Fitting College Concerts Into The Big Picture

Moderator: Xen Riggs, Schottenstein Center at OSU
Lynn Cingari, Monterey Peninsula Artists
Matthew Cohen, Green Room Productions
Stuart Goldberg, RCA Records
Ruth Gonzalez, CAA
Diallobe Johnson, Interscope/Geffen/A&M
Lisa O’Hara, High Road Touring

There are differing opinions and perceptions of the role of college concerts. Some think their role is to develop new talent. Others think schools just want the big, impressive act for spring break. And many are under the impression that colleges have a big pot of money to blow on programming.

Maybe all of this has been true at some point, but as the concert industry evolves, so does the role of colleges.
The consensus was that the cash pot is going dry between school budget issues and higher artist guarantees. Some wonder if colleges should get a discount. But from an agent’s point of view, that makes no sense.

“Generally, they’re looking at specific dates,” High Road Touring agent Lisa O’Hara said. “You have to get [the act] there, route around it, so typically, the guarantee has been higher.”

She added that college deals don’t usually have a back end, which also raises the guarantee.

That said, CAA’s Ruth Gonzalez pointed out that from an artist’s perspective, a school date is more attractive than a club date in the same routing because it pays more.

That brought moderator Xen Riggs to his next question: If colleges are expected to pay the same guarantees or more than a promoter, and a band grows to the next level, is there any sense of loyalty to offer the school rights of first refusal when the band comes back?

“I think the chances of that happening are completely nil because schools are not promoters,” an audience member responded. “Schools are stepping stones that the agents use to develop acts and if they happen to hit, they go to the promoters.

“It would be interesting to consider the concept that perhaps there might be some loyalty shown with the
middle agents that book those acts into successful situations in colleges. But I don’t think that will happen, either. Schools aren’t in the business of promoting. They’re in the business of bringing artists into their campus to entertain the greatest number of people possible.”

In response, Riggs asked CIC delegates, “How many schools in here are promoters?”

A slew of hands went up.

“I guess I would have to disagree with that,” he said. “I think schools are promoters and they have to be.”

Still, Monterey Peninsula agent Lynn Cingari felt many colleges bank all their money on one big show rather than taking the responsibility for artist development as a promoter would.

“Are they just looking for the big show to be the cool school?” she asked. “How many really get involved in artist development? I find it challenging to get schools to take a chance on bands that aren’t on the radio yet.”

Record exec Stuart Goldberg had an idea for giving schools an opportunity to help develop artists – residencies.

“My proposition is for schools to call each other in the area or with middle agents, get together and come to us and say, ‘Hey, we can get you this artist routed every few weeks into a school and start building a following,’” he said.

“When it’s an artist at the baby level, we’re probably paying tour support so it’s not really that much of an issue moneywise.”

There is a sense that colleges can be difficult to work with because of the continuous changeover of student reps.

“The main problem is keeping up on who’s the responsible person, who’s going to return your calls, getting in touch with people,” O’Hara said.

She added that High Road Touring has a system to make the process easier for colleges.

“On our Web site, there’s an avails page for general and then there’s also college avails. You can fill out an offer sheet on the Web site and send it in.”

Gonzalez offered up CAAcollege.com as a valuable resource for schools as well.

For agents dealing with colleges, Matthew Cohen of Green Room Productions offered a form of consistency.

“The middle agents obviously give a degree of consistency, particularly if they’ve developed a relationship with the school,” he said. “As the middle agent, we could even help them further by doing co-op booking and some of those types of things.”

He added that the role of middle agents has grown.

“Our (college) clients look to us not just to book the show and get whoever they want for their spring fling, but we’ve been asked more and more to help them in the production advancement, help them negotiate changes in the contracts and also being there the day of the show to act as a promoter rep to help smooth out the day.”

While some questioned the viability of middle agents, others considered them to be quite valuable for consistency as well as to make sure college shows are the same quality level as other dates.

Plus, dealing with college bureaucracy can be extremely frustrating and middle agents will oftentimes deal with the paperwork and even put up the money for a date. They can also get better deals for schools by booking a series.

But let’s not forget, putting on concerts is an education for students who want to work in the business. And there is a big concern about building executive talent for the industry.

From the audience, everybody’s favorite student advocate, Barbara “Mother” Hubbard, asked the record execs on the panel, “Can we do some workshops with you – an education program for entertainment?”

Goldberg responded that it would be up to the artists and management, but he didn’t see why not.

Interscope/Geffen/A&M’s Diallobe Johnson said, “We’re always looking for things to do with the artist when they’re in town. ... Whether it’s to do a show at the university or not, perhaps we can get some support from [the school].”

He added the label would love to see students help get the word out when an artist is in town.

Finally, Cohen brought up a resource that he said is being underutilized: NACA (National Association for Campus Activities). He said NACA has 947 campus members at the moment.

“More than eight times a year, they get together, do showcases and these schools book $2,000 to $3,000 acts for their coffee series or whatever,” Cohen explained, adding that there is a problem with the quality of acts being showcased.

But he said if the major agencies and labels put quality developing acts on NACA showcases, perhaps that could help the artist development challenges faced by colleges.

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