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2019 Madison Scouts!


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6 hours ago, KVG_DC said:

The Rennie fair in Maryland is serious business. 

I've been there... you gotta watch your back when a guy dressed like Shakespeare comes up to you. :laughing:

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7 hours ago, Stu said:

Ultimately, if this really is a situation where the students are paying for 'education', the activity certainly can survive without an audience.

The "activity", in one form or another, might have various ways to survive without a paying audience.  But the DCI tour cannot.

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15 hours ago, 2muchcoffeeman said:

This view would be true if the corps paid the students. If the corps paid the students to perform, then what you say would be true. After all, they would not be students; they would be performers for hire, and you would have every right to demand whatever it is you want from the product, because they (or more precisely, the corps) would be the product.

But the kids are not paid. Quite the reverse. They pay the corps, and that changes everything. The product is not the show; it is the education, challenge and experience provided to the students. 

As so often happens, the truth is somewhere in between.  Both the marchers and the audience are paying customers.

And there is more.  I see a third type of "customer" - the industry partners.  Most notably, the manufacturers of brass, percussion, A&E, uniforms/costumes, and related equipment.  They pay DCI and selected corps to advertise, and even serve as their manufacturer demo models.  When you recognize this third category of "customer", it becomes much easier to understand the directions show designs have taken in recent years.

Edited by cixelsyd
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15 hours ago, queenanne_1536 said:

Have you ever heard any artist not care what the audience thinks? 

We're kind of getting away from discussion of Madison here, but in response to this - absolutely.  All the time.  In all walks of art.

Mike

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3 hours ago, cixelsyd said:

As so often happens, the truth is somewhere in between.  Both the marchers and the audience are paying customers.

And there is more.  I see a third type of "customer" - the industry partners.  Most notably, the manufacturers of brass, percussion, A&E, uniforms/costumes, and related equipment.  They pay DCI and selected corps to advertise, and even serve as their manufacturer demo models.  When you recognize this third category of "customer", it becomes much easier to understand the directions show designs have taken in recent years.

Ah, the money behind the politics.  No one wants it to be true, but more often then not it runs the show.  But since this a Scouts thread, anyone see the unis?

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12 minutes ago, dark-helmet said:

Ah, the money behind the politics.  No one wants it to be true, but more often then not it runs the show.  But since this a Scouts thread, anyone see the unis?

If they’re not like 07 or the last two years, I’ll be relieved. 

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I will guess and say they probably won’t be like the last two years. Especially if they are doing a throwback type show. 

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26 minutes ago, Madcityscout said:

I will guess and say they probably won’t be like the last two years. Especially if they are doing a throwback type show. 

oh I imagine it'll be different in a 2010 kinda way

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27 minutes ago, Madcityscout said:

I will guess and say they probably won’t be like the last two years. Especially if they are doing a throwback type show. 

I didn’t much care for last year's costumes but the year before....😳 

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I think cisxelsid, above, is generally right. The kids won't put their money down to play to empty stadiums. It is inherent in the idea of the "marching arts" to drive the crowds crazy. The paying customers -- the ones on the field -- understand that part of what they're paying for is the opportunity/responsibility to please the ticket-buying public; that's part of achieving excellence. They demonstrate that responsibility by A) improving their own skills and B) choosing a corps/design they think will accomplish that goal.

So, yes, the public is a customer. It is not the customer. It starts with a 19-year-old deciding whether the effort with this or that particular corps is worth her money. If the answer is no, the public will have nothing to buy. Critically, it cannot work in the opposite direction. The existence of a drum corps creates the existence of a crowd; putting a crowd into a stadium will not create the existence of a drum corps.

I expect the more astute MMs understand they and their corps are part of a larger financial ecosystem. The concept is not a difficult one, even for a teenager: Put on world-class shows and people will buy tickets. But the MMs are the starter motor; the whole enterprise starts or stalls on their command. And it is their command because it is their money. it's critical to the health of the activity to keep this in proper order.

When I paid my money to march 30+ years ago, I didn't want some alum from 1955 to tell me what is good, true and beautiful. My time was my time; I expected my corps to give me a program that was relevant and competitive in the current context, because by definition I could be of marching age only in the current context. Didn't the alum from 1955 enjoy the same expectation during his time? The young people paying tuition today are owed nothing less than the same consideration; anything else is arrogance. And, as Jeff points out, the growing attendance (and let's not forget audition) numbers demonstrate that DCI corps are getting it right, for the most part. The primary customer, the most important customer, is buying.

To bring it back to the Madison Scouts, all this bemoaning of the artistic direction of the corps is misplaced. You might think the corps is mismanaged, but 150 young men disagree. They put their money down and committed their upcoming summer to the corps. That is the most important measure of success. All the best to them.

 

Edited by 2muchcoffeeman
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