This very well thought out and written observation of Carnival 2009, the bands and their impact was sent to me by a reader; I appreciate these types of comments as I cannot be everywhere during Carnival and it is nice to get a perspective of what it is like in other bands.
Interesting topic for discussion after you read it is,Who will survive and what's in store for 2010?
I did not play mas this year so I had a lot of time to move around and observe various bands. Got tons of pictures and video. Anyway I just thought I'd share my assessment with you:
TRIBE
-Visited this band on Ariapita avenue on Monday and at their restpot on Tuesday and rejoined the band again on Ariapita Avenue later on.
Very organized in all aspects. Everything from A-Z was well planned out and executed.
-The only thing I could fault would be the restspot which is evidently too small for that size of band.
-Kudos for the last lap at Jenny's car park.
-Tribe should be commended. They continue to set a very high standard and once they keep it up they will undoubtedly be a very hard act to follow. Not impossible b ut hard.
ELEMENTS
-Visited on Tuesday at their restspot.
-Very small. Had about 300-400 masqueraders maximum.
-Their masqueraders consisted of a lot of socially well known people and everyone seemed to be having a great time. The general mood of everyone was very upbeat and the persons who I spoke to all said they were having a fantastic time, rain and all.
-1 bar truck, well designed and two music trucks. This worked well for them in that it compressed their numbers so at first glance it did not look so sparse.
-1 on the road grill truck
-1 mobile toilet truck, with 5 toilets.
-Did not observe an ambulance or airconditioned rest truck.
-Rest spot and pampering center was the carpark opposite the Canadian embassy near to Trotters. Well laid out. Small, but worked well for their limited numbers.
SPICE
-Visited Monday and Tuesday.
-Also very small. Had about 400 -500 masqueraders maximum.
-Paprika and Sea Salt seemed to have had the best turnout.
-Very diverse crowd but for some reason people did not seem energized and enthusiastic.
-The persons I spoke to said they were having a good time and the persons I knew that played with the band told me today that it was great.
-3 music trucks and 3 bar trucks.
-However, the decision to use 3 music trucks with those numbers was a very bad one as it spread the small numbers and made the band look very sparse. The result was that the band looked empty on Monday and very sparse on Tuesday. This might explain why some people were saying that Elements was small but had more people than Spice.
-Extraction team was good.
-Rope and other security could have been better.
- Ambulance and aircondition bus were present.
-Bar design and signage was very poor. To reach a drink comfortably you had to be nearly 6 feet tall and I am not exaggerating.
-Rest spot was okay. The band has the best restspot but the potential was not capitalized on. There were no frills just basic tents and a few tables and chairs.
-Food was good on Tuesday. However, although there were several advertised selections - barbeque, creole etc, there was only one actual choice on Tuesday.
KAOTIC
-Checked this band on Monday at Cipriani Boulevard
-Only saw a handful of masqueraders and I literally mean a handful.
EVOLUTION
-Visited this band on Tuesday
-Good turnout
-Bar trucks well designed.
-Band seems organisedI also visited RONNIE & CARO, TRINI REVELLERS and a few others but did not catch up with IP.
2010 will indeed be very interesting as many of the new bands would have definitely absorbed huge losses.
Based on what I observed from the turnout and what I know of the cost structure, Elements and Kaotic will have to absorb losses somewhere between $500k and 1M and Spice, between 1M and 1.5M. With those losses and a very bleak economic outlook for 2010 it will be interesting to see who survives into 2010 and for that matter beyond.
9 comments:
Hey Saucy, Dont mean tuh be un"Bear"able but at first glance I think yuh Maths might be a lil off.
Judging from what yuh say Elements an Kaotic and de rest have not acheived "Effectiveness" ie Fewer Trucks, masqueraders,Less Security.etc etc etc.so therefore - Fewer overheads.
Bear with me and by your "Estimates"
400 masqueraders @ 2500 Average costume cost (average of M&F combined) = 1 Million Dollars
That might be just enough to break even for elements since they had such a "Lean Truck number" ie 5 in total (based on what you say yuh see). and only 2 music trucks with no big names. Like jw Blaze Hot 96.7 Etc. So we can only speculate that they made any profit or even Break even.
Spice by yuh observations had a little bit more overheads but a bit more numbers so in their case it also seems to balance off.
Now tribe had at least 6 drinks trucks, 6 DJ trucks, 1 Ambulance, 2 Toilet, 1 bus, about half dozen or more snack Truck, and god knows what odder trukkin truck dey had trucking rong de place :) . So their overheads could fall in de 3-4 million category. but dem had rong 3000 masqueraders minimum hmm. 7.5 million?
Not to mention overheads in de gazillion dollar de mus be spend on the rest stop, de jillion dollars on dey super Army Of Bachac Security.etc
What i trying to say anyhow is that i think it would Be more of a percentage of loss rather than a fixed number like you suggest.
Thanks Trinibears but I did not write this :)
Opp sorry My Bad again, sometime i does get Carried away when i see thing that ketch meh eye especially $$$..Jumpin up... So for the follow up readers i dont agree with the "Author" not "Saucy"
whoops sorry ennekaycee I deleted your comment in error! This is your comment below:
Blogger ennekaycee said...
Nice review and I think you're right. This was a difficult year to be a new band so we'll have to wait and see what 2K10 brings.
I passed by Pulse 8 on the way to meet my band and they looked scanty too. I dunno if their masqueraders were just late, but they were heading to a judging point so the band should have been fuller than it was.
As for my band? HMPH...Island People will no doubt be around for 2K10, but they NEED to get it together. I was so excited when for the first time since 2006, I had no issues with my costume collection. Having always enjoyed their road experience, I expected to have my first perfect Carnival experience.
Instead, it seemed as if they found a crew of idlers on some corner and asked them if they wanted to make some extra money doing security for the band. In 3 years of playing with IP this was the WORST experience with band security. I thought Monday was lapse because it was Monday, but when the band had stormers at judging points on Tuesday, I just gave up hope. I would have saved my money and stormed if I knew it was so easy to cross a stage and be on TV for Carnival.
I won't go into horror stories, but I'll just say that I know when to call something quits. I didn't too like my Tribe road experience last year, but I like the entire package that they offer. I could hype myself in a band if I'm bored, but I can't make myself ignore stormers pulling at body parts that don't belong to them and disrespecting my friends ESPECIALLY when my package was supposed to include "the services of some specially trained personnel to further enhance the needs of our masqueraders". COME AGAIN IP!!!
4:39 PM
but trinibears you forgot about start up costs and contractual obligations...I know you should not account for certain things fully and apportion them accordingly but to buy out or pay off a fixed contract could be very expensive, cash wise. And to honour obligations...take or pay contract/obligation
also some bands not only rely on revenue from masqueraders re: 440 by 2500 but also sponsorship $$ and support which could be sizable as long as the sponsors are happy
Trinibears, how are you? This is the author of the piece Saucee posted. Saucee, "jumped the gun a bit" on me with this one.
I have great respect for Saucee's blog and her committment to providing proper information to masqueraders. Based on this we have developed a professional relationship in which we share information from time to time, hence the reason I shared my assessemnt with her.
I honestly did not expect her to post it and that is why I stated that she "jumped the gun" on me a bit. But its not a big deal and there is no love lost.
With regard to the numbers or the maths you refer to, we can debate the amount of the losses but I assure you of one thing, it is impossible to produce a GOOD QUALITY LARGE mas band for 1 million TT dollars.
All of these bands would have definitely lost money in this their first year. Knowing this, they should all be commended for having fulfilled their committments to masqueraders in their entirety.
Now it is not unusual for business startups to lose money in the first few years of operation but the challenge these bands face is that their first year losses are going to be much greater than anticipated due to pressures brought on by the economic downturn. Also bear in mind that some of them came into it expecting to make money in Year 1. What further complicates things is that from an economic standpoint all indicators are that 2010 will be much worse than 2009.
This was the subject of the last two paragraphs of my email to Saucee. Please bear in mind that it was a personal email and should be viewed in that context as I was basically trying to get her thoughts on the matter. Call it an intellectual exchange of some sort.
It is my view that less people are going to play mas next year, costume prices are going to be forced downwards and as a result profit margins are going to shrink. So in order to cover costs (breakeven)or make a profit you are going to need more masqueraders. Question is - How do you get more masqueraders when it is likely that less people are going to be playing? Where will they come from?
I hold this view because economists will tell you that the first thing that suffers in a recession is entertainment. We are in the midst of a GLOBAL recession like we have never expereienced in our lifetimes and Trinidad has only just begun to feel the impact. The full effect will possibly begin to take root from about June / July.
I remember the recession of the early eighties and it was not nice and this one is expected to be worse.
These are just my thoughts for what they are worth.
I hope I have been able to explain myself properly and that it came across in the right manner.
Regards,
M
Thanks M,
Im Glad that you cleared that up so nicely Rather than take my Remarks Personally.
I agree with you On a Few points Especially The "Free Factor" Which most of us fail to realize sometimes exist , Be it from Sponsors who Give promotional support with Relavent items , to THE people Who Sit and stick Beads and Feathers on yuh headpeice Just Because they love doing it.BIG FACTOR...I don't think i know any mas producer who pay big dollars to do that.
I agree all business startups are actually supposed to Post a Loss in their first year of operation, weather they Make a profit or not. I forget the term they call it. anyhow and i also agree that they should concentrate on Quality of service to anchor key customers so that they can garner associate Customers by word of mouth and reputation, weather or not they make a profit, so i hope for their sake they made a good first impression on their clients.
What i don't agree with you is the statement on the Economic state of Entertainment, we know lots of people will start cutting back on spending etc. But quite frankly there may be exceptions to the rule. For on i can tell you there is no hard and fast rule to who and what makes and breaks in a economic downturn. If entertainment Was a sure fallout then hollywood would have been one of the first at its knees (the Dark Knight Reached 1 billion dollars last week), Nintendo posted $114M in profits last year, Entertainment aint doing too bad. And I 100%sure Tribe will Sellout in one week AGAIN! whether is Local or foreigners buying costumes.
one thing too i think yuh miss out in you quote "it is impossible to produce a GOOD QUALITY LARGE mas band for 1 million TT dollars."
300-500 is not a large band. Dat medium size. I dont think any Band has ever Started up in the Large Band Category.
Lastly i have to agree with you on there will be bands that will bite the dust. I have a good guess but i will keep that to myself Im not a hater or harborer of ill will.
actually I hope that the Economic downturn doest have such a great effect on Carnival, Or at least people should be smarter to Manage their funds if the want to jump up, and band leaders utilize their resources more efficiently to prevent if not avoid the fallout.
All you have to do it think outside the box. :)
I have been following this blog avidly... will be interesting to see which of the new bands survive into 2010. I think most of the small bands from Elements to Kaotic and Spice had good masquerader reviews with regard to their on the road experience being enjoyable.
As a masquerader who has played with Harts, Posion, Pulse 8, Tribe and this year, Spice in its debut year, mas is about vibe and what's important to the individual, whether it be good fitting bras, timely costume collection, good music, security or whatever...
I can safely say for a first time attempt, I met with only personalized service, friendly people, a gorgeous costume and everything in order on the road with Spice! If there were behind the scenes issues, the masqueraders knew not one thing and I was none the wiser while I was having the time of my life, rain or shine!
One thing I need to correct from previous blogger is that I was simply CONFUSED by the choices of food offered for lunch on both days - International, Creole, Veggie, BBQ etc. I opted for Creole on Monday & International on Tuesday and was quite satisfied. Quite contrary to what was said before by someone who was not an actual masquerader, maybe something was missed in the review accidentally, but there was food to burn and lots of variety!
Great job Spice... build the numbers so more can enjoy this wonderful experience and you will get my money again in 2010! Good job & top notch 1st attempt at joining the Carnival scene!
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