Eric Molho Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 (edited) Members of Minnesota Brass (and our mini corps Minne-Brass) have accepted an invitation to perform the National Anthem at the Home Opener for the Minnesota Twins on Monday, April 9! Needless to say we're very excited by the invitation and the exposure this event brings to our organization. We'll have about 28 performing members (they don't have room for the whole corps unfortunately!) performing at about 3 p.m. CST. Traditionally the opening day anthem is part of television broadcasts (Fox Sports North and MLB Network). Hopefully we'll have some video of the event to share on our facebook and website. http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120329&content_id=27728070&vkey=pr_min&c_id=min - - - - - For those of you interested in the financial/business sides of drum corps (which should be everyone), there's an interesting story to how this event came about. Much as I'd like to say that our recent competitive success has turned the Twins entire front office into rabid drum corps fans, I'm afraid that would be a small exaggeration. The real is story is about networking, fundraising and leveraging assets. For a few years now, we have dabbled in providing special music for unique events. Usually these have fallen in our laps where someone knows someone who once knew a guy who's third cousin played snare drum with us. We'd get a random phone call, negotiate a reasonable performance fee and scrounge up some players. Recently, we've become far more aggressive about seeking out and using special events to support the corps. This isn't a new idea of course. The Blue Devils do this professionally (http://bdentertain.com/) and I'm sure most every corps seeks opportunities to get paid to perform. What's changed for us is first having a highly talented, dedicated crew of performers (most are alums but some march in the full corps) who enjoy doing these gigs. The second thing that has changed is a more focused effort to generate and execute on these events. That's paid off with more leads and more paid gigs that directly support the corps. Not all of these performances are high-brow affairs. For example, we now are able to use our small group to perform in many parades that the full corps can't attend either due to schedule limitations or the sponsor's budget limitations. But our most lucrative events are corporate gigs. It's a relatively small world of folks who produce and manage these kinds of events. We're working hard to establish ourselves as a great option for live music. In fact, I recently got a phone call from the concierge at a downtown hotel. Their client wanted a drumline for a sales presentation in 24 hours and we were able to pull it off. Which leads us to the Twins. Several months ago, Minne-Brass was invited to perform at the Minneapolis Downtown Council for a major luncheon event. The guests for this event included several senior leaders of local businesses. Of course, Minne-Brass knocked it out of the park with a fantastic performance. This impressed the chief marketing officer for the Twins, who was in attendance, and shortly thereafter we got a very nice surprise invitation. I share this simply to tell a story of how each of our organizations might be able to find new sources of revenue by doing what we do best. We will likely never be out of the 'fundraising' business. But it sure is a lot more fun to raise funds when there's a horn in your hand*! __________________________ *Or drumstick or flag. The sentence just worked better by choosing one. No offense intended. Edited April 3, 2012 by Eric Molho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbc33 Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Congrats to you Eric, and the entire Minnesota Brass organization! What a wonderful opportunity! Please post a video for us after the performance! Members of Minnesota Brass (and our mini corps Minne-Brass) have accepted an invitation to perform the National Anthem at the Home Opener for the Minnesota Twins on Monday, April 9! Needless to say we're very excited by the invitation and the exposure this event brings to our organization. We'll have about 28 performing members (they don't have room for the whole corps unfortunately!) performing at about 3 p.m. CST. Traditionally the opening day anthem is part of television broadcasts (Fox Sports North and MLB Network). Hopefully we'll have some video of the event to share on our facebook and website. http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120329&content_id=27728070&vkey=pr_min&c_id=min - - - - - For those of you interested in the financial/business sides of drum corps (which should be everyone), there's an interesting story to how this event came about. Much as I'd like to say that our recent competitive success has turned the Twins entire front office into rabid drum corps fans, I'm afraid that would be a small exaggeration. The real is story is about networking, fundraising and leveraging assets. For a few years now, we have dabbled in providing special music for unique events. Usually these have fallen in our laps where someone knows someone who once knew a guy who's third cousin played snare drum with us. We'd get a random phone call, negotiate a reasonable performance fee and scrounge up some players. Recently, we've become far more aggressive about seeking out and using special events to support the corps. This isn't a new idea of course. The Blue Devils do this professionally (http://bdentertain.com/) and I'm sure most every corps seeks opportunities to get paid to perform. What's changed for us is first having a highly talented, dedicated crew of performers (most are alums but some march in the full corps) who enjoy doing these gigs. The second thing that has changed is a more focused effort to generate and execute on these events. That's paid off with more leads and more paid gigs that directly support the corps. Not all of these performances are high-brow affairs. For example, we now are able to use our small group to perform in many parades that the full corps can't attend either due to schedule limitations or the sponsor's budget limitations. But our most lucrative events are corporate gigs. It's a relatively small world of folks who produce and manage these kinds of events. We're working hard to establish ourselves as a great option for live music. In fact, I recently got a phone call from the concierge at a downtown hotel. Their client wanted a drumline for a sales presentation in 24 hours and we were able to pull it off. Which leads us to the Twins. Several months ago, Minne-Brass was invited to perform at the Minneapolis Downtown Council for a major luncheon event. The guests for this event included several senior leaders of local businesses. Of course, Minne-Brass knocked it out of the park with a fantastic performance. This impressed the chief marketing officer for the Twins, who was in attendance, and shortly thereafter we got a very nice surprise invitation. I share this simply to tell a story of how each of our organizations might be able to find new sources of revenue by doing what we do best. We will likely never be out of the 'fundraising' business. But it sure is a lot more fun to raise funds when there's a horn in your hand*! __________________________ *Or drumstick or flag. The sentence just worked better by choosing one. No offense intended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 this kind of group is the wave of the future in garnering funds and community support Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyGuy66 Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Congrats Eric a great way to put some bucks in the bank and get exposure. It most likely will be one of the highlights of the Twins season. (sorry a bleed blue Yankee fan) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomMoore Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 What a great opportunity to present what you do to a large audience! It would be even better if the corps' 2011 performance was broadcast on the jumbotron to the entire stadium and if Eric got to throw out the first pitch! Thanks for sharing this story. You never know when one moment of visibility will lead to another! Congrats, Eric & MBI! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron H Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) Here are broader philosophical questions that are raised by Eric's post... Are the Caballeros the only active competitive DCA corps that operates an alumni corps? Consequently, if any DCA corps spends resources on operating an alumni corps, would it be more prudent to develop a different business model that instead utilizes former members in the way that MBI does? I'm really curious about this. I don't know what the business relationship is between the Cabs and their alumni corps so maybe this is a stupid question. :) And in a related note I wonder if perhaps - as a tool to increase the awareness of the drum corps activity - that alumni corps begin to consider what they could do to bring back their "parent" competitive units. I'm not suggesting that the Alumni Corps disappear! What I'm getting at is this: There is an active interest in the traditions of each Alumni Corps. Hence....Frankly, without their original corps still being active, the Alumni Corps are in a race against oblivion. Can Alumni Corps re-tool themselves as a generator of income for the purpose of bringing back the corps that gave them birth? Edited April 5, 2012 by Ron H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CABADM Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Here's a broader philosophical question that is raised by Eric's post... Are the Caballeros the only active competitive DCA corps that operates an alumni corps? Consequently, if any DCA corps spends resources on operating an alumni corps, would it be more prudent to develop a different business model that instead utilizes former members in the way that MBI does? I'm really curious about this. I don't know what the business relationship is between the Cabs and their alumni corps so maybe this is a stupid question. :) And in a related note I wonder if perhaps - as a tool to increase the awareness of the drum corps activity - that alumni corps begin to consider what they could do to bring back their "parent" competitive units. I'm not suggesting that the Alumni Corps disappear! What I'm getting at is this: There is an active interest in the traditions of each Alumni Corps. Without their original corps still being active, the Alumni are frankly in a race against oblivion. Can Alumni Corps re-tool themselves as a generator of income for the purpose of bringing back the corps that gave them birth? Cabs Competing and Cabs Alumni are Separate.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron H Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Separate? How so? Separate 501c3's? Financially independent of one another? Just wondering... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CABADM Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Separate? How so? Separate 501c3's? Financially independent of one another? Just wondering... Yes, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyGuy66 Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Well CABADM no one can say your verbose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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