“The reason we have no market is because we haven’t created one.” – RJ.

I completely agree! And this is vitally important in my opinion. Though it does only take one group to break through that mould and bring a cappella to the masses (Out of the Blue almost did it last year with their appearance on Britain’s Got Talent, but unfortunately they got beaten to the final by a dancing grandpa – that’s the British public for you…), hard work is needed.

And not just by professional groups. To continue using the UK as my example, yes, The Swingle Singers and The Boxettes are making good progress, but I think collegiate groups should be more daring with their sets, gigs and ways of getting their music to the public – just look at The Other Guys’ Royal Romance video last April which was moderately successful and managed to bring a cappella to a lot of people who wouldn’t necessarily have heard it before.

While I agree with this:

“England was a vast wasteland a decade ago with only a few groups, and now has a growing collegiate scene, a couple festivals… It can be done.” – Deke Sharon

There is still a HELL of a lot of work to do in the UK. Yes, the Voice Festival UK has a record number of participants, but the Voice Festival is EXTREMELY exclusive and mostly the only people who go to watch it are those who are in groups, used to be in groups or know people in the groups. There needs to be something done by the groups to get the music into the mainstream, like OOTB on Britain’s Got Talent, like TOG and Royal Romance – it’s progress, but right now it’s not good enough and it’s all gone a little quiet since the earlier half of last year.

While I understand that collegiate groups have other things to do, namely getting their degrees, but in Britain that’s where it all starts at the moment, and thus it’s vital that we have strong foundations in that area.

On a similar subject and on the subject of TV exposure, I’ve recently written a blog about the viability of The Sing-Off in the UK, and I’d love to hear your comments:

http://universityacappellauk.com/2012/01/24/the-sing-off-in-the-uk-a-viable-prospect-or-a-pipe-dream/

Great chat though, some really top ideas!

Mark

congratulations for setting up this amazing tour. Thanks also for sharing your personal experience: That’s exactly why people come and read Vocal Blog. Maybe you would be in for a blog post about booking and touring in the US, something of practical help for both US and foreign groups. This would be very interesting and if you found the time for this, I’d be happy to publish it anytime.

Best wishes

FSt
Florian