If you follow drum corps seriously, you already know the name. Drum Corps World has been the activity’s publication of record for more than five decades, documenting the sport from its pre-DCI roots to the present day.
The magazine was founded in October 1971 by Jim Jones of the Troopers and Don Whiteley, operating under the name db Enterprises. Ownership passed to Steve Vickers in July 1974, and Vickers has guided the publication ever since — building it into an indispensable archive of drum corps history, competition coverage, and community news.
For nearly four decades, Drum Corps World reached readers as a print tabloid. In 2011, after 39 years on paper, publisher Vickers made the move to digital-only publication — driven in part by steadily rising printing and postage costs. The transition opened the magazine to a wider audience: issues are now free, delivered online, and accessible on any device.
Today the publication releases issues monthly, with five additional summer editions timed to the DCI touring season — the stretch of the calendar when drum corps fans are hungriest for coverage. The readership has grown to more than 31,000 subscribers worldwide.
Beyond current-season reporting, Drum Corps World has invested heavily in preserving the activity’s history. Vickers authored the two-volume A History of Drum and Bugle Corps — a combined chronicle spanning competition scores from 1921 through 2001, profiles of dozens of corps, and more than 2,000 photographs — now available on Amazon Kindle. A companion volume, The Art of Drum Corps World, collects nearly four decades of the magazine’s original artwork and illustrations.
Every DCI World Championship corps director receives copies of the publication, as do directors at the Open Class and All-Age levels, along with band, guard, and percussion directors at the high school and college levels — a distribution footprint that reflects how central Drum Corps World has become to the broader marching arts community.
Field dispatches from Drum Corps Beat’s Kevin Russell appear in Drum Corps World throughout the year. You can read the full magazine at drumcorpsworld.com.
