Why doesnt DCI allow fans to vote?

[Jeff Ream]

happens all the time in WGI..lol all it meant was they got more people to vote had nothing to do with who was better or even more entertaining.

correct. I worked with a silver medalist a few years ago...lost by .025 ( not bitter much anymore, I just refuse to endorse a certain persons sticks LOL)....and we all got on our phones, logged into Facebook and told everyone to vote.

We won the vote. And in the long run, the kids were happier about that

[Jeff Ream]

I look at this issue and I ask: "How can money be made off the idea, and who would make it".

Because making money for themselves and the activity is (or should be) DCI's singular focus once it assures that its activity is providing youth with an incredible experience. Since that proviso is definitively true today as it has been since the founding, the only thing DCI should be focused on is making money. And accomplishing that goal is the only thing that can or will attract the attention of the guys making the decisions for themselves. Show them the money. Who cares if it's not a "fair" system, is that the point? DCI doesn't need a fan vote to accomplish its goals.

So, let's be realistic. Perusing DCI's website I find that upwards of 400,000 fans attend live events annually. Let's say for simple math that you'd attract half of them to actually cast a vote. What if you charged $.25 per vote? That's $50,000 for the effort. To split between the "winning" corps.

Even if DCI viewed it strictly as a revenue source and kept the money "for the greater good", could they build and maintain a structure of fan voting for $50,000 per year? What if you charged $1.00 per vote? What if it were included as part of the ticket price and everyone paid it. Well, you'd still have somewhere between $200,000 to $400,000 in gross revenue into the activity from fan pockets (and without sharing some of that revenue to entice fan votes, why would they pay money to vote?). Maybe DCI could get the infrastructure paid for by a corporate sponsor who wants to try out a new entertainment platform, for example, and DCI gets to keep the whole gross revenue. That's not chump-change, but is still a fraction of DCI's $10mm budget.

Is that the best use for DCI's limited resources? Is it going to create harmony within the drum corps ranks? Is it enough to take DCI "big time"? Probably not. Yet, $400,000 or $500,000 is chump change to a corporation looking to innovate a new product for a bigger audience...

Also on the DCI website is this: "Through the annual DCI Tour and more than 35 World Championships in 17 North American cities, Drum Corps International provides entertainment to millions through live performances and nationally-televised events." [emphasis mine]

Ding! Although I think that sentence was supposed to say "...has provided...", I got to thinking...

What if you ramped up fan voting to try to first capture digital viewers as well as live fans at every regional, then perhaps ramped it up to attempt get voting of every broadcast show (then increase the number of broadcast shows). Scale up the idea. Who cares if it's not "fair" voting? Again, that's not the point.

Then, what if DCI actually became international and attracted groups from other countries, say, oh I don't know, an Asian country with a billion people? What if another country sent an full-sized corps to compete on the tour; do you think their fans might vote for them? What if there are a hundred-million fans worldwide because there are competing international corps on the DCI US summer tour? Buses, food trucks, 35 shows - the whole gig. Who do you think those country's fans will vote for as their favorite?

And what if the corps comes from a country that values and supports youth music education AND spends tons on it locally. I don't know, maybe there's an Asian Bill Cook who would pay for the entire infrastructure just so "his" kids can watch "their" corps compete live and vote for their favorite.

Heck, just getting that many people globally to watch finals live broadcast would be a cash bonanza that surely no BOD member would be against. And at $50 buck per person to watch live, how many fan votes do we need to make that amount?

So, and again, I'm just thinkin'. Where's the better use of DCI's resources? Building out a voting system to a limited number of live broadcast events and, hopefully, expand it to include more events (broadcast Dublin, Ohio's show for fan vote! Yea!), all for a relatively limited, and certainly capped, audience?

Or instead, attracting global interest that is, apparently, already there (System Blue [an others] anyone?], making it easy for them to join the tour and attracting their fans to watch their corps live throughout the summer for a mere $75 each?

Hmm...just thinkin'. But I'm not thinking that a fan vote system is anywhere close in our future, and surely not one limited to just the US audience.

Back to work...

(No, really, I've got to get back to work.)

if you charged, fewer people would do it

[cube]

But it's the judges who reward shows with placements that determine how much of the DCI revenue pie each corps gets. The judges set up rules and expectations in the sheets, the corps build show productions based on them, the judges reward the corps, then this pesky "group think" from the fans takes the placement away from the corps and gives the reward (remember, the DCI financial reward) to a different corps.

How is a corps supposed to build a show that matches the diversity of the fan base's expectations?

Really, how does a corps do that?

If it were for just bragging rights no one might care. But there are dollars involved here, too.

I'm not talking about a huge section of the score just going to the results of the fan vote. I'm talking about, maybe three extra points for the winner of the fan vote, two for second, one for third, .5 for fourth, and .25 for fifth. It's a small amount of points, but it's incentive enough to get corps to start producing more enjoyable shows, because three points can change a lot in the scores.

[flammaster]

Because Crossmen would win every SW regional, Spirit every SE regional, and Cadets every Allentown regional. Blue Knights would win Drums Along the Rockies in Denver. Troopers would win the Cheyenne or Casper show. BAC would win the CYO show.

Etc.

^^^^This^^^^

[Jeff Ream]

Isn't this whole exercise about proving to DCI that they don't know beans about what fans want? Isn't it really a way to, under the guise of "fan engagement", show that the judging system is crap? Isn't it the unspoken hope of proponents that the "fan favorite" will be the 7th or 12th placing corps, thereby proving that the judging system has to be changed?

(Not that there's anything wrong with any of that, per se.)

But really, DCI will put into place a system that can potentially shine light on the flaws of their system?

Really? Can you imagine the outcry from just DCP, let alone the vitriolic Facebook pages, the first time the fan favorite is NOT the winning corps?

Something tells me this is a non-starter for that reason alone.

ok let me ask this:

do they know? san Antonio and Atlanta had record attendance this year. Allentown had a great sized crowd. We don't know Indy numbers yet. Since 2011, for the most part, numbers keep going up, and now with the Fan network offering finals, it'll continue to.

I'd say that really, the numbers are showing they know

[HornTeacher]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWtUVDG5M1w

[troon8]

...Really? Can you imagine the outcry from just DCP, let alone the vitriolic Facebook pages, the first time the fan favorite is NOT the winning corps?

Something tells me this is a non-starter for that reason alone.

This already happens. Every year. Even in years when the presumptive "fan-favorite" does win, there's still a huge outcry from DCP and elsewhere.

Some are taking this award so seriously! I think the award would just be kind of fun, albeit a bit silly. Corps that won it would roll their eyes a little, smile, and give themselves a pat on the back, corps that took first place but didn't win the award would roll their eyes, remind themselves that of course it's just a popularity contest, and move on with their lives. At least that's what I would do.

Edited August 28, 2014 by troon8

[MikeD]

I'm not talking about a huge section of the score just going to the results of the fan vote. I'm talking about, maybe three extra points for the winner of the fan vote, two for second, one for third, .5 for fourth, and .25 for fifth. It's a small amount of points, but it's incentive enough to get corps to start producing more enjoyable shows, because three points can change a lot in the scores.

I can't imagine shows much more enjoyable than the shows I saw at the TOC show held at Rutgers.

[C.Holland]

someone actually was able to park and get INTO the stadium at Rutgers before the show ended? What the hell?

[cixelsyd]

But it's the judges who reward shows with placements that determine how much of the DCI revenue pie each corps gets. The judges set up rules and expectations in the sheets, the corps build show productions based on them, the judges reward the corps, then this pesky "group think" from the fans takes the placement away from the corps and gives the reward (remember, the DCI financial reward) to a different corps.

How is a corps supposed to build a show that matches the diversity of the fan base's expectations?

Really, how does a corps do that?

If it were for just bragging rights no one might care. But there are dollars involved here, too.

Were you intending to be ironic?

There are dollars involved in attracting the fans in the first place... therefore, corps had better know how to build a show that appeals to fans. But the incentives in our competitive system cause corps to develop shows that appeal to judges. We all hope that judges and fans find the same things appealing, but evidently their tastes diverge.