CAB survey for spring concert released

The clock is ticking for students to cast their vote on which musical act they would like to see come to USD next semester.

The Campus Activities Board, which is known primarily for bringing major concerts to campus, distributed a survey online last week to students that featured 10 artists from varying music genres. The survey will end on Friday.

“So far there’s been a really great reaction from the student body, and I think that they are really going to be happy with who is chosen,” said Alexandra Mattern, CAB’s communications vice president. “It’s going to be somebody that a majority of the students will appreciate.”

Possible artists who will perform at USD next semester include: Andy Grammer, Brett Eldredge, Dustin Lynch, Echosmith, G-Eazy, Jake Miller, Lil Dicky, MKTO, SoMo, and Thompson Square.

The survey was posted on CAB’s Facebook page for students to access. As of Oct. 22, nearly 2,000 students had responded to the survey.

“The survey was originally opened with just one survey where you’d click on the link, (then) vote for your artist,” Mattern said. “Due to the survey site that we used, we had such an abundant amount of votes that we were kind of bombarded and had to open up another survey.”

Mattern said the results from the first survey and the second survey will be combined to gauge student interest among the artists, but said the voting trends between the two were virtually the same. She added that at this point “there’s really no way that the artist that is in the lead would be surpassed,” but said it is possible if more students vote.

Once the polls close on Friday, CAB will take the top two most popular artists students voted for and begin working to get one of them contracted to perform at USD. Although it is their goal to nab the most popular choice among students, Mattern said CAB can’t always guarantee that.

“The most popular vote is usually, emphasis on the usually, the one that we bring if things go well,” Mattern said. “A lot can happen from one semester to the next.”

The official announcement of who CAB will select as its major concert performer isn’t expected until the spring semester.

Although there is no venue confirmed, Mattern said CAB would “like to get in the Dome” if scheduling permits.

CAB received $115,455 this year in GAF money, nearly $30,000 more than what it received last year. CAB officials said the extra boost in funding would be put toward bringing a higher-profile artist to campus.