The college gig, in one respect, can be thought of as the generic store brand in the music industry supermarket — only a few people seem to be aware of it, despite its relative value. As a culture of advertising-inundated consumers, we instead reach for the big names on the shelf, or for the purposes of this example, the principal venues with established reputations. And more often than not, especially if you’re a musician, these items are beyond our means, financially and otherwise. Like any business, a musical career requires growing before we can expect to reap the rewards, and a college gig can often be the answer as to where to begin.

For many artists, the college booking process seems to be one shrouded in mystery, and understandably so. Schools do not share the same business mentality as standard venues, and hosting concerts is only a small part of their ongoing effort to keep students content. Not knowing how to approach this unique niche of the touring market can be discouraging for artists. Yes, landing a college performance requires a methodology unfamiliar to many, but it is certainly a revenue source worth tapping into. And thankfully, there is a set of fairly well-established guidelines and channels that will enable you to make the most of eager students and deep pockets.

In effect, there are two standard avenues for getting a college gig. The first is the do-it-yourself method: direct solicitation with press, flyers, music and the like. The second is through cooperative agencies, the most predominant of which is easily the National Association for Campus Activities, or NACA. The Association for Campus Activities (APCA) has also emerged as another helpful organization. So which plan of attack should you choose? The artists who have negotiated the process and the booking agents who understand the collegiate business mindset will quickly point to four important influencers in making the decision — money, reputation, attitude, and entertainment value.

NACA, as its website notes, “links the higher education and entertainment communities in a business and learning partnership.” In other words, the organization serves as a meeting ground for artists and colleges, thereby facilitating the booking process. Among NACA’s offerings are the Artist Matching Service, Block Book It Now (an online service that allows neighboring colleges to view each others’ schedules and book the same artists), and, perhaps most importantly, the Regional and National Conferences. Clearly, performance opportunities abound. Syd, a Boston-based singer/songwriter who estimates he has booked “a couple hundred” shows through NACA’s service, refers to the organization half-jokingly as “musician’s crack.”

Understanding NACA

Joining NACA is costly, but it can also yield you an “astonishing amount of money,” notes Syd. Those artists who decide against membership cite expenses as the main factor. An associate national membership (designed for companies doing business in the college market) costs $632/year at press time. Membership provides access to all the organization’s services and enables you to apply to both regional and national NACA conferences. Syd’s college booking agent, George Hornick from Wally’s World of Entertainment, affirms that conferences are the driving force for membership and are definitively the best way to book shows, especially if you land a showcase opportunity. Terri Mazurek of Peppermint Booking, whose roster includes Ellis, a Midwestern singer/songwriter who has had great success with NACA, echoes Hornick’s sentiment: “If you showcase well, it is THE best way to get attention in the college market.” And indeed, a little research will reveal just how lucrative one conference performance can be. Following Syd’s very first showcase, he ended up scheduling 50 college dates that same day, all paying $500 each. These results are not uncommon.

Be advised, though, that getting a showcase requires serious investment. To attend the conferences as an artist, you must first have a booth and pay the Campus Activities Marketplace fee. Then you must also pay the showcase application fee and, if selected to perform, you must pay a showcasing fee as well. Herein lies the financial trade-off that typifies NACA. Also keep in mind that showcasing slots are not reserved solely for musicians. College representatives are looking for acts that can entertain students, meaning comedians, magicians and other performance artists are also vying for coveted performance slots.

• How to Succeed
  
  Be personable and active. Even if you do not land a showcase, it can still be worthwhile to pay the booth fee and make an impression with your music if you have a positive demeanor. Not only does a certain amount of flexibility and a good attitude make you more pleasant to work with, but it will also confirm to prospective college buyers that you can interact well and potentially entertain an audience. This personal effort can have very tangible results, i.e. increased bookings. Mazurek notes that “many students have heard of Ellis because ... they just met her at a conference and liked her,” and points to the fact that for “about half of her bookings, the schools are calling me directly asking for her; she has a very large number of repeat bookings.” Hornick mimics her comments, remarking “when it comes to somebody like Syd, his personality and his music have proven invaluable in the NACA eyes. To the students on program committees, they find that endearing.” He continues, “Not only is he talented, but he can also keep a set of students entertained for a period of time. NACA is all about entertainment. Students want to be entertained. To some of them, a musical act is right there with the magician, the novelty, etc.” Syd agrees: “Everyone who’s decent, or charismatic I should say, will have success with it.” In this respect, it becomes apparent how college gigs differ from standard venue performances, in that entertainment value and accessibility are paramount.

• Consider an agent. The trick with student activities committees, college program boards, and the like is that they are largely student-run, meaning personnel turnover occurs very frequently. Also, because they still have all their academic worries outside of booking entertainment, “it’s not the most prioritizing thing in their life,” as Hornick puts is. If you are a self-represented artist, trying to maintain relationships with one college, let alone hundreds, can be a job unto itself. Certain agents work specifically with colleges, making sure their relationships remain intact through all the transitions. Again, the conferences are prime territory for strengthening these bonds. Additionally, those agents that have clients with proven track records are very appealing to schools because they can then book not just one, but many acts through one contact.

• Use NACA as a springboard. While college gigs can certainly pay well, they do not create the same benefits as a real venue performance. Take advantage of the fact that you have generated interest among a seriously buzz-driven community and aim for playing at a local venue next time around to draw paying fans. Mazurek warns, “if you don’t follow up these shows with ticketed concerts at nearby venues, you then have a whole audience of folks who are now used to seeing you for free. They may not pay to see a show down the road.” She continues, “there is a danger of becoming just a ‘college artist’ and the students may not take you as seriously. It is important to have a balance of college shows and ticketed club shows.” Hornick concurs that “[artists] should use it to financially supplement their tour,” but that having success in the college market shouldn’t be the ultimate goal.

The Grassroots Option

Colleges are not bound in any way to book exclusively through NACA once they become members, and if you can present them with a compelling package, you can have just as much luck as NACA-associated artists. Granted, this method requires significantly more grunt work. Choosing this process is where having an already established reputation can help, as name recognition will often move you to the top of the pile. You may also want to choose this path if you or your group might have trouble competing with the various novelty acts that go through NACA. In this case, you save on membership and showcasing fees by directly soliciting schools. When asked how she approaches colleges outside of NACA, Mazurek replies simply “lots and lots of calls to schools, keeping in touch, and letting them know about open dates of our acts.” Sending flyers and one-sheets is effective when followed-up on. Developing and maintaining an up-to-date list of college contacts will allow you to conduct mass mailings easily; there are various resources for gathering all this information (see the directory that follows). Allegedly, Dispatch, certainly one of the most ingenious groups when it came to grassroots work, made their now well-chronicled entrance into the school market by making a huge list of private schools and contacting each one.

Food for Thought

Both methods take a lot of work and a certain amount of money. Do not spring for either until you are sure you are ready and need to do so. Syd advises curious musicians to bide their time and establish a following prior to joining NACA. Also, in this digital age, industry insiders are beginning to notice changes to the standard formats of booking college shows. Mazurek highlights this shift: “[Conferences] seem to be somewhat less effective recently, with more student reps finding their artists via the internet [MySpace, artist sites, etc.]. It used to be that a successful showcase would result in 40 to 50 bookings, but now it seems like ‘success’ is 20 bookings.” Hornick agrees: “There’s not as much co-op buying going on at conferences. Now, you’re lucky to get a couple blocks.” He concludes with an observation indicative, perhaps, of the whole college booking process, stating, “It is a long-term investment; you have to put in three years of sticking with it in order to get turn-around.”