More Licensing Issues

[Jeff Ream]

Again, I REALLY think people give these guys (Hoppy, other DCI directors) FAR too much credit. I almost think Hop would agree with me on this one, but no offense meant to him or other directors. But I'm pretty sure that none of the DCI directors are thinking deviously, or even tacitly malicious as outlined in Mr. Freedman's post.

Again, I think this is clearly all about "we need to squeeze every last .1 out of the effect caption, regardless of after-the-season ramifications regarding archival material." Corps directors & designers are all about gaining a competitive edge, and I suspect that for the most part designers and directors are OK with the thought of gaining an edge at the expense of damaging the archival products. Most human beings concern themselves mainly with the here and now, sometimes at the expense of 'down the road' ramifications. Obviously DCI doesn't seem to stress to heavily that this is a big deal and corps should not do this, so why would directors & designers not concern themselves with competitive advantage/live performance?

and let's be honest...did they get that last tenth?

[JimF-LowBari]

Corps directors & designers are all about gaining a competitive edge, and I suspect that for the most part designers and directors are OK with the thought of gaining an edge at the expense of damaging the archival products. Most human beings concern themselves mainly with the here and now, sometimes at the expense of 'down the road' ramifications. Obviously DCI doesn't seem to stress to heavily that this is a big deal and corps should not do this, so why would directors & designers not concern themselves with competitive advantage/live performance?

Well it's not like they're getting paid to worry about what makes the CD/DVD either. So not thinking this is going to get better......

Edited November 15, 2012 by JimF-LowBari

[cixelsyd]

Ok; I still think this is pretty far out there. With all of the stuff that goes on during a summer tour, making a small design decision (for example, the addition of the Peanuts sample in Cadets) based on the fact of "I'm not clearing rights with this and DCI will lose money & my competing circuit will gain hahahahahaha (said while twirling mustache in an evil way)" seems pretty silly. I get what you're saying, but since most of these rights issues are from corps not involved in the "G7" defection, that argument doesn't hold up well logically. Remember that "DCI's income stream," specifically from the sales of archival audio & video, is funneled back to the corps themselves. Decision makers' actions are not generally based on cutting off their own nose to spite their face, since as you (correctly) imply they are generally intelligent people.

You forget that in the case of sync rights, a situation develops where the offending corps can still get their own income stream while DCI does not get theirs. If it is a most favored nation issue, the corps might be able to foot the bill for their own video licensing, but DCI cannot afford to pay the higher rate across all the other content on their product. Potentially, the fair use issue could be another way in which an individual corps can become the sole source for their unedited field show video. For a corps that is already invested in releasing their own tour DVD or similar product, there could be a significant boost to their own sales as a result.

You are correct to point out that this is not full blown G7 conspiracy at work. We do not see all seven of those corps purposely selecting music that will cause sync licensing issues. But at the same time, I doubt any one of them would lose sleep over their video being edited on the DCI product, given all these circumstances.

[cixelsyd]

There is another element here regarding the intentions of the corps directors. And that is that they actually might have hoped (expected?) that all the approvals required would be secured.

And that might be a perfectly valid mindset in September - but not in July.

[Grumpy]

I have asserted elsewhere that the shows should be vetted much earlier,.........but how about a deadline of mid season in regards to the mechanical/sync rights portion, so that the audio/video products do not have to be sliced up post season............something like "no rights by July 15, remove the material"

But then there is still the possibility of what happened in 2008...rights were granted, then rescinded after the finished product had already begun shipping, which caused an immediate halt to the shipments, and an edit to remove that portion before they could resume shipping.

[jjeffeory]

I completely agree. This is not about undermining anything, remove your tinfoil hats, please

I would agree with you if it was an isolated occurrence. When it becomes a trend, that is a little more disturbing. If it gets even worse next year, well, there's at least one problem regardless of the original source that should be addressed.

[Pete Freedman]

It's not like the design team stops working after tour starts. So you are then asking them to simultaneously split their focus between developing a world class drum corps program while knee deep in the implementation of another. Not an impossible task. I mean other industries operate this way. But higher demands on staff means higher compensation. Either directly to arrangers, etc. or in hiring additional staff to manage the separate trains. It's not as simple as it seems.

I don't think there's any need to start the design process any earlier than they do now. It's been said that the sync rights can take "weeks, or even months". To me that doesn't sound like a problem where Hop tells Ric Oberlin in January that they will be need sync rights for certain Peanuts clips, and in the following October Ric tells Hop, "Oops, it didn't go through".

It sounds more like Hop knows the Christmas music idea is firmed up in January, but decides to leave the issue of audio clips until they see "what they are working with". Sometime in May or June the drill is starting to be taught, and Hop's mind is "a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives..." *

Someone says, "Hey, how using about clips from a Peanut's Christmas". Hop says "Great idea!" and Ric finds out at some point after that, and has to rush around like a flea at Westminster to get the rights.

* Fifteen is my limit on schnitzengruben.

[MikeN]

+1 for the movie references. What's with DCP and Blazing Saddles lately?

Mike

[garfield]

I don't think there's any need to start the design process any earlier than they do now. It's been said that the sync rights can take "weeks, or even months". To me that doesn't sound like a problem where Hop tells Ric Oberlin in January that they will be need sync rights for certain Peanuts clips, and in the following October Ric tells Hop, "Oops, it didn't go through".

It sounds more like Hop knows the Christmas music idea is firmed up in January, but decides to leave the issue of audio clips until they see "what they are working with". Sometime in May or June the drill is starting to be taught, and Hop's mind is "a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives..." *

Someone says, "Hey, how using about clips from a Peanut's Christmas". Hop says "Great idea!" and Ric finds out at some point after that, and has to rush around like a flea at Westminster to get the rights.

* Fifteen is my limit on schnitzengruben.

I wonder how much of this problem is the corps presenting DCI with a list of 15 "Chop and Bop" snippets that will make up the show and expecting DCI to get the appropriate rights. When the staff comes back with "It will cost $15,000 (or some un-Godly amount) to secure rights from 12 of them, and the other 3 say "No", said corps director says "That's your problem, DCI! I must be able to create my art! I am an ARTISTE!"

Just curious if the push for artiste-quality productions is bleeding DCI dry via rights payments.

Seems inequitiable that payments to corps are guaranteed before the season when DCI doesn't know how much they'll need to spend on rights approval.

Who's taking the rights risk of a corps' show when corps payments are guaranteed?

Seems to me that corps payouts should be determined AFTER the list of needed rights, and the costs to attain them, are determined, not before.

Maybe it's just me.

Where is it written that DCI has to take the financial and time risk to attain rights for a corps show? Is it in the by-laws?

Edited November 15, 2012 by garfield

[Corbin]

" I must be able to create my art! I am an ARTISTE!"

I know I may be taking this little line out of context, but this is actually my problem with many corps now. It have become more and more about the people teaching than it is about the kids. But, if I say this during the summer on DCP, boy do I get beat up badly.