or supporting the corps. We can discuss how to drag in new people but we need to understand why so many don't want to watch or participate. We can do all the freebie PR, Internet, MB interaction, etc we want but is a big problem is show prices (fer instance) it's not going help in the long run.

Edited June 26, 2012 by JimF-LowBari

[DCC]

There have been three answers along with one other idea that I think can be combined to answer this question.

1. Becoming more directly involved with Marching Band circuits.... All of them.

2. The Product

3. Woodwinds

4. The Experience

I doubt many old school drum corps fans are going to like to hear this, but the days of drum corps being obviously superior to marching band are over. Anyone that has been to a BOA regional or Finals can see that. I even see it in some of the local shows that I judge/go to in NJ/NY. These bands are equal to (or at least almost equal to) all but the top 3 or 4 corps year after year. Comparable design, comparable if not better performance level. My point is that drum corps used to be able to attract kids from marching band because they offered a unique challenge and performance level that they simply could not get at their marching band. It's tough to sell the kids something they already have.

DCI should combine efforts with BOA, USB, and as many local circuits as they can. Offer clinics and performances throughout the summer. Offer any current marching band member a steeply discounted Fan Network membership and then cater the content towards them. Give them a membership card that gets them into any DCI show for $10 and then invite them to hang with their favorite corps at the rehearsal before the show. Bottom line - Get the MB kids (your target demographic) directly involved with drum corps.

Woodwinds - it's a no-brainer. Any given band is made up of about 30-50% woodwind players. They are currently excluded for no good reason (at least not one that a 16 year old saxophonist will understand). Yes, some WW have learned another instrument and marched DC, but why put that significant roadblock in the way of 30 - 50% of your target demographic. Most WW players do not do this. It is the exception, not the norm.

The Experience - currently, the model is to fly to several preseason camps ($2000 - $3000), pay tour fees ($2000 - $4000). For this $4000 - $7000 investment, a kid gets to....

Fly on a plane/ride in a car for several hours for camps

Rehearse for 12 - 14 hours a day. Only 1/2 of these kids will get a spot.

Go to Spring Training - rehearse for 14 - 16 hours a day

Go on tour = 2/3 time is on a bus or a gym floor

Of the remaining 1/3, they get to rehearse 80%, eat in a parking lot 15%, perform/warm-up at shows 5%.

Priceless?

To an outsider, this is a really tough sell. There has to be a concerted effort to lower the cost of The Experience or the potential market will continue to be severely limited. There should also be an attempt to include other things in the 70% travel/sleep/eat, 25% rehearse, 5% perform breakdown. Some corps already do this, but DCI should find more Big Exposure performances for all the corps to do throughout the Summer (Pro-Sports, Major Arts Festivals, Anything on TV, etc. If each corps did two or three of these peripheral events, and they were made to be FUN, it would offer a little bit of variety to The Experience and might attract a wider group of kids to the activity.

The current model has been in place for about 30 - 40 years now. We know the results we are getting. The current model is not sustainable; in fact it’s a bit surprising that it is still functional. Significant changes have to be made. Growth = Survival. Stagnation = The opposite.

"As you all know first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired. Get the picture?" Blake (Glengarry Glen Ross)

[GUARDLING]

Why does it need a new fan base?

Why is there an attendance problem?

Answer that question honestly and you have the answer to the question.

Any marketer who is selling something that people aren't buying needs to look honestly at the product and admit the product may be the problem.

or how about know your target audience.I think at one point it may have spanded multi generations and to some degree it still does. Now as the generations age and change the majority of the people buying the product can shift and change......Its like the baby Boomers....marketers knew they were a large part of the buyers and catered to them as young people, then middle age tastes and now older.

Without attraction to a younger audience, members being attracted , there wont be an activity eventually. I am not saying ignore the older patron as thats where money is but also look at what you need for future patrons ( young people )

[MikeD]

One way is to have DCI sponsored marching band leadership camps that coexist with local shows (so the kids could attend a show and see it live). I know BOA has some marching band camps, but why not let drum corps get in on it. That, and expose drum corps to more marching bands throughout the country (not just in the midwest) at state marching festivals and whatnot. I've now worked with five different high schools in the last two years, and I would be lucky if 10% of them knew anything of drum corps.

In a way, that has been happening for quite few years to some degree. Various corps have had all-day marching band camps tied to an evening show. Some from the band I teach have gone to these types of events sponsored by The Cadets over the years.

There is also the Vivace marching band/leadership camp that is run at West Chester U each summer...there is a drum corps show tied int with that multi-day camp too. My daughter went three years in a row when she was in HS. We always require our DM's to attend, and secition leaders often go as well.

[skywhopper]

I don't think younger people or band kids can be the total focus. Yes, they are important, but DCI should be casting a wider net. People who would probably enjoy drum corps include anyone who enjoys spending time outside on summer evenings, anyone who enjoys competitions or sports, and anyone who enjoys music or other artistic performance. So find ways to reach people attending concerts, symphonies, operas, plays, musicals, baseball games, hockey games. Surely there are lots of money-starved regional symphonies, ballets, and theater companies who would be willing to find some way of cross promoting with DCI--include coupons for cheap tickets in the program.

Cross program the same music. Have the local symphony or community band perform a special 10-15 minute feature concert on the field featuring music the corps will be playing later in the show--that'll draw in symphony and band fans who might never have considered trying drum corps, and it will encourage attendees of the show to consider buying a symphony ticket (in fact, the symphony should have a spot in the merch area to do exactly that).

Minor league baseball games always have some featured group or performer before, during, or after a game. If there's a drum corps show near a town with a minor league team and at least one of the corps performing doesn't find a way to perform in some manner at a local game, someone is doing something wrong. Send the battery to play cadences for people outside the ticket gates if you can't send the whole corps. Anything.

[BRASSO]

In reference to drawing a new fan base...

I like your idea of a TWO division World Class format (Avarde Garde Division versus Traditional) which might be pretty cool. While I did NOT like the idea of A or AA league, this is a bit more interesting. I think in order for it to work at least in the beginning though is you would need to split the top 6 or 8 or even 12 in half and have half go to one division and the other half go to the other division.

Just an example...

Avarde Garde Division: BD , Crown, Bluecoats

Traditional Division: Phantom, SCV, Cadets

Corps could decide in the offseason which Division they intended to compete in too, and tell their future campers this too. Corps could switch divisions from one year to the next. For example, The Cadets might have opted for the Avard garde Division in the preseason year they were going to " The Zone "( 2005), and in preseason 2002 they might opt for the Traditional Division ( " American Revival " )themed show. More recently, ( for another example ) the Blue Knights of 2011 might opt for the Traditional Division and here in 2012, they could have opted to be judged in the Avard garde Division if they so desired, and so forth.

Edited June 26, 2012 by BRASSO

[Pit_Girl_77]

I have lots of friends who teach music (Me = Drum corps alumni/fan + science teacher), and I know at least a couple who have marched drum corps will do a day or a couple days of lessons on drum corps. The younger kids learn about the differnet instruments and the pitches (high/low), and the different types of drums, and they watch a couple shows. I know at least one teacher that also shows photos of herself and DCA videos to show that even "old people" can still make music. The kids eat it up---ones that think the Nutcraker was slow and boring see "The Machine" and think it is just about the coolest thing ever.

Anyway----what if someone made up some ready-to-use drum corps lessons for teachers? Maybe somthing that a subsitute could do with little to no prep, with video clips, powerpoint slides, SMARTBoard stuff, worksheets...just a random mix of some things that could be adapted for time and age group to showcase what drum corps is along with a teachable concept (Pitch, tone, instruments, tempo, etc.) that would generally fit in with any state standard (Not that most states have standards for music like they do for math and such, but a few do). The older kids could focus more on marching technique for places with a competitive program, or other general music things that a band director could pop up on a screen and have kids watch while she/he is doing a sectional with a smaller group, or for a fun lesson at the end of the school year when everything has been turned in for the summer.

This might also work to do something for PE classes, dance classes (Not so much in the Midwest, but in Texas all the high schools seemed to offer dance), etc. Teachers always need something for students with injuries or absenses or whatever to do to make up for not participating in exercise during class. Toss in some shots of the Marine Corps to reach the Jr. ROTC kids, or make some physicis of sound lessons (Speed of sound, phasing issues, how corps adjust on the field to compensate, etc.). Theatre arts classes could discuss how different stoylines are acted out with little/no words.

Have the lessons available for download on the web for anyone to use, and the word will spread because all teachers love free stuff that is ready to use and adapt for their classroom. Hopefully you would have kids all over the country (World?) seeing drum corps in their regular classes, and teachers seeing some educational value to DCI that they maybe did not make a connection with before. Even if you only get real interest from 1% of the kids that see it, it is a pretty cheap way to reach that 1% that would have otherwise had no idea drum corps existed.

[MikeD]

I don't think younger people or band kids can be the total focus. Yes, they are important, but DCI should be casting a wider net. People who would probably enjoy drum corps include anyone who enjoys spending time outside on summer evenings, anyone who enjoys competitions or sports, and anyone who enjoys music or other artistic performance. So find ways to reach people attending concerts, symphonies, operas, plays, musicals, baseball games, hockey games. Surely there are lots of money-starved regional symphonies, ballets, and theater companies who would be willing to find some way of cross promoting with DCI--include coupons for cheap tickets in the program.

Cross program the same music. Have the local symphony or community band perform a special 10-15 minute feature concert on the field featuring music the corps will be playing later in the show--that'll draw in symphony and band fans who might never have considered trying drum corps, and it will encourage attendees of the show to consider buying a symphony ticket (in fact, the symphony should have a spot in the merch area to do exactly that).

Those sound like pretty neat ideas!

Minor league baseball games always have some featured group or performer before, during, or after a game. If there's a drum corps show near a town with a minor league team and at least one of the corps performing doesn't find a way to perform in some manner at a local game, someone is doing something wrong. Send the battery to play cadences for people outside the ticket gates if you can't send the whole corps. Anything.

Either one of the corps that will nearby, the DCI organization, or the show sponsor might pick up on trying to get this to happen. Minor league games always seem to be on the lookout for ways to attract audience and get free entertainment (not to mention they always start games with the SSB and sometime also "America, the Beautiful"...a good spot for a corps to perform). Another good idea.