Musicians Tap Into ASU
University Is Beneficial For Performances
By: Amanda Markell
Last updated December 8th , 2009

With the recent shift in power from record labels to concert promoters, music artists see performing at large universities like Arizona State a perfect outlet for exposure and securing a paycheck that is not negotiable.

Christopher Shearer, Assistant Director for Concert Series Department at ASU, said that the demand for artists to play at the university is extremely high. “We get emails daily from booking agents with bands that are trying to make it,” he said. “Usually we contact the headliner names ourselves but supporting acts are trying to get the exposure that ASU or any major university could generate for them.”

In the past couple of years, the Programming and Activities Board at ASU has attracted major artists like Ben Folds, Say Anything and Taking Back Sunday to perform for students. Since universities have a given budget every year for entertainment, the Concert Series Department is able to provide these free events for students.

Lesser known artists agree to play for free at ASU to take advantage of a large audience they wouldn’t have been able to generate had they charged admission at a venue. The university’s only drawback is that the process to book an act is complex and time consuming. It isn’t uncommon for an artist to be contractually obligated by another promoter.

Lyndsey Sotwick, Assistant Director in the Concert Series Department, said that during the process of placing bids, artists sometimes turn down playing at ASU because they have already advertised a show at a promoter venue in Phoenix. “Certain clauses in a tour contract forbid an artist to advertise another show because it could compete with the one they already have secured,” she said. “Trying to get an artist while they are in route of their tour takes months of planning.”

In order to prevent conflicting with promoter shows, the Concert Series Department will sometimes work with a booking or middle agent. This agent assists them in legal matters concerning the artist, but still allows them to produce the show.

“Depending on how large the show is, we try to get the artist right before a new album comes out and before they tour in support of that album,” she said. “We usually look for artists who have something like a Tucson show booked and not a Phoenix one.

Both independently owned and corporate concert promoters dominate the Phoenix area. In Arizona, the three most prominent local ones are Stateside Presents, Luckyman and Psyko Steve Presents. Certain venues in the area belong exclusively to specific promoters. Sometimes artists involuntarily work with larger promoters to play a bigger show.

Stephen Chilton, founder of Psyko Steve Presents, said that while artists used to promote albums and singles, they see these releases as a way to promote going on tour. “Record labels are now less likely to give artists tour support which means there is more pressure for tours to be profitable,” he said. “This has led to more small artists charging promoters and venues higher guarantees which leads to higher ticket prices.”

Chilton said the fees are usually tied to the ticket prices. Since smaller venues such as Modified Arts mainly sell tickets at the door, they don’t have fees associated with them on top of the price of a ticket. “The main reason ticket prices are on the rise is artists,” he said. “Artists have the largest say in what prices are and they have to cover their own transportation and lodging costs.”

In Phoenix, Live Nation owns two of the largest venues, Cricket Wireless Pavilion and Dodge Theater. Chairman of Live Nation Southwest, Danny Zeilisko said that Cricket has almost a capacity of almost 20,000 and Dodge can seat 4,800. He said that while some tickets are priced higher than others, there is a wide range of ticket prices available.

“Obviously the cheaper you can make a ticket price, the better chance the act has of selling them and filling the seat,” he said. “Supply and demand also has a lot to do with the way tickets are priced, and it varies completely from show to show, no two are ever the same,” he said.

He said that people sometimes think that the group is paid based on what is charged or how they draw. However, in almost every case, the band is guaranteed by a promoter and gets paid if one person shows up or thousands do. 

Jill Jackenco, Marketing Manager for the Live Nation Southwest, said that there is a lot involved. The percentage going to an artist is more than just black and white. She also noted that people have been paying these prices for years. “Prices actually are not necessarily rising on every show,” she said. “It might just seem that way as the economy tumbles.”

Luckyman Productions owner Tom LaPenna created his company after working for Zelisko. Once Zelisko sold his company to Clear Channel Communications, it then became part of Live Nation. LePenna left when he didn’t get assurances that he would still have an employment contract.

While Luckyman thrives on its local reputation and attempts to present a different experience for music fans, LaPenna refused to comment on how his company operates. “Unfortunately I have been misquoted again and again,” LaPenna stated in a brief email to me. “Me and my staff will not be available to comment.”

Since specific profits generated toward an artist seem to be rarely given out, I had a booking agent break down for me how it usually works.

Ari Nisman, a booking agent for Degy Booking international, said that every show has a backend percentage. The backend is what’s guaranteed that the artist will get paid regardless of how many tickets they sell. “Promoters mostly just want to make money for themselves,” he said. “99 times out of 100, it’s in their best interest.”

Artists also can be paid a lower financial take and have 50 percent of the ticket sales. Sometimes this can generate a more beneficial profit for the artist. Ari said that when performing at a university, artists typically don’t get a percentage of door sales.

“In a university setting most artists don’t gamble with that percentage,” Ari said. “Fixed flat guarantee means you don’t have to worry about marketing the show.”

When booking for an artist, he looks at whether or not they will be able to sellout the market. To do this he looks at radio play, past ticket sales and sometimes polls the market through the promoter.

It’s important to note that in addition to paying the artist for a show, booking agents must calculate the airfare, hotel, ground transportation and backline. Nisman describes backline as “anything that won’t fit in the overhead compartment of an airplane."

“Good promoters decide ahead of time what’s worth providing before confirmation,” he said. “Shipping expensive backline equipment can sometimes result in being a fourth of the total cost for the show.”

In order to see how this formula works, I talked to Dyan Seaburg, who works at the Mesa Amphitheater venue. He said that the capacity of the venue is 4,950. However, if 4,950 tickets are sold, they aren’t always generating a profit.

“Sometimes not all tickets are sold for a sellout,” he said. “Promoters save some of those are used as complimentary tickets for promotions, give aways, etc.”

Mesa Amphitheater hosts shows with both national and local promoters since they aren’t owned exclusively by one. Seaburg said that she doesn’t notice a lot of differences between using Luckyman in comparison to Live Nation.

“There do seem to be some advertising benefits when working with major promoters, since they have resources in place to market to a broader audience,” she said. “There are more similarities than differences from our perspective.”

The last show that sold out Mesa Amphitheater was Kings of Leon on May 19, 2009. The price was $46.00 for all seats, with a fee of $5 if purchased online.

If we apply Ari’s formula, Kings of Leon would receive a hypothetical fixed flat guarantee of 35 percent backend. For a $46 dollar ticket, the artist would receive $7.61. Given the 500 tickets usually reserved for marketing, the band would profit $33,864.50. The total money made for this show would be $204,700. Kings of Leon only profited 16 percent of the total gained.

If Kings of Leon chose to take 50 percent of total ticket sales, then they would have received $102,350. This is a good 34 percent more than the door percentage. Ari said that agreeing to take half the sales is a gamble since it’s nearly impossible to predict the exact turnout in an area.

Booking agents like Ari tend to value university shows more than the average gig. Universities gather larger crowds since the majority of shows are offered free of charge and the artists still get paid. This gains exposure for the artist, particularly at a campus like ASU, which provides an outlet to more than 60,000 students.

For free university events, school organizations such as the Programming and Activities Board at ASU are given price sheets. These sheets list every performer and an asking price.

While price sheets are generally accurate, a bid must be placed from the Concert Series Department at ASU. This bid can be negotiated by the artist’s management and then accepted.

This past August, ASU brought rock band Taking Back Sunday to the Wells Fargo Arena and offered free admission with student ID. ASU’s bid of $75,000 was accepted and two local Phoenix acts played for free.

This is one of ASU’s highest bids made to date. Usually ASU tries to book bands within the range of $25-45,000 with the exception of Homecoming and Spirit Week.

Kings of Leon is currently listed on the White Leaf Entertainment’s college price sheet as $80-100,000. If ASU hosted their show for $90,000, the band would have profited 37 percent more than the backend deal at Mesa Amphitheater.

Had they taken gained half of their tickets sales, they still would have only lost 1.2 percent of their profits and played to a crowd nearly five times larger than what’s capable at Mesa Amphitheater. While it may be strenuous to book a concert through ASU, artists have begun to value the benefits of jumping through the hoops.

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