perc2100

My rookie year of 'world class' drum corps in 1997 we had 36 shows (including Finals week); we had slightly less my age-out year the following year since we went all the way from Bristol, RI to Denver, CO (obviously not overnight, but over the course of the summer we toured a lot). My corps isn't around anymore, but just randomly: Madison Scouts 1996 38 shows; 2006 33 shows; 2016 29 shows; 2025 21 shows (those all include however many times they performed Finals week) Cavaliers 1996 34 shows; 2006 33 shows; 2016 32 shows; 2025 20 shows BAC 1996 26 shows; 2006 32 shows; 2016 30 shows; 2025 22 scores

In 1999 Kiwanis Kavaliers went from Montreal to Bristol, RI 'overnight' (595 miles according to google maps)

We had stuff like "I'm tired of you ticking the last few weeks" as the snare tech hands the rookie snare drummer their laundry & money to do their laundry (and to be fair, in those instances, that was 1. never me 😏 2. he gave more than enough money for whomever got stuck doing their laundry so they had some fun spending money while doing their laundry)

Looking at your bio, I have to imagine that rookie talent nights involving senior corps could be absolutely WILD 😐🤪

Probably at least another couple months when corps are starting to play more of their show music at camps and "insiders" start hearing the goods

I feel like if we're being honest, the fact that DCI and most of its member corps continue to exist post-COVID feels like a minor miracle; the fact that we've had 50 years of DCI feels like a substantial miracle. A lot of the problems you mention above are not brand new to 2026, or 2020, or 2010, or even 2000 but DCI and most have still found ways to sustain, one way or another. It's hard to run a business, and my mom who spent a large part of her career in business banking working with businesses both large and small (and even a drum corps for a short time) will tell you that most businesses fail sooner than later; roughly 50% of businesses fail by year 5, with only about 35% of businesses surviving past the 10th year! Corps like Madison Scouts, Cavaliers, SCV and all of the others that have been around over 50 years seems incredible in that regard

When it comes to audio recordings, standard practice, I thought, was $0.09.1 per CD ONE THINKS would sell (so, like, if Bluecoats think they'll sell 1000 copies of a recording that's $91). I wonder what the case would be for drum corps to individually at least sell recordings of their shows: or if that's even how it works with arrangements that would essentially be mashups of multiple different rights holders' music. If it's as simple at the .091 cents per, with Boston Crusaders having 9 different shows that's 82 cents per recording sold for just BAC's fees. 1) would people actually want audio recordings ONLY of corps shows? 2) would people who want audio only recordings pay, say, $5 per corps' show? Do modern shows stand on their own as audio recordings like they used to, or is the music/soundscape so enjoined with the visual component audio recordings wouldn't be good enough for modern fans? Obviously I don't know the legalities of selling audio recordings for stuff like this (though as a pro musician BITD I'm intimately aware of the legalities of recording/selling cover songs; also as a HS band teacher I'm well aware of the costs of getting rights cleared to arrange/perform but we don't sell recordings of marching band shows & I've never dealt with that), so maybe there's a bigger component/financial obligation I don't know about. But I'd think selling just audio recordings would be much easier to accomplish than full videos nowadays.

Dang; that headline saying "Labor Controversy" feels wildly misguided. From the article: The stunning news came after the employees’ union, the United Auto Workers, had a meeting with the company about a new contract. “It started immediately. We usually started with introductions and they let us know immediately that we would not be negotiating and that they would be shutting the facility down, so we didn’t even have a chance to get into negotiations,” said UAW Local 2359 President Robert Hines. This doesn't sound like 'labor controversy' so much as 'sheer greed on the company ownership's part.'

DCI wants to control shows, there are less corps than there used to be thus less corps available for show, it's harder to get housing so some viable show sights might've been discarded because of lack of corps housing, it seems corps are content having more rehearsal days/fewer shows nowadays than they did a few decades ago, etc.

Seriously shocked this is still a thing in the internet and iPhone era. I would think there could be safe, not-offensive rookie talent nights that could still be had that's fun for all, without running into massive trouble. Anyone in this era that still pushes that stuff deserves all the crap they get from upset parties IMO

Grew up in Central OH, and that term was (affectionately) used there by grumpy dads and teenagers/college kids alike 🤪

Absolutely, and I _hate_ I don't have this CD/digital collection; every year I think I do, only to check and remember "oh right, I didn't get those in 1993 even though I got the other Finals CDs" 😑

I recognize, say, potentially in 20 years in a post-DCI world, Cavaliers having a WGI guard, percussion and winds group that might be mostly locals with some folks who perhaps move to Rosemont for the season to compete. In the 1990's it was not uncommon for the top drum corps to have kids uproot in January to move to a location for five months before corps move ins, with members getting jobs or transferring to local schools while rehearsing regularly in subsectionals or sectionals. IMO in a perfect world obviously mostly localized members would make these groups work; I marched in an Independent World medalist/consistent finalist percussion group in the late 1990's that was a good 6-7 hour drive one way for me where the group rehearsed a few times a month and I'd often meet them for WGI regionals. There are plenty of possibilities of scheduling and whatnot so I don't want to definitively 'envision' a specific model or not. I just think WGI groups can be FAR more financially viable than DCI, and I think that will be a more likely future in 2045 than DCI summer touring as it is now

IDK, I think "DCI is eliminating a service it's offered for years with zero replacement" is inherently 'bad news.' As many have said, it's understandable given the complexities of copy right laws and whatnot, and I think for fans/consumers this is bad news to an extent. Perhaps not monumentally bad, as I presume the service is closing shop mostly because not enough people are buying to support the service, so perhaps overall this is a neutral development. I have not purchased anything from DCI since they sold Blurays; I think DCI shows nowadays are so intertwined with audio & visual that just the music doesn't work as much anymore - at least not for me, as I don't see shows enough times for the recordings to spark tons of memories of vis moments. So for me personally this doesn't impact me at all. But this seems to be the last way anyone can get any official recordings of drum corps performances, short of ripping youtube vids or whatnot illegally, so that makes me feel this is not a great thing over all. I know just as a music teacher than paying copy right holders for marching band or color guard or winter percussion is expensive, and my program isn't remotely close to high profile like DCI, doesn't use nearly as many different pieces or composers as the average DCI production might, etc. So I 100% get the legal hassles involved here, as well as the expenses. But for fans, this is a bummer

This feels fairly accurate, and if that's the case it's almost amazing the activity has been chugging along this long, I guess. Perhaps when the corps numbers dwindle too much we can see groups move more to WGI Winds with smaller group sizes, lower operation costs, but similar innovative designs and execution and excitement. The Marching Arts groups you mention have been growing largely thanks to scholastic music & guard growth which is awesome, though kind of ironic: scholastic bands/drum lines/guards have gotten amazing thanks in part to DCI - now to the point where scholastic groups are seemingly more viable than DCI. Kind of amusing, ironic symmetry

Sure but that was, like, old people stuff: this is the REAL cool drum corps!! 🙃

Yeah, and even the 1990's plenty of Top 6/10 corps looked at early audition camps as money-makers: I know of a corps that would lead kids on a bit longer before cutting them in the winter in order to keep collecting camp fees and whatnot (yeah, I've been told the "we want to see how kids improve" and "have to see who keeps coming back/make sure we have a full line" stuff, but I'm also been told unequivocally "it's an easy way to make some extra money")

Not even close; like, I suspect the number of Bluecoats cuts that go on to march another corps is relatively insignificant. I know one friend who took their son to audition camp; the kid is young (either HS junior or senior) but a great trumpet player. He wasn't expecting to make the corps he just went "for the experience" and even though he loved every minute has zero interest marching another corps. And I guess, if we're being really honest, there really isn't another corps that close by; he lives in Northern OH, and I'm not sure of the closest 'attainable' drum corps from Bluecoats: either non-finalist World Class, or Open Class. Less corps = less opportunities for younger members to get experience before jumping to their 'dream' World corps. This isn't an entirely new thing; I don't think there were a myriad of similar options 25ish years ago when I marched in the late 1990's. But again, a kid who's good but young/green, who loves the activity and wants to reach the level of making a top corps, has little/no options that don't require a really long drive one-way for them (that I know of) to get experience

True, but as others have said both of these lean heavy into the scholastic aspect so there are plenty of HS programs & parents to partake whereas DCI does not have that aspect. Yeah, I know I'm almost 50 which is "really old dinosaur" in DCI vernacular, but nearly everyone of my generation discovered the activity though commercially produced/sold videos or audio recordings. I first discovered it via official VHS tapes, and 'deep dove' into the activity with an instructor's record collection he dubbed for me. I spent so much money of DCI CD's, not just the annual Championships CD's but SCV/BD/Cadets various 'through the years' CD's. I later bought DVDs, and some classic Blu-rays DCI produced for a hot minute (that 3-volume 'greatest hits' collections of shows on Blu-ray were outstanding!!). It's been a bummer 'only' being able to watch DCI in the off season via illegal youtube vids, but that's all DCI provides so what else can we do

I know someone in Northern OH who took their senior-in-HS son to audition for Bluecoats, knowing they almost certainly aren't going to make it but wanted the experience. They have no plans on marching or auditioning anywhere else for this season that I know of. I don't think this is uncommon (and, honestly, wasn't uncommon in the 1990's either)

100%, and why should they? DCI is built to service the current marching member primarily, and the marching member's responsibility is to master technique & execution while paying current year's fees while taking care of themselves from a health standpoint. Current marching members owe the activity nothing but their own best efforts on the field and have more than enough things to worry about than some nebulous future 'danger/.' I was planning a wedding my age-out year, via payphones on tour in the late 1990's while my wife was on tour teaching a different drum corps, and while I was broadly aware of financial instabilities in the activity I had college stuff, wedding planning stuff, adulting (apartment & other bills), actual job stuff to pay for everything. I had MORE than enough going on on my plate and wasn't worried about the long-term viability of the activity: I would've likely said "that's for old people to worry about, not us."

SERIOUSLY; and they're _way_ more fragile than brass instruments. You drop a sax or clarinet or flute on the football field (or, gods forbid, the parking lot asphalt or hard truck/bus floor) and you can throw rows of keys out of whack. Small screws can get lost, springs can go bad, a reed could split during a warm-up, springs could get out of place with just a minor 'bump,' etc. And a professional clarinet is about $1k more expensive than a similar trumpet (even a similar silver trumpet; a couple grand more for just a brass pro level trumpet). I know of competitive local HS bands that don't even like to use bari saxes during marching season because of how fragile they are and how expensive fixes are for them; TONS of HS kids use crappy woodwind instruments in the fall, with upgraded higher-quality instruments during concert season because they don't want to risk their 'good' flute/sax/clarinet during marching season weather and collision possibilities. And of course, there are perpetual jokes about never hearing clarinets and flutes on a football field unless perfectly staged and orchestrated (and often mic'ed up with field mics). Woodwinds are a PITA for band directors when we only have competitions and football games a couple times a week; they'd be a nightmare on a DCI tour (and I'm not even getting into the "fun" of tuning in funky humidity or weather)

Right, and the higher you make it up the ranks, the more expensive your budget must be in order to compete. Be relegated can be OK if a team is bleeding money and needs to pull back a bit spending-wise, but can be problematic if promoted but unable to spend to improve the club, thus getting killed almost every match. It's rare that all teams promoted to the Premier League make it to the next season w/out being relegated (that happened recently!), and statistically if you're promoted to Championship League (2nd division in England), or EPL (top division) you're more likely to quickly get relegated than to have staying power. Leicester City WON the Premier league in 2015/2016 and was relegated back down to Championship League in 2023; then back to EPL 2024-2025, and is now back in Championship League for 25-26 (they're currently sitting lower-middle of the Championship table)!

You & me both! I hate MLS/US Soccer doesn't have promotion/relegation when they already have two competitive tiers of pro soccer. BUT, I can see nowadays having to invest half a billion in a franchise pay-to-play membership fee, only to be relegated after a few years playing really small clubs and not making much money. To bring it back to drum corps, I think it's fair to have some sort of competitive standard to maintain World Class DCI membership, as it was in the 1980's & 90's at least: DCI has already kind of/sort of lived through a 'promotion/relegation' system (Limited Edition was a Div. 2/Open Class corps in the 1980's, made World Class due to competitive placement in 1989, and after failing to hit Top 25/DCI Member status placement in 1990 they went back to Div. 2/Open Class in 1991).

That's what I'm talking about, though obviously the alumni corps currently of locals could play a strong hand into it; if BAC does really well again in 2026, I'd think alumni would come flocking to be a part of a one-off thing