What's wrong with DCA?

[Shadowtron]

Hey everyone, I do not intend this to be flame bait or trolling, just wanted to share my experiences at the Kingston show and figure out if this is a problem with DCA or just this event.

I am a big marching arts fan. I've been to many DCI shows over the years, as well as a few high school band shows. I try to follow the activity as much as possible but I guess you'd call me a "casual fan" since I'm not an alumni of any particular corps and I don't go all out flying and looking at extra premium seats for championships.

But this weekend I decided to head down to the Kingston, NY show to watch DCA. I've been to DCA shows before, and I know what to expect, a more "fan-friendly" experience, old school drum corps, something in between the high level junior corps and the limited-schedule marching bands. Cool! So I traveled a decent distance, not too far but manageable. Didn't see any real information on their website but figured it just wasn't updated and there would be seats available at the gate.

So my friend and I arrived at the ticket tent to find that tickets were $20 a person! No levels of admission, $20/person. Steep, but I guess that works since it was just the two of us, but then I remembered earlier in the day when I thought: Maybe I should bring the family tonight!

Then I realized how rough this must be for the casual fan like myself -- could you, or any sane person that might be interested in our activity, willingly spend $80-$100 on a six-corps DCA show? I ended up being kinda glad I left them home! Should this be the kind of experience DCA is looking for?

The stands were packed, but it confirmed what I was expecting - very few families, in fact I don't think I saw any at all, I'll just assume there were some since I didn't scan the entire crowd. It looked like everyone in the crowd was there because they knew Joe or Jane who marched with them back in the 1970's. Most marching arts shows are filled with people who have an interest in someone performing, but usually there are people there from the community, or from high school bands whose directors promote the DCI shows, or friends of alumni, some sort of indirect interest. I didn't see much of that at all here.

Not to mention the crowd was relatively old. Nothing wrong with that! But you have to think, 10-15 years from now, who will be attending DCA shows? The current kids who are filling all the new corps? Well, where are those kids who marched 5 years ago? They weren't in the stands Saturday night. And for such a "fan-friendly" environment, the fans around me gave the impression of unfriendly and unemotional about the corps on the field. I found myself nodding my head and getting into some great intro music by the Hurricanes and Statesmen, but most of the crowd was sitting there like zombies during the show! Strange.

So enough about the organization, what about the corps on the field? Again, I've been to DCA shows before, and I know they have limited tour schedules and whatnot, but I was surprised and a little disappointed. The level of competition was not much better than I've seen at even good high school band shows.

What's going on? Is this JUST Kingston, or DCA as a whole? Did anyone else go to this show?

I remember getting emails for weeks about this Giants Stadium show in NYC. Giants Stadium - $18 a ticket! For the best in the business. And I don't think that was the cheapest!

Then, 6 all-age corps on a high school field for $20 a head. I just don't know how DCA can survive with a price structure that cuts out families and casual fans. Even if the kids don't get involved, you want more people exposed. You want more kiddies that will bug their parents to buy merch. People that will at least be FAMILIAR with what goes on so when a show comes to their town, maybe they will consider bringing their friends someday. It doesn't make sense considering there are DCI and high school band shows that offer more excitement at a better price.

So unfortunately, I'll have to put my DCA fandom on hold for now. Maybe someday this will change?

[Phalanx]

I was just glad that Kingston is ONLY $20/ticket and that there in fact were six corps. Some cost more and have less. I'm sure there are a hundred official reasons why the tickets have to be that much, but I think a serious brainstorming session has to be undertaken by DCA and its represenative drum corps to figure out how to lower the cost. Anytime I try and get someone else to come with me to see a show that hasn't been to one before I find that I have to preface it with, "Well it costs $20 for a ticket which sucks, but it's still fun!" I feel embarassed for people who haven't been to shows before because it must be such a shock to see the price.

There is no denying that drum corps shows are awesome, but for the same price or less people can get tickets to things that they already know they love. People aren't going to spend more to try something they only might like, when they can spend that same money to do something they will like. $20 gets you reasonable seats at any major league baseball game except red sox/yankees, and great seats at minor league games. Concession prices are comparable, so why would new people go to see a drum corps show? A baseball game is just one example, but I'm sure I could come up with plenty more if I put my mind to it.

My guess is that 95% of people go to a drum corps show because they either marched themselves or know somebody who is marching. That is NOT how a successful organization thrives.

[Kansan]

Hey everyone, I do not intend this to be flame bait or trolling, just wanted to share my experiences at the Kingston show and figure out if this is a problem with DCA or just this event.

I am a big marching arts fan. I've been to many DCI shows over the years, as well as a few high school band shows. I try to follow the activity as much as possible but I guess you'd call me a "casual fan" since I'm not an alumni of any particular corps and I don't go all out flying and looking at extra premium seats for championships.

But this weekend I decided to head down to the Kingston, NY show to watch DCA. I've been to DCA shows before, and I know what to expect, a more "fan-friendly" experience, old school drum corps, something in between the high level junior corps and the limited-schedule marching bands. Cool! So I traveled a decent distance, not too far but manageable. Didn't see any real information on their website but figured it just wasn't updated and there would be seats available at the gate.

So my friend and I arrived at the ticket tent to find that tickets were $20 a person! No levels of admission, $20/person. Steep, but I guess that works since it was just the two of us, but then I remembered earlier in the day when I thought: Maybe I should bring the family tonight!

Then I realized how rough this must be for the casual fan like myself -- could you, or any sane person that might be interested in our activity, willingly spend $80-$100 on a six-corps DCA show? I ended up being kinda glad I left them home! Should this be the kind of experience DCA is looking for?

The stands were packed, but it confirmed what I was expecting - very few families, in fact I don't think I saw any at all, I'll just assume there were some since I didn't scan the entire crowd. It looked like everyone in the crowd was there because they knew Joe or Jane who marched with them back in the 1970's. Most marching arts shows are filled with people who have an interest in someone performing, but usually there are people there from the community, or from high school bands whose directors promote the DCI shows, or friends of alumni, some sort of indirect interest. I didn't see much of that at all here.

Not to mention the crowd was relatively old. Nothing wrong with that! But you have to think, 10-15 years from now, who will be attending DCA shows? The current kids who are filling all the new corps? Well, where are those kids who marched 5 years ago? They weren't in the stands Saturday night. And for such a "fan-friendly" environment, the fans around me gave the impression of unfriendly and unemotional about the corps on the field. I found myself nodding my head and getting into some great intro music by the Hurricanes and Statesmen, but most of the crowd was sitting there like zombies during the show! Strange.

So enough about the organization, what about the corps on the field? Again, I've been to DCA shows before, and I know they have limited tour schedules and whatnot, but I was surprised and a little disappointed. The level of competition was not much better than I've seen at even good high school band shows.

What's going on? Is this JUST Kingston, or DCA as a whole? Did anyone else go to this show?

I remember getting emails for weeks about this Giants Stadium show in NYC. Giants Stadium - $18 a ticket! For the best in the business. And I don't think that was the cheapest!

Then, 6 all-age corps on a high school field for $20 a head. I just don't know how DCA can survive with a price structure that cuts out families and casual fans. Even if the kids don't get involved, you want more people exposed. You want more kiddies that will bug their parents to buy merch. People that will at least be FAMILIAR with what goes on so when a show comes to their town, maybe they will consider bringing their friends someday. It doesn't make sense considering there are DCI and high school band shows that offer more excitement at a better price.

So unfortunately, I'll have to put my DCA fandom on hold for now. Maybe someday this will change?

Wow! that is no anyting like what I experienced in '08 at the only DCA show I attended at Denton Texas. The Crowd that braved a giant storm was friendly and appreciative of the Corps and the 3 Larger Corps Marched Well and Played Well. The Austin Stars were in the Smaller Catagory and Marched and Played very well. The other two were standstill Brass ensembles.

I hope to get up to Minnesota for a show or two this month and will have a better idea of what a DCA show is supposed to look like.

Price? I'm clueless on what a good price for a show should be. SDCA likes the $8.00 or so price for their indoor shows and I've attended local DCI shows and payed $15 to $24 dollars. I payed $26 Dollars per ticket in San Antonio for a 22 Corps Overload and thought I got my monies worth. I alos unloaded $100.00 bucks on Souvenirs and more than I will admit on food at San Antonio.

[wishbonecav]

"The stands were packed"

You said it yourself. dca must be doing something right.

dca cultivated every one of those "old" fans who show up for the show for several reasons other than just "the contest."

A once-a-year mixer with old friends...an opportunity to hear a familiar brand of music....a tremendous value (6 competition corps, 3 alumni units including the Caballeros makes for a full night of entertainment)....and a certain understanding that this brand of drum corps is unique, welcoming and appreciated.

Perhaps spending time between corps meeting new people, respecting and gleaning from their "years of experience" would yield a very different topic title than "What's wrong with DCA".

And parking was.....(free)

And hots and hamburgs were...(cheap)

And Empire got a standing...(o)

And Cabs Alumni got a standing...(o)

And everyone values everything uniquely and differently. When you make value decisions for others ($20 was way too much, don't you think so, too? Don't ya?) that is the height of hubris. I am sure that there is more than one person who had to dig deep for the 20 and was glad to do it. Others may have thought 20 was a bargain.

Edited August 13, 2009 by wishbonecav

[Jeff Ream]

prices for any event have gone up. I attended a DCI show in June where the best seats went for $40 for 5 corps. so $20 for 6 DCA corps in August? slam dunk.

DCA has it's little quirks, like scheduling Scranton against DCI East, but it's growing slowly and surely, and the quality on the field gets better every year. Most top 6 corps would have won by points just 8 years ago.

edit: $20 for a pro baseball game? sure if you like sitting way up in no mans land where even the video board looks small

Edited August 13, 2009 by jeffsnewjetta

[Jeff DeMello]

So, here's a question back at you ... in 1974 would you have spent $4.63 to see a drum corps show?

Using one of the inflation calculators on the internet I got the following:

What cost $20 in 2008 would cost $4.63 in 1974.

So, yes, $20 seems like a lot, but it's really not a bad deal when you consider inflation.

[shenandoahsound]

From a show sponsor perspective (we ran a DCA show for 3 years 06-08) we tried to guage our pricing on what other entertainment would cost here in Northern Virginia. At most movie theatres it costs $10.50 to get in ($13 for IMAX). As a family of 4, we typically spend $42 on admission and another $25 on concessions. At our last show in 08 our pre-sale general admission tickets were $10 - generally 30 yard line and out, and our premium seats were $15. Concessions were far less than that at the movie theatre, so I think our value was good considering we had 6 competing corps and the Marines D&B. And just like the show mentioned parking was free. I don't know where you go to MLB games, but any trip I have taken to see the Orioles costs a whole lot more than that. One time I had free tickets and still spent $60 or $70 to park and buy concessions.

I think most of the shows I have been to have been real entertainment bargains. Part of our corps fundraising involves working concessions at the George Mason University Patriot Center, and usually a minimum ticket to any event there is $35 and for family events we often see a family plunk down $70 for chicken strips and cokes. Let's face it, things just cost more in 2009, but I still think nothing beats live human produced music such as drum corps.

[En929]

Hey everyone, I do not intend this to be flame bait or trolling, just wanted to share my experiences at the Kingston show and figure out if this is a problem with DCA or just this event.

I am a big marching arts fan. I've been to many DCI shows over the years, as well as a few high school band shows. I try to follow the activity as much as possible but I guess you'd call me a "casual fan" since I'm not an alumni of any particular corps and I don't go all out flying and looking at extra premium seats for championships.

But this weekend I decided to head down to the Kingston, NY show to watch DCA. I've been to DCA shows before, and I know what to expect, a more "fan-friendly" experience, old school drum corps, something in between the high level junior corps and the limited-schedule marching bands. Cool! So I traveled a decent distance, not too far but manageable. Didn't see any real information on their website but figured it just wasn't updated and there would be seats available at the gate.

So my friend and I arrived at the ticket tent to find that tickets were $20 a person! No levels of admission, $20/person. Steep, but I guess that works since it was just the two of us, but then I remembered earlier in the day when I thought: Maybe I should bring the family tonight!

Then I realized how rough this must be for the casual fan like myself -- could you, or any sane person that might be interested in our activity, willingly spend $80-$100 on a six-corps DCA show? I ended up being kinda glad I left them home! Should this be the kind of experience DCA is looking for?

The stands were packed, but it confirmed what I was expecting - very few families, in fact I don't think I saw any at all, I'll just assume there were some since I didn't scan the entire crowd. It looked like everyone in the crowd was there because they knew Joe or Jane who marched with them back in the 1970's. Most marching arts shows are filled with people who have an interest in someone performing, but usually there are people there from the community, or from high school bands whose directors promote the DCI shows, or friends of alumni, some sort of indirect interest. I didn't see much of that at all here.

Not to mention the crowd was relatively old. Nothing wrong with that! But you have to think, 10-15 years from now, who will be attending DCA shows? The current kids who are filling all the new corps? Well, where are those kids who marched 5 years ago? They weren't in the stands Saturday night. And for such a "fan-friendly" environment, the fans around me gave the impression of unfriendly and unemotional about the corps on the field. I found myself nodding my head and getting into some great intro music by the Hurricanes and Statesmen, but most of the crowd was sitting there like zombies during the show! Strange.

So enough about the organization, what about the corps on the field? Again, I've been to DCA shows before, and I know they have limited tour schedules and whatnot, but I was surprised and a little disappointed. The level of competition was not much better than I've seen at even good high school band shows.

What's going on? Is this JUST Kingston, or DCA as a whole? Did anyone else go to this show?

I remember getting emails for weeks about this Giants Stadium show in NYC. Giants Stadium - $18 a ticket! For the best in the business. And I don't think that was the cheapest!

Then, 6 all-age corps on a high school field for $20 a head. I just don't know how DCA can survive with a price structure that cuts out families and casual fans. Even if the kids don't get involved, you want more people exposed. You want more kiddies that will bug their parents to buy merch. People that will at least be FAMILIAR with what goes on so when a show comes to their town, maybe they will consider bringing their friends someday. It doesn't make sense considering there are DCI and high school band shows that offer more excitement at a better price.

So unfortunately, I'll have to put my DCA fandom on hold for now. Maybe someday this will change?

I have the same problem with price when it comes to purchasing DCA videos to show to my students. The videos that I've seen cost at least $100 for a full performance. I wish to buy videos simply to support DCA, but geez $100 is steep. I can see paying that much if I get more than one video for that amount. Hence, I'm compelled to buy university marching band videos untill hopefully someday the price of the DCA videos would go down.

[Shadowtron]

"The stands were packed"

You said it yourself. dca must be doing something right.

dca cultivated every one of those "old" fans who show up for the show for several reasons other than just "the contest."

A once-a-year mixer with old friends...an opportunity to hear a familiar brand of music....a tremendous value (6 competition corps, 3 alumni units including the Caballeros makes for a full night of entertainment)....and a certain understanding that this brand of drum corps is unique, welcoming and appreciated.

Perhaps spending time between corps meeting new people, respecting and gleaning from their "years of experience" would yield a very different topic title than "What's wrong with DCA".

And parking was.....(free)

And hots and hamburgs were...(cheap)

And Empire got a standing...(o)

And Cabs Alumni got a standing...(o)

And everyone values everything uniquely and differently. When you make value decisions for others ($20 was way too much, don't you think so, too? Don't ya?) that is the height of hubris. I am sure that there is more than one person who had to dig deep for the 20 and was glad to do it. Others may have thought 20 was a bargain.

But see, how did DCA get those fans? Only because they are alumni of one of the corps and they didn't implement amps and stuff that only the hardcore fans care about. My point was that you want a more diverse audience because eventually you'll need them. There didn't seem to be many post-1990 alumni in the crowd, all were much older. So is DCA's target market drum corps alumni from before 1990? Do they even try to understand what their market is or is their organization filled with people that are of that type themselves?

The baseball game is a good analogy. Minor league baseball is much easier. Even the pricey movies are a better value. If you are a corps alumni, there is no incentive to bring any more than the best of friends along. Don't we want exposure? It seemed like they wanted to keep their activity to themselves and were very resistant to change, at least judging from those I talked to around me and their "years of experience"

Those standing O's were only after the corps marched in front of the stadium and saluted the crowd, during the shows it was almost like people weren't even paying attention!

But here are how those minor league sports organizations are so successful, and you sorta hit on it there. They don't really care too much about price of admission. They make it reasonable, even cheap. Then you get in there and there's concessions and promotions and merchandise and EXPOSURE. You have fun and you come back. Maybe you don't buy the t-shirt this time, but you COME BACK! and there is a chance for more business tomorrow. Isn't that all that matters?

Unfortunate as it is, maybe in the future that aging crowd won't feel like driving as far to attend the show. Or they'll enjoy retirement doing something else. Who knows? Point is you can't rely on the same market segment forever, and this needs to be fixed.

[Slow Adam]

Those standing O's were only after the corps marched in front of the stadium and saluted the crowd, during the shows it was almost like people weren't even paying attention!

They were on their feet after Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy... I saw them.