MUNSU in the Dogg house to the tune of $100,000

At yesterday’s general meeting, MUNSU gave a post-mortem on the September 12th Snoop Dogg concert, revealing that the Student Union suffered a loss of just over $100,000 in hosting the MUN student orientation event.

snoop-munsu_signal

The Snoop concert only sold 2560 out of a possible 5914 tickets, which went for between $45 and $55 dollars.

Even the official after-party at the Breezeway, which featured an appearance by Snoop (for a $10,000 fee, half paid by MUNSU, half by event sponsor Ballistic), suffered from a lack of attendance. But then, no one ever actually expects the star to show up to the after-party, so the fact that very few people came is hardly surprising.

After the Nas fiasco from earlier this year, it’s likely some people wondered whether Snoop would even make it to the stage at Mile One. It’s hard to imagine that not affecting ticket sales.

Meanwhile, the recently announced Matthew Good concert happening in December is already close to sold out, while MUNSU’s Our Lady Peace concert last year netted them an unexpected profit of $50,000.

The fact is, MUNSU does not throw concerts in an effort to raise money. They do so as a service to the students of MUN. As such, they expect these services to cost them money. It was said yesterday that $30,000 is deemed an acceptable loss (or cost) for MUNSU to host a major concert. But the Snoop Dogg concert more than tripled that figure.

Though some arguments were made and ideas were tossed around (like actually polling the student population to find out who they’d like to see in concert), no decisions were made at yesterday’s meeting about how to better plan for large-scale concerts so as to avoid the kind of massive loss suffered in hosting Snoop Dogg.
  • Bob

    Not making money is one thing. Losing $100k of the students’ money is criminal.

    Sounds like someone on the Council got hosed by a smart promoter.

    A decade ago, the old CSU left most of their concert promotions in the hands of professionals like Gary Clarke. While that meant that the Council of the day didn’t get the fun and glamour of playing promoter, it also meant that they did not get creamed like this.

  • Bob

    Not making money is one thing. Losing $100k of the students’ money is criminal.

    Sounds like someone on the Council got hosed by a smart promoter.

    A decade ago, the old CSU left most of their concert promotions in the hands of professionals like Gary Clarke. While that meant that the Council of the day didn’t get the fun and glamour of playing promoter, it also meant that they did not get creamed like this.

  • elsam

    You win some and then you lose some.
    However, MUNSU is putting their pocket books out on the line to bring big name talent to St. John’s, and if it wasn’t for them, there wouldn’t be half the “big” shows that happen in the city. Last year they suffered hard core due to weather issues, and this gave them a bad rep. But it was inevitable, and the student population have to start supporting/trusting their Union a little more.
    I say the issue here is marketing. That was one of the issues I noticed throughout last year…. that they market to the students and not so much the general public.
    Maybe that’s changed, I can’t really say since I wasn’t there to see the promoting situation… but that’s what I’ve noticed last year… anyone care to fill me in on this year’s attempt?

  • elsam

    You win some and then you lose some.
    However, MUNSU is putting their pocket books out on the line to bring big name talent to St. John’s, and if it wasn’t for them, there wouldn’t be half the “big” shows that happen in the city. Last year they suffered hard core due to weather issues, and this gave them a bad rep. But it was inevitable, and the student population have to start supporting/trusting their Union a little more.
    I say the issue here is marketing. That was one of the issues I noticed throughout last year…. that they market to the students and not so much the general public.
    Maybe that’s changed, I can’t really say since I wasn’t there to see the promoting situation… but that’s what I’ve noticed last year… anyone care to fill me in on this year’s attempt?

  • Nathan

    Marketing was actually quite good this time around.

    It was mentioned in the meeting that they had a partnership with Hits FM wherein (if I recall correctly) they got four times the amount of ad-room on the radio. That qualifies as marketing toward the public as much as anything else.

    The lack of turnout wasn’t due to lack of promotion, I’m fairly certain. They kicked around a few reasons: The recession, the announcement of the Busta Rhymes show shortly after, and, as Darcy mentioned, the rumours that he wasn’t going to show.

    Maybe after the epic Nas fail, putting all the event eggs in a hip-hoppy basket wasn’t the most prudent choice.

  • Nathan

    Marketing was actually quite good this time around.

    It was mentioned in the meeting that they had a partnership with Hits FM wherein (if I recall correctly) they got four times the amount of ad-room on the radio. That qualifies as marketing toward the public as much as anything else.

    The lack of turnout wasn’t due to lack of promotion, I’m fairly certain. They kicked around a few reasons: The recession, the announcement of the Busta Rhymes show shortly after, and, as Darcy mentioned, the rumours that he wasn’t going to show.

    Maybe after the epic Nas fail, putting all the event eggs in a hip-hoppy basket wasn’t the most prudent choice.

  • Kayla Walters

    I think the fact that MUNSU reportedly passed up Lady Gaga for Snoop Dog is the EPIC FAIL of the day. If its true that is. Kids all over campus were talking about this today. Anyone know if it’s fact?

  • Kayla Walters

    I think the fact that MUNSU reportedly passed up Lady Gaga for Snoop Dog is the EPIC FAIL of the day. If its true that is. Kids all over campus were talking about this today. Anyone know if it’s fact?

  • Mike

    They should have waited till the Student Aid cheques came out!! Poor planning.

  • Mike

    They should have waited till the Student Aid cheques came out!! Poor planning.

  • nathand

    @Kayla Walters

    Artists they looked into booking were Rihanna, 50 Cent, Lady Gaga, and Alexisonfire. They mentioned that for various reasons, mostly having to do with NL’s isolation + scheduling issues, these artists were unavailable.

    As I understand it, out of the ones they pondered booking, it was Snoop or bust.

  • nathand

    @Kayla Walters

    Artists they looked into booking were Rihanna, 50 Cent, Lady Gaga, and Alexisonfire. They mentioned that for various reasons, mostly having to do with NL’s isolation + scheduling issues, these artists were unavailable.

    As I understand it, out of the ones they pondered booking, it was Snoop or bust.

  • Kayla Walters

    Gotcha. That makes more sense. Gaga and Rhianna seem especially out of reach to MUNSU. Those ladies are just so busy. I’d really like them to start considering what the students want in the future. A simple questionnaire on the Student Web service would have indicated the low interest. Kind of a stupid move there.

  • Kayla Walters

    Gotcha. That makes more sense. Gaga and Rhianna seem especially out of reach to MUNSU. Those ladies are just so busy. I’d really like them to start considering what the students want in the future. A simple questionnaire on the Student Web service would have indicated the low interest. Kind of a stupid move there.

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