Jump to content

G7 Update


Recommended Posts

I am sorry, but I do not see how that email "makes sense" on any level. Do you think it makes sense to ask for sweeping change to DCI bylaws and the composition of the BOD via email one Wednesday morning, and expect serious consideration and a response by the following Monday?

The explanation follows in the rest of the paragraph that you failed to quote. From their POV it's an understandable position. Does that mean *I* think their proposal is a good idea? I think I've made that clear.

Wait - what was the rational reason for having a separate entity perform these tasks in the first place? DCI is perfectly capable of executing facility contracts, selling tickets, and collecting/distributing revenue.

It seems clear that DCI agreed to allow the G7 to take over management/operation of the TOC series. If you take that as a given, creating the MiM corporation follows logically from there.

We have no hard facts at all. One might presume that this an extension of the TOC trial. Perhaps the G7 said "we can manage/operate those shows far more profitably. give us a chance to prove it". No idea if that's even in the ball park. But given the limited amount of data it somewhat makes sense. You can look at the operating model now and poke big holes in it. As I said earlier, does it make sense for DCI to run shows as fundraisers for third-party organizations? Because that's effectively what's now in place. I don't know the answer. And I'm not even sure the MiM series would/will provide incontrovertible proof of concept (because the line-up is skewed pretty far from a 'normal' show).

As I've said repeatedly -- this is not a typical group of business executives in a board room. It's a bunch of guys from the creative department. There's bound to be excessive fireworks and limitless drama. I do think there's a shred of hope because there's already been compromise. The very existence of the TOC and now the MiM kind of says "ok. we're willing to try it and see'. I also firmly believe that everyone involved has what they perceive to be the best interests of the activity at heart. Hopefully they'll figure it out.

Edited by corpsband
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have we seen stats on just the G7 shows in terms of attendance, profit etc?

We haven't seen stats on any shows. I'm willing to speculate they were very well attended (if only from the occasional tweet about how large the crowds seemed to be). All the other stats flow from attendance.

Edited by corpsband
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a TEP, and I disagree. The top corps are too expensive and increase the price of our contract way more than we can sell enough extra tickets to make up the difference. In case you didn't know, the top corps are getting $5,000 per show. That is a huge increase in the past few years. The next level down gets $3,000 and below the top 12 gets $2,000. So I would rather have 2 non finalist corps rather than one top 6 - save a $1,000 and be able to advertise more corps appearing. (As I said earlier, we've seen very little difference in ticket sales based on our lineup. We had 2 top 3 a couple of years ago and advertised the heck out of that and... no difference from the year before when we had no top 3) You probably know that we don't get to pick our show line ups, so I can't say to DCI -" no top 6 please and give me more non-finalists." But if I could, I would. And I can't say this is true for all shows of course, but it is absolutely true of mine. (Many years in now so lots of data to support this)

OK here is a chance to help out Open Class with all the money your show generates you could host an Open Class show and support all the corps there and they would actually get paid for apearing and help support the grass roots of the activity and still bring in one or two of the big guys 16 corps line up wow

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I emailed DCI about costs and they actually messaged me within minutes. Here is a clip from the 2014 TEP contract:

"For a World Class event, the average DCI contract for a 6-8 corps show is approximately $25,000 (depending upon line-up) and a Open Class show is approximately $7000 for 8-12 corps. Additional corps would increase the contract from $500-2500 per corps. What are your budget limitations and how many corps would you anticipate having in your show?"

This goes against $5k for a top corps, and does not break down actual costs. I guess since you really can't choose what corps come your way if you hold a show it really doesn't matter exactly what each corps are getting?

There are other parameters as far as holding a sanctioned show. I wonder if you could hold an unsanctioned show? For instance, could you put together an "Open Invitational" that would be the day before or after Allentown? No DCI judges, just a panel or crowd judging. Pay the corps to show up. Could the G7 (or anyone really) just hold a show and pay top dollar to the corps to show up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a TEP, and I disagree. The top corps are too expensive and increase the price of our contract way more than we can sell enough extra tickets to make up the difference. In case you didn't know, the top corps are getting $5,000 per show. That is a huge increase in the past few years. The next level down gets $3,000 and below the top 12 gets $2,000. So I would rather have 2 non finalist corps rather than one top 6 - save a $1,000 and be able to advertise more corps appearing. (As I said earlier, we've seen very little difference in ticket sales based on our lineup. We had 2 top 3 a couple of years ago and advertised the heck out of that and... no difference from the year before when we had no top 3) You probably know that we don't get to pick our show line ups, so I can't say to DCI -" no top 6 please and give me more non-finalists." But if I could, I would. And I can't say this is true for all shows of course, but it is absolutely true of mine. (Many years in now so lots of data to support this)

This makes sense to me. While a lot of us who have spent time around the activity are pretty discerning, to those whose only exposure is a few shows (likely just their yearly local show), most are very entertained by the 12-17 group. They see an entertaining product that is very precise by any standards theyve seen (mostly compared to local HS groups), and dont necessarily see the dirt that we've been trained to see. Ive seen crowds go nuts over 14th ranked groups. You do start to see a drop-off in fan reaction as you get to the far low end (especially the smaller corps), but thats pretty irrelevant when we're talking about the g7, as id wager the next 7 corps are just as entertaining to 90% of fans as the g7. Hell, madison, one of the non g7 corps, gets as much if not more reaction than just about any g7 corps. Certainly more than the recent champion..

So when most fans are almost equally entertained by 6 corps no matter their makeup, its hard to justify the investment, and hard to justify the 'we are the show' mentality from the g7

Edited by AlexL
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I emailed DCI about costs and they actually messaged me within minutes. Here is a clip from the 2014 TEP contract:

"For a World Class event, the average DCI contract for a 6-8 corps show is approximately $25,000 (depending upon line-up) and a Open Class show is approximately $7000 for 8-12 corps. Additional corps would increase the contract from $500-2500 per corps. What are your budget limitations and how many corps would you anticipate having in your show?"

This goes against $5k for a top corps, and does not break down actual costs. I guess since you really can't choose what corps come your way if you hold a show it really doesn't matter exactly what each corps are getting?

There are other parameters as far as holding a sanctioned show. I wonder if you could hold an unsanctioned show? For instance, could you put together an "Open Invitational" that would be the day before or after Allentown? No DCI judges, just a panel or crowd judging. Pay the corps to show up. Could the G7 (or anyone really) just hold a show and pay top dollar to the corps to show up?

I don't know why you say this goes against 5K for a top corps? I'm telling you that my contract includes $5,000 for corps 1-6, $3,000 for 7-12 and $2,000 for below that. Not sure about open this year as I don't have any. Doing the math using the placements of the corps that I will host, the corps fees come up to 20k, which means the extra costs are a bit over 6k.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Round and round we go...

Want to cut down on contest expenses and have more money for corps? Trim down judging panels and mean it. Have real faith in the people you accredit to judge and don't double up big captions in big shows. Consolidate captions overall. As you rebalance the sheets to reflect music more realistically, it would be easy to design five judge panels. Talk about savings!

Someone mentioned G7 frustration that the other corps aren't "keeping pace." Bless those other corps for doing just that. The changes pushed by the G7 ring leaders have made this activity more and more prohibitively expensive.

Here's the baseline question: What's best for the entire drum corps activity?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK here is a chance to help out Open Class with all the money your show generates you could host an Open Class show and support all the corps there and they would actually get paid for apearing and help support the grass roots of the activity and still bring in one or two of the big guys 16 corps line up wow

I wish we could. We do not live in a place that is anywhere near where the open class corps tour goes however. It would be out of the way and therefore not feasible. We have had 1 or 2 in the past, that were luckily going through to get to their tour and were able to do our show, but other than that it's pretty tough. But when we've had open class corps, they've received a very nice response from our crowd. Had a cadet corps a few years ago - brought the house down. :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know why you say this goes against 5K for a top corps? I'm telling you that my contract includes $5,000 for corps 1-6, $3,000 for 7-12 and $2,000 for below that. Not sure about open this year as I don't have any. Doing the math using the placements of the corps that I will host, the corps fees come up to 20k, which means the extra costs are a bit over 6k.

I believe you, it's just that the email from DCI states that adding a World Class corps to a show is $500 to $2500. The part I posted is the only mention of costs: "For a World Class event, the average DCI contract for a 6-8 corps show is approximately $25,000 (depending upon line-up) and a Open Class show is approximately $7000 for 8-12 corps. Additional corps would increase the contract from $500-2500 per corps. What are your budget limitations and how many corps would you anticipate having in your show? "

Maybe ADDING corps after the line up is set maxes out at $2,500?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel like content should be given away for free as a promotional tool to generate more interest. This is the model of the music industry now... free the music, increase the fan base, make up the revenues in other areas.

even then why bother? if you're gtting shows that are all cut up due to licensing, who cares, it's an incomplete product

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...