Co-written by Alejandro Ulloa
After building hype for the Fall 2012 concert through vague tweets and teaser videos, the Fairfield University Student Association (FUSA) finally announced August 12 on YouTube the performers who will grace the Alumni Hall stage.
Headlining the concert is Diplo, a seasoned artist behind many popular songs that have rippled through the British and American music scenes for about a decade. He has collaborated with Shakira, Robyn, Kid Cudi, Bruno Mars and Snoop Dogg, while still serving a cutting-edge flavor of modern Brazilian dance music under his belt.
FUSA concert directors Gina Tiftikidis ’13 and Sara Robicheau ’13 are behind the modernized marketing strategy as well as the official selection of the artists.
Krewella will be opening for Diplo. The three-member “dubstep-infused electronic music group” surfaced in 2007 and is best known for its song “Killin’ It.”
Both artists recently performed at the Electric Zoo, a popular annual Electro-Music festival that takes place on Labor Day Weekend on Randall’s Island, N.Y.
The digital marketing is to counter last year’s disappointing concert turnout. Approximately 400 tickets were sold, but the actual number of attendees was significantly lower for the performance of Far East Movement, The Hood Internet and Hoodie Allen.
The YouTube announcement video received close to 1000 hits within the first 24 hours generating buzz. As of last night the number of views had reached 1,457.
Reactions to today’s announcement have been largely positive.
“I think last year’s poor concert really gave FUSA a wake-up call . . . Bringing EDM (Electric Dance Music) to Alumni Hall is a good choice,” said Christopher Del Vecchio ’14.
On the FUSA’s Facebook page, the news had been shared 18 times and has received 17 “likes.” FUSA retweeted a response from a follower who said: “[FUSA] is about to put on the best concert at Fairfield since I walked on campus 2 years ago!”
Still, as always, criticism lurks. A YouTube user wrote a scathing comment for FUSA’s video: “A DJ?!?! . . . It’s like it gets worse and worse each year. I could go to Stamford on a weekend and waste my money. $95 of my tuition money is being allocated to FUSA, and honestly if this is the crap that [they’re] going to bring us for our concert then I would like to get my money back.”
That $95 gives FUSA a $300,000 budget during the academic year, which is used to sponsor many other events. The concert alone tends to use about one tenth of that budget to cover production costs and the artist’s contract.
FUSA must also battle obscurity this year with the name Diplo being less popular than the notable artists he has worked with. The same goes for Krewella.
Junior Andrew Kringas believes unfamiliarity is not a factor in this case. “Diplo is a solid pick, though probably not a lot of people know about his newer [work] that he dropped this summer.”
This year’s student ticket price of $30 is a legitimation of FUSA’s talk last year of finding ways to lower ticket prices.
This Friday, the price for students is set to jump to $40 with only one available per StagCard. This is equivalent to the price for guests.
According to Rob Vogel “20% of the freshmen” purchased tickets during the first two days of “move-in day” which became a good barometer to the “student body’s overall excitement”.
Ticket sales are also expected to be on the rise for the Presidential Ball; a new possible competitor to FUSA’s fall concert success, being that this year is the concert’s first scheduling before the annual dance on Bellarmine lawn.
Doors to the Fall Concert will open at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 21. FUSA will continue to release more information later this week.
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