No More Printed Souvenir Programs

[Quad Aces]

I was pretty surprised (and sad) to see that DCI decided not to sell printed souvenir programs any more, especially for the 50th anniversary season.  The one that I’m talking about is the full-color, yearbook type of program, that’s about 100 or so pages.

Although I have no insight into what it takes to get that program out, perhaps they could have waited on that decision until next year?

Been going to finals for 35 or so years straight, and I probably have every single one of those programs still - somewhere.

The DCI Info booth in LOS said that starting this year they would be doing digital programs from now on.

They pointed me to DCI’s website for the digital program, but I couldn’t find anything.

I really hope they weren’t talking about “info on each corps can be found on DCI’s website”.

Does anyone know where the digital program that they were referring to might be found?

Edited August 18, 2022 by Quad Aces

[skevinp]

4 minutes ago, Quad Aces said:

I was pretty surprised to see that DCI decided not to sell printed souvenir programs any more, especially for the 50th anniversary season.  Although I have no insight into what it takes to get that program out, perhaps they could have waited on that decision until next year?

Been going to finals for 35 or so years straight, and I probably have every single one of those programs still - somewhere.

The DCI Info booth in LOS said that starting this year they would be doing digital programs from now on.

They pointed me to DCI’s website for the digital program, but I couldn’t find anything.

I really hope they weren’t talking about “info on each corps can be found on DCI’s website”.

Does anyone know where the digital program that they were referring to might be found?

With so much information online I suspect not enough people were buying them anymore.  

That said, I liked the special  25th Anniversary program and think they might have good success with some kind of special publication that covers the history and corps and is full of cool photos and information.    

I’m thinking this year was just the 49th competitive season, so they could still do something next year or after related to 50 seasons of drum corps.  

[keystone3ply]

But they launched that cool app...   

[leed17]

https://pubhtml5.com/homepage/xada

[Terri Schehr]

I bought two books at Bill Ives exhibit last week.  One was the first decade of DCI and the other was the first 35 years of DCI.  I found one photo of my kid in Capital Sound in the 35 years book so it was worth it. I know this has nothing to do with the yearbook but I figure if other nonsense can be posted on threads, why not? 

[Northern Thunder]

1 hour ago, Terri Schehr said:

I bought two books at Bill Ives exhibit last week.  One was the first decade of DCI and the other was the first 35 years of DCI.  I found one photo of my kid in Capital Sound in the 35 years book so it was worth it. I know this has nothing to do with the yearbook but I figure if other nonsense can be posted on threads, why not? 

Those were Steve Vickers-Drum Corps World publications.  His dedication to such projects has been huge.

https://www.drumcorpsworld.com/product-category/history-books/

[Terri Schehr]

40 minutes ago, Northern Thunder said:

Those were Steve Vickers-Drum Corps World publications.  His dedication to such projects has been huge.

https://www.drumcorpsworld.com/product-category/history-books/

They’re nice books.  I’m reading the 35 year one. 

[Phantom56]

Paper is quickly dissapearing. Probably for the good--save the trees!

[Tim K]

The reasons (from excellent sources)

1. Michael Boo’s passing. He was the go to guy for projects such as this and there is no one within DCI with the amount of knowledge he had who is also a gifted writer.

2. For whatever the reasons, DCI did not want to outsource the project. DCI is very careful of its image and protecting it would not be easy with someone who was not connected with DCI.

There we’re people willing to help with such a project as volunteers, including someone who loves to write and can sometimes write DCP posts that are a bit long (I wonder who….). It never materialized. I know a group that wanted permission for such a project. It wasn’t granted. Declining sales of past programs may have played a part in the decision, but it could have been online. Online works for “Drum Corps World.”

Overall, the 50th anniversary was a missed opportunity for DCI. With the amazing shows this year, so many corps that struggled to compete but still did so, especially in Open Class, this is a year worth remembering. Add to that a bit if nostalgia: the Anaheim Kingsmen rifle line, Bridgemen, Kilties, 27th with double flags and rifles bursting through a drum line, Garfield Cadets in 84, SCV and the Bottle Dance, Blue Devils in 94, you get the idea. This would have been the perfect opportunity for combining past and present. 

[Matt_S]

I was surprised and a touch disappointed when I got to Finals and couldn't get a program. I would always flip to the next performing corps and read about the upcoming show. I confess, though, I rarely if ever went back to the program after that night. In that regard it's probably a smart cost-cutting measure. But when combined with what I've read on here that there will not be any video from this year's championships, it does prompt some questions about the financial health of the organization.