BRASSO Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 (edited) The reasons have been debated ad nauseum here, but Glory is absolutely correct in that those who are looking for corps to do retro, backwards-looking shows are looking at this backwards to trying to maintain and maybe even grow the activity. Your next post hit at the direction needed, though you and I may have different conclusions as to what that direction should be. :smile:/>/>/>/> I have no illusions that we can put all the toothpaste back in the tiny tube, once its out. We can't go back anymore to a decades earlier form of Drum Corps even if we collectively decided to do so, which we don't all agree on to begin with. So that type of discussion is a non starter for me even if I might be inclined to share their frustrations. From here, we have to decide what is the best way to grow an audience base as well as a marching participatory base that presumably we all can agree we want to see take place in the future. How we move forward is where the discussion focus should be on, imo. We need to get more people out to the shows. How we do so is what we should be discussing, not the loss of TV exposure to Drum Corps. As I said, the loss of TV exposure with the Championships is a sidebar, and rear view mirror stuff, imo Edited May 20, 2013 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 This is an intriguing thought. My question is how can DCI achieve growth via TV without eating into revenue generated from existing fans? Or to ask it a different way: Isn't that what DCI is doing now? The free content on YouTube versus the complete content on FanNetwork? HH I think your two questions are part of the same solution, but I'm not sure that it is THE solution. TV is a crappy idiom for drum corps even with today's HD broadcasts. There's simply no substitution for a live performance in power, impact, or subtlety. Yes, cameras can give multiple views and MM faces that can't be seen from the stands, but the experience of drum corps is polar when comparing live with TV. For that reason alone, IMO, spending on TV production of whole shows is a waste of time; let whole shows be the realm of FN where fans, who are willing to sacrifice the "effect" of live performance just to see a show or stay up on the activity, will pay a subscription cost to do so. Mass broadcast TV, should it ever be used, should be redirected to show what drum corps is about from a MM's perspective. The personal stories behind the scenes, the practice, the blisters, the hugs and director-talks in the huddle, the striving to make the cut, the disappointment of not doing so, the angst of parents seeing their kids leave and the thrill of those same parents when their kid succeeds. On and on... THESE are the stories that appeal to a much wider audience than do complete shows. Complete shows as entertainment is, well, just entertainment, in a world filled with competing choices and the added burden of being "band". Make TV about the kids and what DC does for them as people. Leave the complete show idiom to the existing fans who are willing to pay to see a show on a flat screen where they can envision what it must really sound like live. The audience we want - the newbies - have no idea what a real show sounds like so they can't impart that knowledge on the 2D screen and earbuds. There was a reason why "On the Road Again..." was so popular BITD as silly as it was. More people can relate to kids being kidson a bus or gym floor than can relate to kids being drum corps gods and goddesses. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 This is an intriguing thought. My question is how can DCI achieve growth via TV without eating into revenue generated from existing fans? Or to ask it a different way: Isn't that what DCI is doing now? The free content on YouTube versus the complete content on FanNetwork? HH FanNetwork, YouTube, or TV - it's all the same thing. But what DCI is doing now is focusing on the entertainment of drum corps in hopes of getting people as fans of the entertainment. The facts of attendee demographics bely this approach; the VAST number of fans at shows are already connected to the activity in one way or another. DCI needs to STOP worrying about what song to play at retreat and start focusing on the kids. Drum corps shows may be a unique form of entertainment but the idiom gets lost in the world of other choices for the uninitiated. How drum corps molds kids is no different than how football molds kids, and that result is the desire of nearly every parent on the planet. Kids who are better at fingering keys or playing diddles than they are at throwing a ball or hitting a puck NEED the kind of experience that drum corps provides. Market THAT instead of hobby-horses or fancy plumes or new yellow horns and I'm convinced that interest by kids will increase. Then DCI needs to keep them, and their parents, as longer-term fans because of the kids' smiles and accomplishments instead of because BD beat Crown by a tenth. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 Its my favorite lapsed logic too. Thats because the lapsed logic forgets that the most logical reason that more Corps died in the 70's is because there were so many more Corps in numbers available to potentially die. Nice try but no. Even on a percentage basis my logic is still sound. How many corps that performed at finals that peak year in Montreal survived to perform in Orlando? Or in Indy? Both the percentage and the raw numbers are small, which is my (correct) point. I'm not saying that Ice Castles or the high mark time killed corps. All I'm saying is that, like TV, the programming of 30 and 40 years ago didn't spark growth in drum corps. Fact. HH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyd Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 One of my favorite lapses in logic. More corps died during this purported perfect program period than in any time since. The golden age of Chuck Mangione and the 50-yard-line drumline elevator shaft didn't attract new corps to the activity - the key to growth in audience - any more than broadcast TV did. On the contrary, all those sops and contras serenaded a far larger exodus than any since Bb or electronics. Programming isn't the problem - live or on video. Careful with that train of thought. Someone is apt to suggest that the squad drills, 128 BPM music and static rulebook of the 1950s serenaded an explosion of growth in the junior activity, with the implication that something about that era might be more conducive to growth than what we have now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 Careful with that train of thought. Someone is apt to suggest that the squad drills, 128 BPM music and static rulebook of the 1950s serenaded an explosion of growth in the junior activity, with the implication that something about that era might be more conducive to growth than what we have now. Touche! HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 FanNetwork, YouTube, or TV - it's all the same thing. But what DCI is doing now is focusing on the entertainment of drum corps in hopes of getting people as fans of the entertainment. The facts of attendee demographics bely this approach; the VAST number of fans at shows are already connected to the activity in one way or another. DCI needs to STOP worrying about what song to play at retreat and start focusing on the kids. Drum corps shows may be a unique form of entertainment but the idiom gets lost in the world of other choices for the uninitiated. How drum corps molds kids is no different than how football molds kids, and that result is the desire of nearly every parent on the planet. Kids who are better at fingering keys or playing diddles than they are at throwing a ball or hitting a puck NEED the kind of experience that drum corps provides. Market THAT instead of hobby-horses or fancy plumes or new yellow horns and I'm convinced that interest by kids will increase. Then DCI needs to keep them, and their parents, as longer-term fans because of the kids' smiles and accomplishments instead of because BD beat Crown by a tenth. This is a great point. When I reflect on my time in drum corps as a member & staff member, and what it means to me, it's not so much the music we played, drill we marched, or placement we took. It was more the goofy stuff, like bus shenanigans, friendships developed, strong relationships (met my wife teaching drum corps; best man & maid of honor at our wedding also drum corps friends). Let along the fundamental life lessons that I still strive to live up to today, and pass on to my students. That's the type of thing that is nearly impossible to convey via any sort of medium. The little vignettes on Fan Network help, but it's so difficult to ride that fine line between show that side of the activity vs "what a bunch of bandos!" type stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 (edited) ...DCI needs to STOP worrying about what song to play at retreat and start focusing on the kids. Drum corps shows may be a unique form of entertainment but the idiom gets lost in the world of other choices for the uninitiated. ...Market THAT instead of hobby-horses or fancy plumes or new yellow horns and I'm convinced that interest by kids will increase... You mean features like this: I agree with you. But where's the market for this good content in a cable array vying, it seems, to show losers losing more than winners winning? HH Edited May 21, 2013 by glory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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