Before 1971, most American drum and bugle corps, or "corps," performed in shows run by the American Legion. In 1971, 5 important corps founded a new group, called the "Midwest Combine." Other eastern and western corps did the same thing with their respective regions. These corps formed these organizations because they did not like the rules of the American Legion, which many believed prevented creativity. The corps also believed that they did not give enough of the money from ticket sales to the corps who performed. The different groups decided that they would all perform together in shows, one after another, and never separately in different shows. This strategy went very well for the corps, and in 1972, all the groups, plus a few other corps formed a big group called "Drum Corps International," or DCI. This group gave the corps a lot of money from shows and artistic freedom. DCI's leadership are the corps that perform in DCI, allowing the competing members to change rules whenever they need to, rather than having someone not familiar with drum corps make those changes.