Fall concert made free after dismal ticket sales
Kevin Muller
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: News
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At an emergency meeting of the SA executives, Murtaza consulted with the seven members of the board before making her ultimate decision.
"This was the hardest decision of my life," Murtaza said. "I really hope [the students] understand where I'm coming from."
As of last week, student ticket sales amounted to just over 400, far below the 1,373 that were sold for the All-American Rejects concert in the spring and the 1,182 that were sold for Lupe Fiasco last fall.
According to AC chair Corinthia Kotlar, the concert, which features Gym Class Heroes and Asher Roth, is projected to cost slightly more than $80,000. Of that cost, $40,000 had already been committed to Gym Class Heroes and $20,000 to Roth - the remainder of the expenses is allotted to security, technical support and miscellaneous costs associated with putting on the event.
Although Kotlar said that it is possible that the committed costs could have been negotiated down to $30,000 from $60,000 in the event of a cancellation, it is unclear whether the artists would have accepted such a deal.
Murtaza said the surprisingly weak ticket sales were "not AC's fault, not [AC Concerts Coordinator Emily Lambe]'s fault," but pointed to the high occurrence of swine flu on campus and the poor economy as possible explanations.
"It's never a waste of money when students are enjoying themselves," Murtaza said. "We're here to provide a service for students, and we're going to provide it regardless."
Senior Brian Hartle, SA director of academic affairs, said that SA was faced with three choices: to subsidize approximately 90 percent of the concert for an audience of about 400, to spend $60,000 on nothing - a complete loss - or to subsidize the entire concert but potentially provide 2,700 people with a show.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 11
Mari
posted 11/19/09 @ 9:43 PM EST
the economy/swine-flu argument is BS. Half of everyone at this school spends 15 bucks on alcohol alone every weekend. It's not that they don't have the money, it's that the concert headliner was lackluster. (Continued…)
DALE
posted 11/19/09 @ 9:44 PM EST
Horrible allocation of funds
anonymous
posted 11/19/09 @ 11:17 PM EST
Yeah, this whole claim that people are sick and/or trying to save money is wrong. What about the obvious? Gym Class Heroes are not worth seeing. I have had the opportunity to see the concert for free from the very beginning, and still have had no interest in seeing it. (Continued…)
Danielle
posted 11/20/09 @ 2:38 AM EST
I never went to a single concert during my time at Geneseo. I usually had never even heard of the headlining band and every year heard numerous people complain about the utter suckage of the band chosen. (Continued…)
Markus Allen
posted 11/20/09 @ 11:25 AM EST
Hey SUNY Geneseo, instead of blowing $50,000 on a band that no one wants to see (that's probably why you haven't sold any tickets and had to make the sh***y show free), you should consider giving some people some scholarships. (Continued…)
Boomhaur
posted 11/20/09 @ 7:21 PM EST
It's crap like this that makes me oppose more spending and in favor of drastic cuts.
Frank
posted 11/21/09 @ 1:56 PM EST
This whole process makes me sick. Gym Class Heroes are awful and talentless. As others have mentioned, the whole swine and economy being the reason for ticket sales being down is complete malarkey. (Continued…)
Sarah
posted 11/26/09 @ 1:43 AM EST
The concert should have been cancelled. It was ridiculous to lose that much money on a concert. They should have cut their losses considering SA is already in the hole from last year. (Continued…)
Boomhaur
posted 11/26/09 @ 1:16 PM EST
It seems stupid that the college (and student organizations) are trying to be an entertainment venue while we are supposedly enduring a "budget crisis. (Continued…)
Mike
posted 12/03/09 @ 4:10 PM EST
Maybe get a good band next time. the last good group worthy of a headline was Third Eye Blind.
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