Marching.com celebrating milestone season
MARCH 20, 2010 The idea took off immediately. When Ken Martinson
founded Marching.com in March 1996, the response was overwhelmingly
positive. Band directors, music students, booster parents, event
coordinators and related businesses began bookmarking the site that
quickly became an authoritative source of marching information.
The growth has continued steadily over the past 14 seasons. In 2009
Marching.com served more than 600,000 unique visitors. The site extends
a positive voice across a broad array of content that now includes
events, links, resources, news and photos. Coverage encompasses marching activities
from coast to coast and around the world.
"A big thrill is seeing how Marching.com makes connections," Martinson
said. "Whether it's a band finding a great event to attend, a director
finding a music arranger, or a student learning something new about the
activity, Marching.com provides information to enable all of that."
In terms of years, the beginning may not seem that long ago. But in terms of the
Internet, Marching.com was a pioneer. Amazon had launched only nine
months earlier, and Marching.com was breaking new ground for the
marching community.
"We had to create our own approach of how to organize and present marching
information online," Martinson said.
Marching.com has worked closely with leading music organizations
including WGI, Music For All/Bands of America, DCI and Disney plus
premier events including the Tournament of Roses, Fiesta Bowl and Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade. In recent years, Marching.com has increased its
coverage of music advocacy and recently joined the SupportMusic Coalition.
"We recognize the role marching bands play in developing life skills and
adding excitement to life," Martinson said. "We see the research that
shows music students tend to score higher on college entrance exams, and
that strong music programs lead to higher graduation rates. This type of
information re-energizes our commitment for Marching.com to be a
positive voice and resource for the marching activity."
Traffic on Marching.com is still climbing, and Marching.com promises to continue
serving as a one-stop resource for all things marching.
"This is a reason to pause and celebrate," Martinson said. "As we begin
the 15th Season in 2010, we say thanks to the visitors, friends,
advertisers and contributing writers who participate on Marching.com
with so much enthusiasm."
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