ESU’s Fall Concert Cancelled

A-Trak performing at My Life Every Day Restival in San Diego, California in May. Photo Courtesy of A-Trak Facebook / Edited by Brook Wadle
A-Trak performing at My Life Every Day Restival in San Diego, California in May. Photo Courtesy of A-Trak Facebook / Edited by Brook Wadle
A-Trak performing at My Life Every Day Festival in San Diego, California in May.
Photo Courtesy of A-Trak Facebook / Edited by Brook Wadle

BY VERONES PADILLA

SC Staff Writer

 

East Stroudsburg University, in conjunction with Campus Activities Board (CAB), booked a concert featuring A-Trak, a Canadian DJ who specializes in electro, house, and hip hop music.

The concert was scheduled for October 23, 2013 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM, originally at The Sherman Theater.

After the overdose incidents at the Barstool Blackout Tour, concerns grew for the security and safety of students by ESU administration and CAB.

In order to secure that the events that lead to multiple hospitalizations did not repeat themselves, a decision was made to move the venue of the concert from The Sherman Theater to The Mattioli Recreation Center.

Additional precautions were going to be taken in the form of extra security and medical staff at the concert.

The difference in venue capacity seems to have been the major cause for the cancelation of the event.

With less than fifty tickets sold in total, it became financially unfeasible to move forward with the event.

According to Basir Ali, junior, Communications Major and Secretary of CAB, the student organization “just didn’t sell enough tickets.”

In order for a concert to take place, CAB must sign a contract with the performer.

The performer is paid an undisclosed amount for the contract and any ticket sales is profit for CAB and put back into their annual budget.

If a concert is cancelled, as in the case with A-Track, CAB is refunded a portion of the fee paid to the artist.

Ultimately, that refund was more than what CAB would have made on ticket sales.

“Some students were really angry and others were just asking for us to find better acts to promote,” said Ali about student reaction to the cancellation. “As of now, there is no concert scheduled. We are looking for artist for the spring semester.”

In the past, CAB has conducted student surveys to find out what kind of performances the student body is interested in.

When CAB booked A-Trak, no such survey was conducted and the ticket sales reflect the lack of interest.

“No one was excited about this guy. We were trying to do something different and it didn’t work out,” said Ali.

CAB has decided the best way to move forward is to resume the surveys once given to students.

“We will do the survey again for next semester and get a performer the students on campus will actually come out and see.”

 

Email Verones at:

vpadilla@live.esu.edu