Although Fusion puts local artists first — such as Apathetic Critic, A Letter To You, and Jeff Pianki — they’ve also booked household names like Mae, The Academy Is …, Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra, upcoming shows also include Sondre Lerche and Copeland.

Fusion was born when Dorough’s “Livingston Underground” and Ronk’s “Northlawn Music Group” combined — thus a “fusion” of two companies.

They mostly put on all-age concerts and believe in fee-free ticket transactions. Dorough says Fusion differs from competing outlets for a simple reason.

“We care about every show,” Dorough said. “We try to build the young acts that are just picking up a guitar and we work just as hard with them as we do with bands like Copeland and Manchester Orchestra. The only way an act is going to improve is if people take stock in them and work with them.”

Matt Radick, a freshman in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, works for Fusion, posting and promoting shows online using sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

For him, the company represents a positive movement toward an honest music experience.

“Fusion Shows is all about bringing it back to the fans and back to the bands,” Radick said. “Nate’s all about music and having it bring people together. One of our biggest goals is to bring these big, national acts to an intimate setting and giving you a chance to interact with them.”

Dave Suchanek, a guitarist and vocalist for the band Loune and a recent MSU graduate, works as a show representative for the company. He said Fusion Shows is living out its slogan — “Music brings us together!” — both in concert atmospheres and in the bigger picture.

“The Michigan music scene is very spread out and it’s really a statewide scene, but there are pockets like Grand Rapids and Lansing and Metro Detroit,” Suchanek said. “Nate is doing a really good job helping to bridge the gaps between the different cities. He’s kind of become the central figure of the whole Michigan network.”

Dorough, who hopes to shine an even brighter light on local talent in 2010, sees Lansing in as an area full of talent and energy. Mac’s Bar, 2700 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing, The Small Planet, 16800 Chandler Road, and (SCENE) Metrospace, 110 Charles St., all have all been venues for Fusion Shows.

“I think Lansing, being a college town, lends well to a concert promotion company because there’s a lot of college-age students who want to go out a lot and see a lot of music,” Dorough said.

“We like working with national touring acts, especially ones who are positive and have a good fan base, but our true passion lies in trying to build the local music scene up to all it can be. In 2010 one of our focuses is to get back to that.”