Kevin Meyer, part-owner of Meridian Entertainment Group, has a simple description of what his company does.
"We sell fun."
The company, established in 1997 by Meyer and partners Brad Coombs and Rick Shimel, buys talent and promotes 180 to 200 events a year across North America.
"Basically, we solicit and negotiate the deals with the talent," Meyer said. "Not only the financial terms, we then help execute all of the requirements that the talent may have within their contract, and within their show, to put on the best show that they could possibly put on."
The big event Meridian Entertainment Group can take credit for creating is Lansing's Common Ground Music Festival.
Common Ground was born 8-1/2 years ago, when the company came together with investors and the Lansing Entertainment & Public Facilities Authority to create a summer concert event that would "not only draw from all over the state of Michigan to the state capital, but eventually become a major regional event in the Midwest."
The festival is approaching that goal. In 2005, tickets were bought in 55 counties throughout the state, while seven-day passes to this year's festival sold out. Meyer said Meridian Entertainment Group has put a lot into promoting the event, but its efforts can't compare with word-of-mouth.
"People come, they have a great time, they go home and they go, 'Oh, it was a great time. I'm going next year, and I'm bringing someone with me.' We can't buy that," he said.
Common Ground is just one of the company's many priorities throughout the year, but Meyer said preparations for the festival happen year-round, between weekly meetings with festival partners, booking the acts and the actual preparation of the festival grounds, which happens five days before the festival kicks off.
Meyer and his partners are "cheerleading" for Common Ground.
"If you're on the phone or in Los Angeles or in New York or in Nashville, or you're in Las Vegas meeting with agents or managers, you're always going, 'Hey, I've got this great event: Common Ground. You think you're going to be in Illinois here this weekend? Well, we could route right into Common Ground,'" he said. "We're always out there pitching and selling."
Meridian Entertainment Group spends $700,000-$800,000 on a typical Common Ground lineup — lineups Meyer said secondary markets like Lansing usually don't attract.
"For a market of this size, to have an event of this caliber with the type of entertainment we have, it's really good," he said.
