Newseditor44

There are always contingency plans but this is the worst case scenario. I would not be surprised if multiple events, if not, the entire season is canceled. My sons senior band trip to Walt Disney World was just cancelled tonight, just two weeks prior to the trip. The kids have been saving up for this for two years and they’re heart broken. if DCI does have to cancel the season, I would hope they allow this years ageouts to have an additional year and March in 2021.

So I guess we can all breathe for another year.

Mike, I never said they don’t care about the activity. In fact, I believe just the opposite. But I do believe they are poised to move on, regardless of what a large portion of the fan base and alumni feel because they think the evolution of the activity is more important(As is revenue). And honestly, their reaction to this, especially by Ms. Black (in my opinion, respectfully) has been rather “if you don’t like it, tough. This is what we’re doing”. Businesses make tough decisions every day, and this was years in the making. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, it is what it is. But to say this will have little affect on the fan base and cause an immediate increase in the fan base is asinine.

Here’s the bottom line - for those of us not happy about this and threatening to leave, management doesn’t care. The writing is on the wall and they feel they need to evolve to continue. They’ll miss us for a brief moment, but won’t shed a tear or look in the rear view mirror because they feel this is the direction the activity is moving. To them this is a passing thing, just like adding concert brass instruments and electronics. To some of us, it’s the line in the sand that many of us drew 50 years ago and said “cross this, and we’re done”. THIS IS HUGE! Harsh reality, they don’t care nearly as much as you do, and they know you’ll be to replaced by new fans and members. Yeah it’s harsh, but it is what it is.

I’ve tired to keep a very open mind about this as it’s been unfolding over the past couple of weeks, and was interested in hearing Ms. Black’s comments yesterday on the video. I was grateful for her honest answers to some tough questions, but put off by her and Dan trying to temper things a bit. The revenue answer was not surprising, at least they’re upfront and honest about it. But I don’t think they did themselves any favors and might have made the situation worse. I spend about $15k on drum corps a year. Between going to shows and donations (the ladder being the largest part of that spend) and have done that for the better part of 15 years. My wife and I sat down to discuss this morning and have decided that we will discontinue our support of the activity should this pass and no longer attend shows, and cease with our volunteer obligations. This was a very personal decision for us and not done out of anger or meant to be disrespectful. We just feel that the mission statement and core values no longer reflect what we feel we’re the key tenants is this activity for many years, nor do we feel we can support the current leadership that is guiding the activity. This was a very personal decision for me and her. I’m a drum corps alumni, and I believe very much in the current model. I do believe we pushed the limitations on what drum corps should be, but have generally accepted that as long as things don’t go much further than they are now we would be OK. But after hearing Ms Black discuss revenues streams being the driving force behind the decision, and seeing very little regard for the historical and musical elements that have made this activity unique, it’s clear her values and the values shared by the current board of directors are out of touch with the alumni community. Respectfully, I feel it’s time to part ways - regardless of the outcome of today’s vote. One last note - I have three teenage boys, all brass players, all who were extremely interested in drum corps and wanting to march. After hearing about the potential rules changes and watching Ms Black’s interview, two of the three said they no longer have an interest and the third (the youngest) says he just doesn’t know (but he’s our sports kid and is probably lost to football and basketball anyway).

Good for Jim. I think this is a great move, he and Nancy have been spreading themselves thin trying to run the opps for the corps and manage the entire program. I think this will actually help Crown in the long run and allow them to bring someone in that can help with the day to day stuff.

A. It was 20 years ago. B. It was an attraction that they were actively promoting, not a movie, and the licensing was much less restrictive. I remember hearing that music all over the place. I also seem to recall that GH had some conversations with the composer as well. Every piece is different, but film scores at Disney are a much tougher get. There might also be exclusivities in the contracts that we don't know about. Bottom line: It's not impossible, but it's extremely unlikely, at least in the first year after a release.

This. All of this. And it's not the marketing people you would have to worry about. I worked for Disney (as a marketing professional) for about 10 years. For me to get access and use Disney related assets and collateral for company related marketing projects was a pain in the arse. The amount of permissions and red tape you had to crawl through was intense. But the real issues would be around licensing the music and their control over intellectual property. Based on previous experience, it is incredibly unlikely to happen.

I think at some point DCI needs to mandate when corps can begin spring training to somewhat level the playing field and look to cut costs. I would also be in favor of a shorter tour schedule, but I don't see either of these happening.

BINGO!!!

Yes you do, but that’s not going to stop it. Whether it happens this year or 10 years from now, it’s going to happen. Maybe it starts as part of the front ensemble and grows over the years, or we add an instrument at a time (like saxophones) I am absolutely certain it’s going to happen. And it will happen sooner rather than later. And I agree, it’s going to drive people away, just like electronics did (maybe a larger number of people) but it will also attract new fans and followers, including new band parents. So while you might think that threats of starting a mass exedos would curb the potential of bringing wood winds in, it won’t. Don’t think that this is something that DCI takes lightly either. They’ve studied it, understand the potential impact both financially and from a fan standpoint. They’ve researched it to death. They know how they’ll market it, they know the potential impacts bit positive and negative. A decision this big will have solid research behind it. And as much as a bunch of hardcore fans like us might. It like it, I predict the next generation of fans won’t be as opposed to it as we are.

The amount of rights hurdles they would have to go through to play that music the same years it’s released might not be worth the struggle. Plus, you’re dealing with Disney, who is extremely guarded with intellectual property, especially those pieces that have just been released and are actively being marketed (disclaimer: I used to work for Disney in marketing and have experience with this - it’s a great idea that would probably need to wait about 3 years)

They will, and it will stay that high moving forward. If travel sports can get away with charging that per season, so can DCI. >$1,000 tours are a thing of the past and will never happen again, at least for World Class tip 12 corps.

If the staff feels they need four, then they need four. It’s not unheard of in this day and age. Most corps have two front conductors, so it’s not unreasonable to have two more.

All of you that think Dan Acheson is driving this movement don’t understand the complexity of running an organization. While Dan has a role, I would argue that his is more fundraising and operations, with much less influence on the competition side. Friends, a majority of what we’re seeing from the competition side comes from the corps and the people that run them. It’s feedback from their creative teams, consultants, and vendors. These are the people working behind the scenes to influence the shape and direction of the activity for years to come. If you want to blame people for the addition of woodwinds, strings, and other changes happening to the activity you need to begin to focus on the Board of Directors and people within the corps that make these decisions from a competitive level. A majority of the reason that these decisions are being made cokes down to one thing... money. Designers are constantly trying to stretch the bounds and find new ways to design shows, and they see a benefit in working with vendors and consultants to help grow the activity. Vendors see the growth or marching band and will continue to push new instruments, sections, props, etc. Prop design and creation is now a multimillion dollar industry and they two have a seat at the table. More performers means more uniforms/costumes. And performers and parents are now accustomed to spending $5k-$10k per year on their experience. Bottom line, DCI and marching band have grown into a multimillion dollar train that is moving down the tracks at high speed. Woodwinds are definitely coming to drum corps and there is nothing that any of us can do about it. And I do not believe that a revolt is on the horizon either. It will be welcomed, there will be an adjustment period, and it will become the new norm. Fans will continue to go to shows, and there will be a new subset of fans who will be ushered into the Activity who will take the place of the people who leave the activity (which will be relatively small).

Based on what I’ve seen and heard, Crown is venturing into new waters this year, but not too far away from the concept of previous shows. The drum set fits with the direction of the show and at least two pieces of the source music. This will NOT be anything like Rach Star, but I can see where the comparison might be made. If anything, this show will follow the general direction of the past several seasons, however, I do think it will be much more fan friendly with some very recognizable and less than recognizable music. I don’t know all the details, but I think audiences will like this show. My hope for Crown in 2020 - please add more color to the field and if you’re going to use props, let’s spend a little on the design and development so they’re better integrated into the overall package.

Wow, no DCI Southwest Regional at the Alamo Dome, and no Florida or Columbia SC shows this season. Does it feel like the season is about a week shorter this season.

Unless I am mistaken, Jeff is still under contract with Carolina Crown. That would mean in order for him to take the job with the Cadets he would most likely have gotten permission from Crown to sign with the Cadets as a consultant for the upcoming year. Honestly, I think this means very little in terms of his involvement with Crown. In fact, I would go so far to say that having Jeff back in some capacity with the Cadets is not only good for the Cadets and Crown but drum corps in general.

Please refrain from talking about the season and how it sucks. Let’s focus on the corps staff changes. Thanks! *Sorry Mike, had to do it. 😘😎😂

I have been named head chef and Tuba instructor at INT. We are now a top 18, top 12 and top 6 corps.

File this under the category of people who like to complain just to hear themself complain. It's great that you're passionate about this issue, but personally I don't think you're going to see DCI make a move. If they do, good on them, just as long as they don't raise the price.

Alright Sparky, let's think about this logically.. I can tell you from being a position to have to book crews in my past life that a majority of that $500k budget is spent around the world championships week, its not distributed throughout the season equally. if you want to hire freelance Crews full time for eight weeks, that budget will probably quadruple. Add to the the cost to move the broadcast equipment around to satisfy your taste for a high level production. Network level production crews aren't cheap, and having them available for the same amount of shows they cover now would probably run you about $70k-$100k per day (with the production truck thrown in, just for ##### and giggles). Add to that travel costs, putting up your modest of freelance crew of about 20 professionals (who are ALL union workers). Other things to think about: You won't be able to hire a freelancer full time for an eight week run because you will be outbid by the networks, who often will hire their crews months in advance and can out pay you at the drop of a hat). You will need to hire a full time production company just to staff your events or hire a full time production coordinator at least two to three months in advance to make arrangements, hire crews, etc. You'll have to carry insurance for all of your broadcast entities and make sure they are fully covered (that can get pricey, especially when you're dealing with a $5 million dollar production truck). Did i mention it would be pretty expensive? Thinking that professional broadcast production people are going to be much better than the folks who work at Flo is a myth. They might be marginally better in terms of working the equipment, but most of the pro production crews that work champs are in the sports broadcast industry. Tom Blair does a massive amount of work to get most of the people prepared to cover the event. And it's a testament to his team he's assembled because many of them we're working champ[ionship week broadcasts back when I was with the crew in the late 90's and early 2000's. So, we can take the professional production route, spend a ton of money we don't have and bankrupt the sport... Or.... We an all stop whining and be grateful for the fact that for a nominal fee we get to watch live drum corps 12-15 times a year. Yeah, there are going to be a few hiccups, but it worked more than 95% of the time for me. While the transmission wasn't the best, I thought the production value was just right for what we paid for.

Correct.

Your first mistake was trying to attach a marketing slogan to a business model. It kinda works in reverse.