ibexpercussion Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 While that may be true, I've never seen a drum corps or a high school treat their drums like a Mercedes. We make our kids take care of them, or they will not have new drums for several more years. Usually can only afford to buy new lines about every 7-8 years or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 We make our kids take care of them, or they will not have new drums for several more years. Usually can only afford to buy new lines about every 7-8 years or so. Yeah, I'm in year five with the battery I bought at my school, and the drums still look pretty close to new. They're a custom finish Pearl line, and other than normal wear and tear on some of the parts, they still look great and I expect them to last for several more years. And I didn't spend nearly as much on them as I would've on the Tama drums. If you want the drums to last a long time, like Mercedes apparently, all it takes is teaching them to take care of the instruments. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrillmanSop06 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 The rigors of high school marching band are a bit different than those of drum corps. Besides. When do drum corps use the same drums for 2 seasons in a row? Rarely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mello Dude Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 The rigors of high school marching band are a bit different than those of drum corps. Besides. When do drum corps use the same drums for 2 seasons in a row? Rarely. I dunno, marching bands are hard on the equipment because of the weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TastyWaves Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I think Tama needs to focus 100% of their marketing to colleges and universities or parade bands. Most competitive programs really want a package deal as it brings the costs way down. ESPECIALLY on Shipping. (A lot of people dont realize how much that part costs but its EXPENSIVE) High schools arent as bound by "package deals" so many high schools, even competitive ones could get in there because they dont HAVE to match at that level, but many still prefer to. But with colleges, you sell 10-15 snare drums, 4-8 quad kits, and from 9-13 bass drums in one shot. With a few exceptions, they dont even have front ensembles. You sell a lot of equipment to a reliable entity and there is your market share! If they spend their time trying to sell to top 5 DCI, they are going to have a lot doors shut in their faces. It sounds like they have a good plan though. They have great people involved, and they didnt just wake up yesterday and start cranking out drums. They have been at this for a few years now and the product looks and sounds great. Some top notch scholastic programs have already used them and i think its a very viable product. They just have to stay patient and market themselves correctly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibexpercussion Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 (edited) Yeah, I'm in year five with the battery I bought at my school, and the drums still look pretty close to new. They're a custom finish Pearl line, and other than normal wear and tear on some of the parts, they still look great and I expect them to last for several more years. And I didn't spend nearly as much on them as I would've on the Tama drums. If you want the drums to last a long time, like Mercedes apparently, all it takes is teaching them to take care of the instruments. We are actually in year 9 with our drums. Structurally they are fine, but I did have to refinish them last year as the white was starting to look cream colored. It was an absolute chore of a job to get that done. We have Yamahas and the snares and tenors had a sort of foil backed laminent that was glued at just about every square inch. It took almost 3-4 hours per drum to strip the cover, then scrape the glue off, then lightly sand them smooth. After that process was done, I stained them a dark purple (as that is the school color), and painted all the hardware black, and so now they look great with a dark purple color, but yet you can still see the wood-grain through the color. We get compliments on them all the time. Edited November 15, 2011 by ibexpercussion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BozzlyB Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 A Mercedes is only expensive if you only keep it a few years. The thing is, they can run for hundreds of thousands of miles if you take good care of it... making it one of the cheapest cars out there over the long haul. Though no one really knows and can only guess based on quality of previous products, I suspect these things can go the distance. In that case, they are cheaper. Though... will agree they need keyboards and timpani to be able to really compete. A ford Escort can run for hundreds of thousands of miles with a fraction of the upkeep costs. Analogy fail. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I think Tama needs to focus 100% of their marketing to colleges and universities or parade bands. Most competitive programs really want a package deal as it brings the costs way down. ESPECIALLY on Shipping. (A lot of people dont realize how much that part costs but its EXPENSIVE) High schools arent as bound by "package deals" so many high schools, even competitive ones could get in there because they dont HAVE to match at that level, but many still prefer to. But with colleges, you sell 10-15 snare drums, 4-8 quad kits, and from 9-13 bass drums in one shot. With a few exceptions, they dont even have front ensembles. You sell a lot of equipment to a reliable entity and there is your market share! If they spend their time trying to sell to top 5 DCI, they are going to have a lot doors shut in their faces. It sounds like they have a good plan though. They have great people involved, and they didnt just wake up yesterday and start cranking out drums. They have been at this for a few years now and the product looks and sounds great. Some top notch scholastic programs have already used them and i think its a very viable product. They just have to stay patient and market themselves correctly. This is an interesting strategy; it would be slightly limiting (cutting out a large share of the market by focusing only on college marching bands), but for an initial launch it might work. The consideration with this plan, however, is that many colleges have endorsement deals with percussion companies. The colleges get deals on not just marching drum lines, but also concert equipment (timpani, mallet instruments, concert toms/snares/bass drums, sometimes hand drums if the college has a Pearl deal, etc). Otherwise, this is a compelling idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TastyWaves Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 This is an interesting strategy; it would be slightly limiting (cutting out a large share of the market by focusing only on college marching bands), but for an initial launch it might work. The consideration with this plan, however, is that many colleges have endorsement deals with percussion companies. The colleges get deals on not just marching drum lines, but also concert equipment (timpani, mallet instruments, concert toms/snares/bass drums, sometimes hand drums if the college has a Pearl deal, etc). Otherwise, this is a compelling idea True that. Very good points. And i should add, yes. I meant at the beginning. lol I would hope that if they were seriously wanting to invest and be players in the game, that they have a long term strategy with manufacturers or plan to begin to manufacture other products. Like Pearls pairing with Adams, Ludwig and Musser, Mapex/Jupiter, and of course the monster that is Yamaha who can sell you everything from your snares, to tenors, to marimbas, to trumpets, to tubas, to equipment trucks, hot dogs, peanut butter, (okay.. exaggerating now). but you get the idea! lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TastyWaves Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 The rigors of high school marching band are a bit different than those of drum corps. Besides. When do drum corps use the same drums for 2 seasons in a row? Rarely. Saying "high school" as a generalization isnt always accurate. Same as the assumption that all drum corps rehearse more. I taught a DCI div 3 corps for awhile and our schedule paled in comparison to the high schools ive taught. right now we run competitive Marching Band starting in mid-May, weekly rehearsals and minicamps all summer, 2 weeks of band camp, then 3 rehearsal nights per week and 2 performances (games and contests) on Fridays and saturdays and usually extended rehearsal days on Saturdays. The week after band, we start Indoor percussion 4 days per week including all days on saturdays and minicamps over holiday break. in the end, it probably equals out to a lesser operating drum corps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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