Pete Freedman Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 Questions to consider about the above... Given the difficulty in finding housing sites for even a single night, how do the corps find housing for these 'base' times that extend over a week and longer? They still have to feed and house members from all over the country in these 'down' times when no revenue is coming in. Would there be enough marching members willing to compete for half the time and spend the rest rehearsing for a week+ at a time with no performances to speak of? Don't 'visiting' members stay with the families of local members? Do they get paid by the corps for this? As far as part time touring goes; there's no restriction on performances, only DCI competitions, right? The corps could try to line up some standstill, sit-down, or half-time performances during that time. One reason is keeping the members interested, but the other is that you only really get better through performance (beyond a point), so if you don't perform enough you won't be as strong at finals, which I would think affects your membership the next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Don't 'visiting' members stay with the families of local members? Do they get paid by the corps for this? A couple of things come to mind... 1) DCI WC Corps are not made up of primarily 'local members' anymore, so there is not a ready supply of families with housing close by a corps 'home location'. 2) if a corps starts a tour for, say a week or two, and then has to stop for a week or two, they are probably nowhere close to their home base, so they need to find a place to stay near where they are. If Crown does the two-week tour that ends in, say, Boston, do they drive all the way back to their home base? That eats up some of the savings right there, since there would be no revenue coming in. Would the Crossmen doing the same tour events have to drive back to Texas? I'm not sure that logistically that type of start and stop for the entire season is very feasible. As far as part time touring goes; there's no restriction on performances, only DCI competitions, right? The corps could try to line up some standstill, sit-down, or half-time performances during that time. One reason is keeping the members interested, but the other is that you only really get better through performance (beyond a point), so if you don't perform enough you won't be as strong at finals, which I would think affects your membership the next year. Half time of what? Standstills, sit-downs, etc...are hardly geared to keeping the performance level up, nor would it bring in revenue enough to speak of most of the time. Plus, is that what a 20-21 year-old college student at the top of his/her game performance-caliber-wise is looking to do with their summer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) Standstills, sit-downs, etc...are hardly geared to keeping the performance level up, nor would it bring in revenue enough to speak of most of the time. crowd(?) x ticket price(?)- venue(?) cost = income from standstill Can't see a big crowd or big ticket prices for a sit down. Plus number of indoor venues that can accomadate a full sized corps is less than number of outdoor (stadium) sites. s/ guy who has seen a lot more indoor shows than outdoor the last few years. Edited October 23, 2012 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Speaking of skunks, it's been my impression that in general drum corps alums aren't supportive enough financially. Think about it. Every (big) corps has more than 100 members, lately verging on 150. If only 35 were unique to each year, and if those 35 gave an average of only $100 a year to their corps, then just 20 years of alums would be worth $70,000 in donations at that (low) average. Most of these corps have been around longer than 20 years. And there are likely a lot more than 35 people added to the alumni roll each year. If this is the profound, life-changing experience everyone says it is, why isn't more money flowing from alumni pockets to the corps accounts? At 50 individuals a year and $200 a year on average (not that unreasonable when you consider what drum corps means) is $100,000 for every 10 years of alums. Thirty years of alums ought to be worth $300,000 in donations. I know this arithmetic is simplistic bordering on stupid. I'm standing by the premise anyway: Alums should be doing more to support their corps. That they aren't is the saddest comment I know on the activity. HH 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitedawn Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Short term: *Smaller staff *Start tour later *Eliminate any "extra" entourage vehicles Long term: *Find non-touring revenues *Automate souvenir process (Why are corps still handling ordering and shipping logistics?! Farm it out!) To your second point . . . I wasn't saying I had an answer for more non-touring revenue. I was just stating a "fact" as I saw it. Tour savings will not, in and of themselves, change a corps' finances enough to be closer to long term solvency. Additional revenue is the more likely answer. YES YES YES YES YES No one understands this, or at least very few will consider it. Corps should be reimagining off-season revenue streams that are possible from already-existing assets. Most corps have a trailer that has a freaking kitchen in it that sits in a lot for 9 months a year. Why isn't that asset sweating? What about that truck full of MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS? What do corps (by and large) do pretty well? Logistics. Why aren't corps monetizing that expertise? Why doesn't a corps set up a company that acts as a "clearinghouse" for local/state marching instructors? Make it so that bands pay into a pool, and the instructor gets paid regularly and predictably. There's money there with volume and relationships. Also, corps SHOULD NOT be hiring 4 guys at $20,000 each to help them find money. They should be hiring ONE GUY at $50,000 plus a cut of whatever he raises. For the right guy, it's GOLD. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyRyder_FMM Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Short term: *Smaller staff *Start tour later *Eliminate any "extra" entourage vehicles Long term: *Find non-touring revenues *Automate souvenir process (Why are corps still handling ordering and shipping logistics?! Farm it out!) YES YES YES YES YES No one understands this, or at least very few will consider it. Corps should be reimagining off-season revenue streams that are possible from already-existing assets. Most corps have a trailer that has a freaking kitchen in it that sits in a lot for 9 months a year. Why isn't that asset sweating? What about that truck full of MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS? What do corps (by and large) do pretty well? Logistics. Why aren't corps monetizing that expertise? Why doesn't a corps set up a company that acts as a "clearinghouse" for local/state marching instructors? Make it so that bands pay into a pool, and the instructor gets paid regularly and predictably. There's money there with volume and relationships. Also, corps SHOULD NOT be hiring 4 guys at $20,000 each to help them find money. They should be hiring ONE GUY at $50,000 plus a cut of whatever he raises. For the right guy, it's GOLD. Farming out souvenir logistics is not practical. It is too expensive, and there are minimal sales in theoff season. Most sales occur on tour. Kitchen trailers are simply not an option for farming out. They do not meet standards necessary to obtain the necessary licenses and permits. Only one corps has a kitchen trailer that could serve tis purpose. Tour logisitcs can't necessarily be farmed out by the corps. The folks that do this are typically not full time employees (or even part time employees). Look at the 990s - you will see the number of employees is minimal. These folks already operate at capacity to do what they already do to keep the lights on. Setting up a clearinghouse for "local" staffs? There are not many corps that could say their staff is local to make this work. There are so many issues with this idea, it is simply not practical. I do not know of a sinlge corps paying 4 people $20,000 to help them find money. Look at the corps 990's. you will see that most operate with minimal staff. You hit the nail on the head early on - non-touring revenues. Expansion of the revenue base is necessary, as is diversification of revenues, and corps must do everything possible to look for fundraising opportunities that expand beyond the alumni and support base (i.e., non-drum corps related fundraising). Think golf tournaments. All you need are golfers that like to play in tournaments - they do not need to be drum corps fans (and it would probably be best if they were not - donor fatigue will come into play at some point). Corps that have all their eggs in the bingo basket are ticking time bombs. Donations, fundraising, grants, fundraising, performance fees, fundraising, member dues, fundraising - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Most corps have a trailer that has a freaking kitchen in it that sits in a lot for 9 months a year. Why isn't that asset sweating? What about that truck full of MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS? Yup...I was talking to a board member of one of the Open class corps at a USBands show where he was manning a recruiting table...his corps brass and percussion equipment is currently spread out all over the mid-Atlantic area with HS Bands. Makes some money and creates a connection to a number of bands for recruitment. A GREAT idea, IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyRyder_FMM Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 What if you charge the same or slightly less for fees but don't tour as much? The kids are with the corps from move ins to finals so they spend the same amount of time with the corps but they spend more time rehearsing than touring? 2 weeks touring, 2 weeks at base, 10 days touring, 10 days at base etc. Would save a small fortune on fuel if nothing else. Under this approach, there would be no savings on food, staff costs (salaries or transportation), insurance, or equipment costs. Three would be lost revenue from performance fees and souvenir sales foregone by staying at the "home base" vs. touring and performing. Under this approach, the cost of housing would increase. When you perform, you get a night of housing provided. If you are not performing, you might have to find your own housing, and you likely pay for it. Housing is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain (especially for long durations of time, as you propose), and it is increasingly a larger percentage of corps budgets. This approach may reduced fuel costs, but there would be as much asvings on the bus lease, which is typically the single largest expense for a corps. Once you get the busses, you have them for the summer. It's more expensive to get them on again, and off again, then it is to have them for a set period of time. The fuel savings would hardly be a small fortune. The fuel budget is quite simple. There are 7 or 8 vehicles on tour in addition to busses. Fuel for the busses is usually included in the bus lease. The 7 to 8 vehicles get about 7 to 8 miles per gallon, so every mile traveled consumes 1 gallon of fuel across the fleet. Fuel is simply the miles traveled times the cost of fuel. The bus lease is a bit more complicated, as fuel is only one component of the cost. You have use of the equipment, drivers, insurance, hedging costs, etc., all embedded in the overall lease. You can get savings on the bus lease if you reduce milage, but unless you reduce the number of days of use, the savings are not as significant as you might think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barifonium Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 (edited) It would probably surprise many people that there were 76 active junior corps in North America this summer. We know there were nowhere near that many on the field, so that means there were quite a few that have found a place to exist in the "nether" world of local parades and standstill exhibitions. ...like Prarie Sound, et al. I'd sure like a list of these corps in this nether world! Most corps have a trailer that has a freaking kitchen in it that sits in a lot for 9 months a year. Why isn't that asset sweating? What about that truck full of MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS? This part intrigued me... I know the instruments are expensive, but what if the Corps rented out their trucks (the identification markers would have to be covered by something blank and temporary) and their instruments? Would instrument makers reimburse Corps that lent out instruments for this purpose? Corps --[lends band]--> brass/drums (the outside of the cases marked with the brand name and the name of the corps) Instrument maker --[pays]--- Corps advertising fees for direct exposure to market. The Corps might have to cover for damages if they are to be paid by their sponsor for such exposure. Kitchen trailers are simply not an option for farming out. They do not meet standards necessary to obtain the necessary licenses and permits. Only one corps has a kitchen trailer that could serve tis purpose. ...then let's fix that? Hooray weekend work and volunteers! Edited October 24, 2012 by Barifonium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 (edited) I agree that alums should support their corps. Many people probably think that their $20, $50 or a hrundred bucks won't go far. However, when you consider the thousands of alumni that many corps have, the numbers add up pretty quick. A few bucks from each alumn won't be missed by the individual, but greatly appreciated by the corps. Also, don't forget to look for matching gifts from your employer!!! PS - also consider sponsoring a kid this year to help pay their tour fees. $100 towards someone's tour fees will help. Not only that, by doing this, the person you're sponsoring will be more likely to give back by sponsoring someone when they become an alum. Edited October 24, 2012 by drumcorpsfever 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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