Things UNI students must know about the music industry
(courtesy Rick Gorbette, Event Resources Presents, Inc.)

The live music experience is one of motion, emotion and power. Concerts add a great deal of prestige to the events presented by a campus programming board, but they can also present challenges. Each year when deciding on talent, concert programmers ask the same questions about the challenges involved with securing talent.

There are some distinct differences between the music industry and the college and university industry. In the music industry, much of the activity that goes on is based on relationships. Many promoters get first right of refusal on artist tours, since many initially started with an artist in the clubs and now continue in theaters and arenas. In the college market there is a great deal of student and staff turnover, which makes it hard to keep relationships going year after year, and it can be hard to build the trust that is so necessary. Every year, students need to be oriented and trained to make music buying decisions and that can be time consuming. The music industry works at a very fast pace. When an artist decides to tour and the word gets out, clubs and promoters across the country decide very quickly whether they want to present that artist and are putting offers together within the same day or within a couple of days. Campus programmers usually don’t have the luxury of doing that. There is usually a student or staff person that gets the information. Then the student and staff person need to meet and decide whether to pursue the opportunity. They take it to the programming committee to get approval and sometimes it needs to go to a funding committee to get approval. This whole process can take weeks. By the time they get their approval, the artist may not be available anymore. Schools become frustrated when trying to secure performances with the biggest names in the entertainment industry. Large promoters such as SFX, House of Blues/Universal Concerts buy many artist tours. These large promoters control venues in the top markets where artists need to perform. There are several advantages from the artist’s point of view. First, they can work with the same promoter for the entire tour, which is comforting. The large promoter usually earns additional event revenue, so they are able to offer artists guarantees sometimes as much as 150% higher than the artist’s last tour. The artist can tour less and make the same amount, if not more money.

From our experiences as talent buyers, producers and promoters, we have come to some important conclusions. The schools that get serious attention from artists and their representatives have the following characteristics:

• An active concert program of no less than 4-6 shows per year ranging from club shows to arena shows.
• Flexibility! Programmers and facility staff are supportive of concerts and can cooperate with artists on available dates, venue sizes, and decisions can be made fairly quickly.
• Programmers are able to conduct effective research with local radio and retail.
• They create lists of preferred artists and music styles, but don’t limit themselves to one or two options and are able to act quickly when one artist passes on an offer.
• Expectations are based on the reality of the music business and they are able to successfully adapt and promote the concerts they get.

Many artists prefer to play colleges and universities somewhere along their career continuum. Sometimes the people are nicer. Advertising and promotion can be a little less expensive because of existing channels in the university community, and there is a captive community that has a vested interest in what happens on their campus. While this is appealing, the differences above can be enough to turn them away.

We hope that this overview can make your concert programming life a little bit easier and less stressful. Concert programming should be fun; it’s why we all do it. Take a little extra time to find that extra special artist that you know your students can get excited about. You have an important mission ahead of you--have fun with it.