Mainstream taiko

There are people in the taiko community who wish taiko was more "mainstream". It could be that they want taiko to be more well-known, or more popular, or even perhaps more lucrative as a profession.

In the few threads and conversations I've witnessed about this topic, the resistance I see to this push is mostly passive. The large majority of taiko players don't personally want to do things to make taiko more mainstream, even if they wouldn't mind the increased exposure for taiko overall. I don't think that's a bad mindset to have, but it's something to be aware of.

Let's take a look at some of the possibilities of mainstreaming taiko:

• More demand of taiko performances, which means more paying gigs for taiko groups.
• More opportunities to collaborate with mainstream artists, which can push taiko into new forms and outlets.
• More drum makers and equipment, possibly more affordable as well.
• Professional taiko players and groups more viable.
• Larger community for support and resources.
  

But with that, there's also the possibilities of:

• A flood of cookie-cutter taiko groups.
• Harder for audiences to distinguish "quality" taiko.
• Less opportunities for you/your group to play because there are so many other groups out there.
• Foundations that rank your group at the bottom due to politics or bias.

None of these are going to happen overnight, and probably not even in the short-term. There are people trying to get taiko more and more "out there" but it seems taiko is taking its own sweet time. Where it's headed, who knows?

So here's my question for you. Would you rather see more exposure, more acceptance, and more taiko, if it meant less quality and less opportunities for you?