East Campus is a part of Duke, and freshmen are Duke students. But if a concert—namely, Wale’s appearance Friday, Aug. 28—was produced in such a way that 75 percent of undergraduates had little chance of showing up, was it truly a Duke event?
It’s rare that the Duke University Union provides us an occasion that can be used so clearly as a barometer of the concert scene on campus. Joe College Day and LDOC have built-in draws, virtues that transcend and render irrelevant the question of who’s actually playing. Alcohol will do that. But this—a seemingly spontaneous production, unrelated to any canonical holiday, where the only selling point is the music—is something from which the programming community can learn. And here’s the lesson: A performer is only going to get students over to East Campus if they know he’s coming.
A little background for the uninitiated: Wale is a big deal. To put it in the context of recent performers, The Roots were a Wale once, and Wale will likely be a Roots in a year or two. And in terms of mainstream recognition, he outshines Girl Talk without much debate. His opener, a rapper from Fayetteville, N.C. named J. Cole, is less recognizable, but he’s also got some credibility. That’s what happens when Jay-Z features you on his new album.
“I can sell out a 2,500 capacity club with six days promotion nowadays,” Wale told me a few days before the show. Keep in mind that those 2,500 are buying tickets. His show at Duke was free, and it had far more than six days of promotion; it was mentioned on recess’ Playground blog Aug. 2, when it was referred to as “somewhat old news.”
It also doesn’t hurt that a perfect storm of circumstances led to the performance. DUU Major Attractions Director Liz Turner said that not only did Wale accept an offer within the Union’s budget, but he had contacted them, not the other way around.
So, the big question: did the show succeed? Yes. Did it succeed as much as it could have? No. And that underachievement came in the form of a disproportionate number of freshmen in the crowd, reflecting a rather small showing of non-East Campus Duke students.
The freshmen were out in force. Despite the rain, a few hundred were there when they could’ve been sitting in their rooms with the windows open, dry and relaxed. There are people who enjoy listening to concerts like that. But first-year participation was almost a foregone conclusion. “If you have loud music playing on East Campus during orientation week, freshmen will be drawn to it like moths to a flame without a poster telling them what it is,” DUU Executive Marketing Director Adam Barron wrote in an e-mail.
Barron admitted that “not much” was done to advertise for the Wale concert, as it’s “hard to get people to do a lot over the summer.” He wrote that upwards of 150 or 200 posters were printed, and that Facebook and Twitter were utilized as much as possible in spreading the word. “We didn’t spend much money on marketing for the Wale show,” he wrote. “It kind of markets itself.”
After all, a flame needn’t advertise toward moths. But those upperclassmen from West and Central and those seniors who live off campus, they’re more like moths from out-of-town: They’re probably not going to find that flame on their own.
The problem with this show wasn’t the execution. The stage did seem a little small, and J. Cole was left to fend for himself without the aid of a visible DJ—the man looked like he was surrounded and trying to rap his way out, and it’s a testament to his formidable skills that he eventually took control—but it was still a fun, high-energy display of prodigious party hip-hop.
The audience wasn’t inconsequential, though the numbers did fall below DUU’s estimate, which Turner put at more than 1,000. Still, Turner said she was pleased with the turnout. “I was talking with [Wale] afterwards and he was pumped about how many people showed up,” she said. “And I know J. Cole made a specific reference about how happy he was that everyone was there despite the rain, and he had a smaller audience than Wale did.” Some other schools were represented, and a few dozen Durham residents had made their way over as well.
What it comes down to, it seems, is faulty intent. It’s one thing to market a show primarily to freshmen. It’s another to intend for it to be mainly a freshman event.
Every member of this school—regardless of their year—equally funds DUU, and while the Union would not disclose how much it shelled out for Wale, the cost of these concerts are not insignificant.
What this means is that, free show or not, all attempts should be made to attract and benefit as many students as possible, from every year—not just one. In fact, the lack of a ticket fee makes it all the more important, because the costs won’t be recouped. Whatever money was used on this show is gone, and if you didn’t partake, then that’s a chunk of the programming budget that you’ll never see again.
If you chose not to show up, that’s one thing. Even LDOC doesn’t see 100 percent participation. But at least you had the choice. But if you didn’t know about it, and you weren’t able to make that choice, then something was amiss. After all, it was a great show. Next time, just invite everyone to the party.
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