For many years the Student Center Programs Council has worked to boost the morale of the student population during the school year, helping coordinate big events such as Homecoming and Fall Festival. One of the Council’s most notable events is the annual Sting Break concert held at the end of the spring semester. Artists that have headlined this huge Tech occasion within the past few years include big names Ludacris, T.I. and OK GO.
On Friday, April 17, the Council will be showcasing the talents of rock band Of A Revolution (O.A.R) with opening acts by Augustana and Parachute.
How well known are these bands around campus? To take a couple of random students for an example, Jane Hua, third-year MGT, said she had no idea who O.A.R. was but that she was “pretty excited” about Augustana; Chris Cantrell, third-year BCHM, said he knows O.A.R. and was excited about having them on campus.
According to Courtney Telfare, second-year IE and the concerts chair for this year’s Sting Break, with the cost of the bands this year, funds would come up short without ticket sales. “If we want a big name artist we need the funds for that,” Telfare said.
“This is not the first time that we have ticketed Sting Break, and some of our most successful shows have been those that were ticketed. We are still getting a good deal. O.A.R. will be performing at Clemson the day after our concert without Augustana, and the ticket cost there will be $25,” Telfare said.
Telfare stated that the band selection process all begins with the student survey. “We send out a survey of several popular artists to all students. We do this … so that we receive a wide variety of opinions. All of our actions are based on the initial votes of the students,” Telfare said.
Telfare went on to explain that they rank artists based on the number of votes they get as well as based on the number of first-choice votes that they receive. For this year the top picks by students included Weezer, the Goo Goo Dolls and Third Eye Blind, and it was in this order that the concert committee contacted the artists.
The task to choose a band is never as simple as a number of votes, and from reasons such as lack of money or scheduling conflicts the committee had to move down the list to find both the top-ranked and most available artists for this year’s concert.
“We got in contact with O.A.R… and as they were under the same label as O.A.R. we were able to get both Parachute and Augustana in the deal,” Telfare said.
The time between receiving the survey and the beginning of advertisements for the bands is upwards of one month, which can seem like a long time for students. Telfare explained that the long selection process of the bands is primarily because “you can’t announce a band without forming a contract with them, and even with the contract there are contract negotiations. [After the choosing of the band] the contract process can be from one week to one month, and only when that is done can we make fliers with the bands’ name on them.”