DCImonkey Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 How does DCI draw in a new fan base? CROWN a new champion! That's right....when the competition is dominated by the same 3 corps, it tends to taint the product. When there is competition from NIGHT TO NIGHT rather than YEAR TO YEAR.....things get spicy. Why can't Crossmen have a flawless run and beat the pants off Cadets and Crown who are cleaning in June? Ok a bit far fetched...but that's the idea. More drama! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 How does DCI draw in a new fan base? CROWN a new champion! That's right....when the competition is dominated by the same 3 corps, it tends to taint the product. When there is competition from NIGHT TO NIGHT rather than YEAR TO YEAR.....things get spicy. Why can't Crossmen have a flawless run and beat the pants off Cadets and Crown who are cleaning in June? Ok a bit far fetched...but that's the idea. More drama! those things can happen WHEN they are better than those 3 you speak of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 (edited) 1. Stop being so stingy with your intellectual property. I understand it may be difficult to deal with this issue, given the fact that you are dealing with many rights holders, but it is nearly impossible to see high quality video of full shows without paying a significant amount of money. What new fan is going to pay a good chunk of change for something that is relatively obscure and not seen before? Sometimes making money means giving some things away free. Give people an easy way to taste a decent sample of your product so they are willing to pay for more of it. 2. More shows in a larger variety of venues that showcase the top corps. As others have mentioned, have more shows throughout the season in larger population centers that feature all of the top 7-10 corps. I dont think the content of drum corps is the problem. The problem with growth is access and marketing. People simply dont know about it, and when they do know about it they are unlikely to have the opportunity to see the best shows except on a crappy internet stream that costs a lot of money. People arent going to cross those barriers to entry without already being predisposed to being an enthusiaistic fan, likely as a result of being in high school marching band. 3. Make your streaming content easier to access on more platforms. Switch to html5 so you can watch video on ipads and iphones. Create a roku app. I am fine paying for the content, but it would be nice to have it available in a more readily accessible format. Let me watch it on my 50" HD television. 4. This might be the most difficult and radical proposition, but I think drum corps would benefit a lot from associating itself with the intercollegiate system. It would probably mean a change in the age levels of participants, but I think associating with universities would help with marketing, fan base, fundraising, etc. I am not talking about football game half time sows (though that might be something that would be beneficial to growing the fanbase. I am talking about competitive drum corps between colleges, either on a school sponsored level (like NCAA sports) or on a non-official private club basis. I was in a college marching band, and while it was fun at times, I ultimately found it a waste of time. The biggest factor was lack of competition. No one had the commitment to excellence that comes with having the drive to win competitions. If colleges sponsored competitive drum corps, I think it would explode. I understand that this is very unlikely to ever even be considered, and would have a lot of drawbacks. It would certainly be something that the current corps would never do. It would have to be a whole new system. The problem with drum corps isnt that it isnt exciting or crowd pleasing. It is that no one is aware of it, and the new potential fans that become aware aren't going to pay the costs to become a fan. P.S. Just to give some context to my suggestions, I am a relatively new drum corps fan that has never participated in a corps. I had a great experience in high school marching band, which is why I am attracted to DCI. These are just some things I have noticed as I have tried to get more excited. Paying $55 to go to a show featuring only 2 or 3 top corps is a lot of money for a casual fan or new fan to pay. Edited June 30, 2012 by jasgre2000 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowtron Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 1. Stop being so stingy with your intellectual property. I understand it may be difficult to deal with this issue, given the fact that you are dealing with many rights holders, but it is nearly impossible to see high quality video of full shows without paying a significant amount of money. What new fan is going to pay a good chunk of change for something that is relatively obscure and not seen before? Sometimes making money means giving some things away free. Give people an easy way to taste a decent sample of your product so they are willing to pay for more of it. 2. More shows in a larger variety of venues that showcase the top corps. As others have mentioned, have more shows throughout the season in larger population centers that feature all of the top 7-10 corps. I dont think the content of drum corps is the problem. The problem with growth is access and marketing. People simply dont know about it, and when they do know about it they are unlikely to have the opportunity to see the best shows except on a crappy internet stream that costs a lot of money. People arent going to cross those barriers to entry without already being predisposed to being an enthusiaistic fan, likely as a result of being in high school marching band. 3. Make your streaming content easier to access on more platforms. Switch to html5 so you can watch video on ipads and iphones. Create a roku app. I am fine paying for the content, but it would be nice to have it available in a more readily accessible format. Let me watch it on my 50" HD television. 4. This might be the most difficult and radical proposition, but I think drum corps would benefit a lot from associating itself with the intercollegiate system. It would probably mean a change in the age levels of participants, but I think associating with universities would help with marketing, fan base, fundraising, etc. I am not talking about football game half time sows (though that might be something that would be beneficial to growing the fanbase. I am talking about competitive drum corps between colleges, either on a school sponsored level (like NCAA sports) or on a non-official private club basis. I was in a college marching band, and while it was fun at times, I ultimately found it a waste of time. The biggest factor was lack of competition. No one had the commitment to excellence that comes with having the drive to win competitions. If colleges sponsored competitive drum corps, I think it would explode. I understand that this is very unlikely to ever even be considered, and would have a lot of drawbacks. It would certainly be something that the current corps would never do. It would have to be a whole new system. The problem with drum corps isnt that it isnt exciting or crowd pleasing. It is that no one is aware of it, and the new potential fans that become aware aren't going to pay the costs to become a fan. P.S. Just to give some context to my suggestions, I am a relatively new drum corps fan that has never participated in a corps. I had a great experience in high school marching band, which is why I am attracted to DCI. These are just some things I have noticed as I have tried to get more excited. Paying $55 to go to a show featuring only 2 or 3 top corps is a lot of money for a casual fan or new fan to pay. These are some good ideas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 1. Stop being so stingy with your intellectual property. I understand it may be difficult to deal with this issue, given the fact that you are dealing with many rights holders, but it is nearly impossible to see high quality video of full shows without paying a significant amount of money. What new fan is going to pay a good chunk of change for something that is relatively obscure and not seen before? Sometimes making money means giving some things away free. Give people an easy way to taste a decent sample of your product so they are willing to pay for more of it. 2. More shows in a larger variety of venues that showcase the top corps. As others have mentioned, have more shows throughout the season in larger population centers that feature all of the top 7-10 corps. I dont think the content of drum corps is the problem. The problem with growth is access and marketing. People simply dont know about it, and when they do know about it they are unlikely to have the opportunity to see the best shows except on a crappy internet stream that costs a lot of money. People arent going to cross those barriers to entry without already being predisposed to being an enthusiaistic fan, likely as a result of being in high school marching band. 3. Make your streaming content easier to access on more platforms. Switch to html5 so you can watch video on ipads and iphones. Create a roku app. I am fine paying for the content, but it would be nice to have it available in a more readily accessible format. Let me watch it on my 50" HD television. 4. This might be the most difficult and radical proposition, but I think drum corps would benefit a lot from associating itself with the intercollegiate system. It would probably mean a change in the age levels of participants, but I think associating with universities would help with marketing, fan base, fundraising, etc. I am not talking about football game half time sows (though that might be something that would be beneficial to growing the fanbase. I am talking about competitive drum corps between colleges, either on a school sponsored level (like NCAA sports) or on a non-official private club basis. I was in a college marching band, and while it was fun at times, I ultimately found it a waste of time. The biggest factor was lack of competition. No one had the commitment to excellence that comes with having the drive to win competitions. If colleges sponsored competitive drum corps, I think it would explode. I understand that this is very unlikely to ever even be considered, and would have a lot of drawbacks. It would certainly be something that the current corps would never do. It would have to be a whole new system. The problem with drum corps isnt that it isnt exciting or crowd pleasing. It is that no one is aware of it, and the new potential fans that become aware aren't going to pay the costs to become a fan. P.S. Just to give some context to my suggestions, I am a relatively new drum corps fan that has never participated in a corps. I had a great experience in high school marching band, which is why I am attracted to DCI. These are just some things I have noticed as I have tried to get more excited. Paying $55 to go to a show featuring only 2 or 3 top corps is a lot of money for a casual fan or new fan to pay. Responses: 1) Unless a particular corps produces completely "origonal" material created by the corps staff the Intellectual Property is not a Drum Corps issue; it is the issue of those who own the rights to said property which are the "Publishers" of the Music. These publishers run what is called a business; and the first axiom in business is to make a profit. If you want the corps to give away stuff for free then the corps will have to come up with their own creations (not arrangements of others work/property). 2) See the G7 proposal; your number 2 is in direct agreement with that proposal. 3) Not a bad idea; especially if you are willing to pay for the content. 4) All of the Regiment enrolled at Rockford College; All of the Blue Knights enrolled at UC Bolder; All of the Scouts enrolled at UW Madison... that is what it would take to accomplish your goal of associating the corps with the intercollegiate system; and even then they would be in different intercollegiate divisions so they would not be able to compete with each other. In my opinion not a good idea at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 1. Stop being so stingy with your intellectual property. I understand it may be difficult to deal with this issue, given the fact that you are dealing with many rights holders, but it is nearly impossible to see high quality video of full shows without paying a significant amount of money. What new fan is going to pay a good chunk of change for something that is relatively obscure and not seen before? Sometimes making money means giving some things away free. Give people an easy way to taste a decent sample of your product so they are willing to pay for more of it. Not only is this a slippery slope, but it's the epitome of the "me" generation: I want something, so I obviously think I'm entitled to it for free whenever I want to see it. There are plenty of free samples on Fan Network and a plethora of video on youtube (unauthorized or otherwise) for folks to check out and make the decision to buy or not. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveKathyG Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 To me, it's so painfully obvious. Be who you are. It really doesn't matter if that results in an activity with a huge fan base or small niche following. Extinction isn't the thing to be feared. The thing to fear is becoming irrelevant to even those most enthusiastically invested. IMHO, we're headed in the latter direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Responses: 1) Unless a particular corps produces completely "origonal" material created by the corps staff the Intellectual Property is not a Drum Corps issue; it is the issue of those who own the rights to said property which are the "Publishers" of the Music. These publishers run what is called a business; and the first axiom in business is to make a profit. If you want the corps to give away stuff for free then the corps will have to come up with their own creations (not arrangements of others work/property). This is not true. You can get rights holders to sign over rights for a free sample show. People do it all the time. It will costs some money, but you can do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Not only is this a slippery slope, but it's the epitome of the "me" generation: I want something, so I obviously think I'm entitled to it for free whenever I want to see it. There are plenty of free samples on Fan Network and a plethora of video on youtube (unauthorized or otherwise) for folks to check out and make the decision to buy or not. I think you completely missed the point. No one is suggesting that all Drum Corps shows be made available for free on the internet. I am suggesting make a full show or two available for people that have never heard of drum corps before, so they can get a taste of it. There is nothing greedy about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barigirl78 Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 How does DCI draw in a new fan base? CROWN a new champion! That's right....when the competition is dominated by the same 3 corps, it tends to taint the product. When there is competition from NIGHT TO NIGHT rather than YEAR TO YEAR.....things get spicy. Why can't Crossmen have a flawless run and beat the pants off Cadets and Crown who are cleaning in June? Ok a bit far fetched...but that's the idea. More drama! Yep. The most successful sports organization in America is the NFL. It leaves all the other sports in the dust from a popularity basis. One of the NFL's most brilliant moves was to institute the salary cap. It prevents any one organization(I think you, NY Yankees) to outspend all the other ones for players. Thus, you CAN see teams go from last place to the playoffs in one or two seasons. It spreads the wealth and leaves the fans of any particular team hopeful that they can see it happen. Drum corps doesn't have salaries, but it has developed a "rich get richer/poor get poorer" situation. I actually find what happens outside the top 3 or 4 corps far more interesting because there is more movement season to season in the 7 through 23 slots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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