ECE Agent Jack Shannon gives "Sound Advice For Colleges"

Beware of booking bands that blow your budget, or simply blow

By KATE MOSER

After the multi-platinum-selling country singer Carrie Underwood played East Tennessee State University in the spring, the local Bristol Herald Courier calculated that the university had spent about $41,000 per song.

Across the country, colleges spend student fees on a wide range of bands, from up-and-coming groups like Raining Jane to six-figure acts like Ms. Underwood. Some coordinate schedules with other colleges to bring down costs — a practice known as co-op buying — and others blow their budgets on one big name.

East Tennessee State raised eyebrows in June when it was revealed that an accounting mistake had led the student government to pay $692,000 for Ms. Underwood and the Goo Goo Dolls, without enough money in the entertainment budget to cover the cost. Among students, another question is perhaps more pressing than proper accounting: "The Goo Goo Dolls? Come on," says Eileen Rush, a junior and executive editor of the campus newspaper.

Forking over large sums of money for bands that are past their prime, in students' minds, comes naturally to many colleges. But when booking bands, Jack Shannon, an agent with EastCoast Entertainment, advises colleges to "listen to their students." Scott Talarico, president of the booking agency Neon Entertainment, says that sometimes it takes "a delicate sort of manner" to steer programming directors away from big-ticket bands that sound cool but might not excite the student body.

Colleges are increasingly pushing to book bands before they make the big time, some in the industry say. "It's always fun to catch the Fray when they're $7,500," Mr. Shannon says, referring to the Grammy-nominated rock band that he says plays for six figures now. "Now, it seems like people are way more willing to go with buzz bands."

Some colleges have built reputations for getting acts while the buzzing is still just a hum. Sequestered in the cornfields of Iowa, Grinnell College has aimed to dazzle students with the variety, abundance, and quality of the bands it draws. Whether it's hip-hop acts from Chicago or hot indie bands like Spoon, Grinnell takes a budget of about $20,000 per semester and books a range of acts from a $200 local band to a $10,000 gig. The tradition there stretches back to 1975, at least, when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played Darby Gymnasium — a month before the Boss made the covers of Time and Newsweek.

Even at rural Frostburg State University, in western Maryland, "students still insist on and demand to have" big artists, says Bill Mandicott, assistant vice president for student and community involvement. "The Earth and moon and stars have to align" to make that happen, he says, but the university has booked such top acts as the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop group the Roots, which cost about $75,000.

As for East Tennessee State, many students there enjoyed the Carrie Underwood show, but others were disgruntled, Ms. Rush says. Rather than flying in huge artists, couldn't the university tap into the rich bluegrass culture all around them?

"We're not embracing that when we bring these artists in," she says. Next time, Ms. Rush suggests, the university should consider booking the Swinging Pachyderms from Erwin, Tenn., a band named for a circus elephant that was hanged for killing a man in 1916.

The Pachyderms' rate for a campus show is $500 to $750.

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© 2008 EastCoast Entertainment, Inc.