Sustainable Drum Corps

[KGTech]

Assuming that the G7 is gone and the rest of the organizations want to do more then beg for scraps from the benevolent G7 table, the questions is how do you put together a sustainable operation in which the remaining groups thrive. I have my thoughts and would like to hear others.

I would start with a blank slate.

Tour:

National organization with regional divisions.

Regional divisions organize local first tour, perhaps weekends only. Shows in smaller areas appreciative of the entertainment value.

Second tour has half the groups in a region visiting other regions. One year you stay close to home, the next you go to a different region. Shows are bigger and go to iconic venues that DCI no longer serves (think Whitewater, DeKalb, etc.).

Either a central location for finals (Kansas City?) or a system that rotates finals among the regions.

Cost Containment:

There would an agreed upon costs cap for administration, equipment and instruction personnel. There would be no cap on the cost to transport and feed and house the members. Allowed instrumentation would be finite and not include any type of electronics. Performance venues should be smaller lower cost facilities that are appropriately sized for the audience in attendance. A small full house would be better than a large quarter full stadium. Staying local every other year should help with travel cost

Target Audience:

Shows would need to be designed to appeal to the general public. There is no reason that a show cannot be both challenging to the members and entertaining to the audience.

Target Members:

Members should not need to be music majors in order to participate. The more broad the base of members the more broad the captive audience that will pay to see them.

Judging:

Judging would be based 50% on audience reaction (local dignitariesl)and 50% technical aptitude (circuit judges).

The general idea would be to reduce cost, appeal to a larger audience (albeit in smaller chunks) and serve more members. Instructional talent will change often because they will not be able to make a career of it. That should keep the product fresh year to year. In the end it is not about the stadium the members perform in nor the super star staff who puts the shows together. Instead it is about the friends you make, the life lessons learned and the adoration of an appreciative audience.

Will the end product be as polished as it is today? Probably not but it does not need to be. For every fan lost because Drum Corps is no longer good enough we should endeavor to gain 2 new fans by entertaining the heck out of them. No question the G7 is a talented bunch and they will be missed. They may even be successful out on their own as they move beyond Drum Corps and become some other type of worthy entertainment. This is about preserving the traditional Drum Corps idiom and creating a system under which it can keep going.

How would you structure things to save the non G7?

[madalumni]

All great ideas. Not far off from most of the ideas Scott Stewart presented back in 1997.

The weekend only idea seems to work for the DCA Corps and they

don't seem to have a big problem with generating enough revenue

or filling the stands. In fact, they have been growing in attendance for quite awhile now.

There are many Corps that have folded over the years and I wonder how many

of them might still be around A) if they had switched over to DCA or B) if the regional

circuits had not been booted out by the elite.

Edited May 25, 2010 by madalumni

[cmathis]

Just my input... I don't see the G7 corps splitting off from DCI even if this doesn't pass.

[garfield]

Just my input... I don't see the G7 corps splitting off from DCI even if this doesn't pass.

Wow! A contrary viewpoint. I'd love to hear why you think this.

I'd also like you to say how you see the DCI-23 getting along from here if it doesn't pass and the G7 stays.

Edited May 26, 2010 by garfield

[markdewine]

KGTech- All excellent ideas! You should be on DCI's Board of Directors.

[chaddyt]

Wow! A contrary viewpoint. I'd love to hear why you think this.

I'd also like you to say how you see the DCI-23 getting along from here if it doesn't pass and the G7 stays.

There's always a chance cooler heads will prevail. Let's not mistake the preconceptions made by anyone on this forum as being shared by everyone in that boardroom.

[jonnyboy]

Lots of good ideas, I've been thinking the same things. Heck, I would love to see some of these things put into action with DCI's Open Class corps NOW. I would also add a summer start date for "move-ins". It may hurt the product, but in my opinion moving in this week for a month of all days is an unecessary cost. Move in late June, right before first tour.

Also, I would love to see the circuit retain the DCI brand. Let the G7 corps go and start something new, let DCI rebuild on a strong base. I hate to say it, but if the non G7 corps (FA 16 plus Open Class) tried to start an entirely new circuit from scratch it would be almost impossible to get off the ground and would take a decade to reach where we are right now. Keep the DCI name and brand, keep the legacy fans, keep the traditions of recent history (DCI era) drum and bugle corps instrumentation and field show style performance.

[Jeff Ream]

i'm against any fan reactions being part of the vote. it caan be swayed by locality and also the "in" show of the summer.

we all know BD wasn't as popular as some would claim last year, but you can't deny they were clean as clean can be. but allowing the fans to determine the outcome is basically a popularity contest.

the Dallas Cowboys usually lead NFL sales year after year...so because of that, should they go to the Super Bowl every year? Well, I'm a Dallas fan, so sure, but I prefer they earn that right, and sadly they havent for 14 years.

and I rpefer drumc orps earn it, regardless of being beloved by the masses or not.

[KGTech]

I would love to see the circuit retain the DCI brand. Let the G7 corps go and start something new, let DCI rebuild on a strong base. I hate to say it, but if the non G7 corps (FA 16 plus Open Class) tried to start an entirely new circuit from scratch it would be almost impossible to get off the ground and would take a decade to reach where we are right now. Keep the DCI name and brand, keep the legacy fans, keep the traditions of recent history (DCI era) drum and bugle corps instrumentation and field show style performance.

As much as I agree it would be nice to keep the DCI brand name I don't see it as a viable option for several reasons. The DCI money stream heavily relies upon large venue ticket sales and audio\video sales. With the G7 gone the large venues are not possible and audio/video sales will be a fraction of what they are today. In addition DCI is saddled with contracts for office space, Lucas Oil stadium and probably other things they will no longer be able to sustain. They will be insolvent with no G7.

A new governing organization should have a limited scope and run on a shoe string budget. They would have 3 functions:

1. Promote, produce and organize finals.

2. Sell audio/video products.

3. Set competitive rules and sanction judges.

There is no need for the organization to have a physical office or to have paid executive staff. I can see a need for a few paid organizational assistants to answer phones and shuffle paperwork. Everything that can be cost effectively outsourced should be.

The traditions and legacies come from the Corps' themselves, not DCI. Whether the DCI name is retained or not those will remain intact.

[KGTech]

i'm against any fan reactions being part of the vote. it caan be swayed by locality and also the "in" show of the summer.

I hear what you are saying but I believe there are compelling reason to do just that. First, the probability that the home corps will win the show should help get more local fans in the seats. The local dignitaries doing the judging should also be selected to provide an attendance draw as well. The second reason is to ensure that an entertaining product is produced by rewarding the corps for doing so. The current disconnect between judging criteria and audience appeal does not serve us well. The only way to ensure survival is to gain an audience base large enough to support the activity. That is the only measuring stick that matters in the end so it might as well be the measuring stick used.

With a 50/50 split between audience appeal and technical excellence I would think the winning group would have to best balance both aspects. I would agree that there should be a regional final and a national final that does not use local judges. For those shows a panel of impartial judges with ties to music and dance should be used to provide that part of the score.

Will we have uneven result throughout the season? Yep. Will it make it harder for us die hards to micro analyze every aspect of a performance? Absolutely. I think for too long Drum Corps has been looking inward trying to impress itself with it's own genius. It is time for it to start looking outward and sharing it's passion with the public.