Bringing in a mediocre band with a big name doesn't mean good attendance or a profit.
This is the lesson ASMSU learned — for the third time.
Some members of the undergraduate student government admitted they "dropped the ball" on organizing concerts.
These failings have caused ASMSU to lose about $100,000 on three concerts, including a 2004 Welcome Week concert featuring Jason Mraz and mtvU's Campus Invasion tour with Muse this year.
The most recent of these failings, a Dashboard Confessional concert, cost more than $50,000 and ASMSU ended up losing $34,600.
Yes, something did go wrong. But now that ASMSU has flat-out admitted that they, too, are upset with the outcome, the only way for them to go from here is up.
It's good ASMSU understands things need to change. This can go a long way toward solving the problem.
Now it can stop wasting student money by actually changing the policies in place.
Several of the group's ideas are good, such as planning in the spring rather than in the summer or moving to a cheaper venue.
But words only matter so much.
Admitting past failures and having ideas for the future are great, but there needs to be action.
The first thing ASMSU needs to recognize is that smaller bands are good for college audiences.
They might not have as much mainstream appeal, but it doesn't take as many tickets to make back money spent.
Smaller bands also don't have the stigma many larger bands carry; a good indie band can draw a crowd with hardcore fans as well as those who are curious.
But even a well-known band can make a profit if it has student appeal. Dashboard Confessional might have had one hit song a few years ago, but they've been out of the spotlight for a long time.
Bringing in another act might have garnered more interest with a smaller price tag.
Has ASMSU ever polled students to see what bands they want to see?
Communication with students would go a long way toward getting students in the gate and in seats. ASMSU should ask students who they would like to see.
A good resource for finding the student vibe or getting the word out would be e-mail surveys.
In general, it would be good for ASMSU to ask for more student input, but here it could be an immediate benefit to planning these events.
Of course, advertising the concert also will go a long way toward having more student attendance. If students don't know about the concert in the first place, it doesn't matter how big the name is or how many albums they've sold.
Admitting things went wrong does nothing if changes don't result. It's good that ASMSU is upset over these flops, but only if it do something about it.
