Give it away give it away give it away now

[danielray]

1) why should DCI "give away" potential income, especially when it's not like they have income flowing in?

DCI has been doing about $10M in revenue. That is a solid chunk of cash.

They could hang on to a lot more of it if they were able to improve some efficiencies (who actually prints stuff and sends it in the mail these days?) and restructure some of the investments in equipment, etc. (doing a buyback lease on some things might make more sense in order to free up some operating capital to invest in new revenue sources).

Also... what makes absolutely no sense to me at all is the fact that DCI and WGI operate independently. They have many of the exact same relationships, do very similar things... but there is a massive amount of overlap which causes redundant efforts/resources/spending.

If the organizations were to merge, not only would they both be much stronger, they would both benefit from reduced expenses.

There is no need for them to be physically located in the same city, can have separate offices, but shared infrastructure and resources.

It is baffling that this has not been done already.

Easiest way to go would be to establish a new parent org that both roll up into, but still maintain independent brands.

[jjeffeory]

DCI has been doing about $10M in revenue. That is a solid chunk of cash.

They could hang on to a lot more of it if they were able to improve some efficiencies (who actually prints stuff and sends it in the mail these days?) and restructure some of the investments in equipment, etc. (doing a buyback lease on some things might make more sense in order to free up some operating capital to invest in new revenue sources).

Also... what makes absolutely no sense to me at all is the fact that DCI and WGI operate independently. They have many of the exact same relationships, do very similar things... but there is a massive amount of overlap which causes redundant efforts/resources/spending.

If the organizations were to merge, not only would they both be much stronger, they would both benefit from reduced expenses.

There is no need for them to be physically located in the same city, can have separate offices, but shared infrastructure and resources.

It is baffling that this has not been done already.

Easiest way to go would be to establish a new parent org that both roll up into, but still maintain independent brands.

Why not combine that with BOA too?

[DrillmanSop06]

One thing to think about is that these shows are already pretty full, so your example wouldn't drive people to anywhere that would generate extra revenue. It is a good idea, but I'm not sure it would work. Also, may people aren't quite using social media yet. I think that's going to take a while.

Notice that no companies use their websites anymore? They advertise their Facebook and Twitter accounts. Your statement is...out of line with reality.

[charlie1223]

One thing to think about is that these shows are already pretty full, so your example wouldn't drive people to anywhere that would generate extra revenue. It is a good idea, but I'm not sure it would work. Also, may people aren't quite using social media yet. I think that's going to take a while.

500 million people on facebook is not enough people? Social media is HUGE. I suggest you get a facebook and search videos on youtube ASAP!!

Edited April 18, 2011 by charlie1223

[oldschool1180]

Embracing digital media doesn't mean to just have an extensive library of paid content and a few free things out there on a sort of island that only the most dedicated fans know even exists.

Truly embracing digital media means that online objectives are tightly integrated with offline objectives and each promotes and reenforces the other.

I addressed that point previously. To clarify... I don't exactly work in the music industry (actually, don't really work much at all these days)... but the persuasion industry ... offline and digital.... taking people through the following cycle:

AWARENESS > CONSIDERATION > TRIAL > PURCHASE > REPURCHASE > LOYALTY

Drum corps is VERY limited on the first step of this process... which breaks down in terms of numbers at each step. If drum corps wants to increase the fan base... it needs to focus FIRST on expanding the number of people that are actually aware of the activity.

Once again, I'm not talking about random home made videos.... I am talking about the high-quality performance videos that are produced by DCI.

ok got your idea but in order to do it, we have to show these people what drum corps are,, now a days you say drum & bugle corps they ask you what the hell is that we need to get into these schools & show them what we are to a tee that we are musical teachers for thier children that will discipline and bring respect to one another just my thoughts

Edited April 18, 2011 by oldschool1180

[bullethead]

If it's the case that DCI wishes to broaden it's audience, this is without question a good idea. As of now, the majority of people access music via youtube. Aside from that, it's not necessarily bad to get the idea that as a musician, you will almost be assured of making no money off of your "actual" music. That's just acknowledging reality.

Check this out:

Youtube/music stats

and for more....this:

Nielsen

You may have to enter some info, but it doesn't actually require "signing up" to view the report.

Edited April 18, 2011 by bullethead

[4181jay]

completely agree with the Op. great ideas from somebody who obviously knows his stuff.

I'd keep FN. It would act as a full library of DCI history and a place to see live streams. I'd only put incomplete shows or single tunes on youtube and suchlike in order to get the attention of the casual viewer.

If DCI wants to keep the attention of the casual youtube viewer, it has to persuade the arrangers to put a product on the field which either gets the heartbeat racing or tugs at the heartstrings.

I fully appreciated what BD did last year and they were worthy winners however if child/adult 'A' from sometown happened across a segment of the show on youtube how long do you think they would last before moving on?

On the other hand if somebody typed 'happy days are here again' into youtube and clicked on a good clip of BD 88 I'd bet a sizeable chunk they would be intrigued enough to last for a full 2-3 minute clip.

[danielray]

Not all costs need to be covered by revenues that are directly related.

Costs of the rights to use music in a trailer for a film aren't covered by charging people to watch the trailer, but by ticket sales.

Costs for the rights to use music in a commercial are covered by sales of whatever product or service it is selling.

DCI should consider online performances to be advertising for real world products and services.

In addition, with channels like YouTube, it is possible to have sponsored channels or to run advertising before clips (DCI is a non-profit... Google has a mechanism set up to allow non-profits to make money through advertising connected with their content as well as through other means). These sponsorship or advertising revenues could offset costs.

[danielray]

If it's the case that DCI wishes to broaden it's audience, this is without question a good idea. As of now, the majority of people access music via youtube. Aside from that, it's not necessarily bad to get the idea that as a musician, you will almost be assured of making no money off of your "actual" music. That's just acknowledging reality.

Check this out:

Youtube/music stats

and for more....this:

Nielsen

You may have to enter some info, but it doesn't actually require "signing up" to view the report.

That Nielsen report is gold.

Definitely true that artists need to approach their revenue opportunities more holistically rather than the days of primary revenues from recorded music.

In the context of DCI, there is still a solid opportunity to generate revenue from purchases of individual performance (audio or video), in addition to making it available for free on sites like YouTube.

That said, it doesn't make much sense that this is done on the Fan Network. iTunes is, without question, the best place for DCI to be selling through.

iTunes takes a 20% cut of the sales price, but there is absolutely NO WAY DCI is able to build, operate, maintain, et. their infrastructure for digital sales at less than 20% of gross. Impossible.

Also, there are hundreds of millions of iTunes users out there generating tens of millions in revenue a day. The potential base of users that are not drum corps fans but might pick up a track just because they thought it was interesting makes it obvious that the Fan Network is not really the place.

DCI needs to get out of the business of building and maintaining digital content infrastructure and focus on their core... producing highly successful and highly profitable events.

[danielray]

I fully appreciated what BD did last year and they were worthy winners however if child/adult 'A' from sometown happened across a segment of the show on youtube how long do you think they would last before moving on?

8,545,308 viewers watched this BD video.

Corps doing stuff like this to broaden the reach of the activity is huge.

A kid sees this.. digs it, enrolls in their elementary school music program.

A parent sees this... finds out the same group is performing in their area next week... takes their family to a show.

As I was saying in another thread, the product is not so much broken as the packaging. Things like this... as well as the pre-show, post show, fan interaction elements at events are the packaging.