Hip-hop artists eyed for Little 5

Snoop Dogg. Nelly. Mos Def. \nOne of these artists will headline the Little 500 concert this year, if all goes according to plan. \nKnock on wood. \nFor the past two years there has been no Little 5 concert, as offers made to major artists never panned out. Union Board concert directors Ty Krause and Lana Kleyman want this year to be different.\n"Having a Little 5 show is a huge mission for us," Krause said. \nFor starters, the Union Board began planning the Little 500 concert far in advance. \nOutgoing concert director Jeff Hasson put together all the offer packages before he stepped down, making initial calls to booking agents and setting acceptable price ranges. \nMembers of the board are elected by students, and new personnel take over at the end of each semester.\nKrause and Kleyman, who took over for Hasson this week, said the transition has been unusually smooth. That was not the case last year, Krause said. \n"This year we started early," he said. "There's been a very stern focus on Little 5." \nThe other important difference is that dollars are more flush. Kleyman said the success of previous concerts by The String Cheese Incident, Incubus and Howie Day throughout last year has allowed the board to look into a wider range of possible artists. \nEven with the renewed focus, it can be very difficult to get an artist like Snoop Dogg to sign a contract to perform. It takes a little more than the right amount of money, Krause said.\n"There are contingencies like how long does an artist perform?" Krause said. "We want students to leave the show feeling like they got their money's worth." \nStudents who bought tickets to see rapper Fabulous perform for less than 30 minutes in 2001 know this can be a huge issue. \nApril is an especially difficult time to book an act because many artists are in high demand, the directors said. IU is only one of many universities seeking a big-name spring show, and many acts tend to be preoccupied with planning early for summer tours.\nOften, artists just don't want to play at colleges, Kleyman said. \n"Last year's committee worked hard but offer after offer didn't come through," she said. \nKleyman and Krause have three years of experience with working on concerts for Union Board between them. They know how the industry works. It can get your hopes up, and it can send them crashing down. \n"No one was more disappointed than us last year," Krause said. "We definitely wanted to bring back the concert, where the weekend is more than the race, and the concert plays a prominent role."\nThe duo's lips are sealed when it comes to the proposed price tag involved. Not even all the students who sit on Union Board are let into the budget process, they said. Union Board has been burned one too many times by out-bidding from other colleges, and greedy agents often think they can sucker clueless universities into over-paying.\n"The myth is that colleges will pay whatever price they ask," Krause said. "It's to our advantage to keep the numbers under wraps."\nUnion Board came close to signing Bob Dylan last year, only to have a Wisconsin school outbid them at the last second by $50,000. \n"We try to keep it private because the industry is so competitive," Kleyman said. "The industry tends to take advantage of colleges. It sees them as a big payday, as really desperate for shows." \nOne way Union Board hopes to make IU a more appealing attraction for artists is to stage shows at the Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse, next to Assembly Hall, rather than the auditorium. The Fieldhouse has a much larger capacity, holding about 7,000 people compared with the auditorium's 3,500. \nThe Fieldhouse doesn't have seats, so audience members will find it easier to get up and dance.\n"It will give more of a good party vibe atmosphere," Kleyman said. \nThe Fieldhouse has a reputation of being an "acoustic disaster," Klause said, which is why concerts have never been held there before. But after consulting with IU sound expert Gene Frazier, Klause said extra padding and speakers would make it work. \n"We wouldn't go forward with it if we weren't confident," Klause said. \nMaroon 5 made it on the initial short list of possible acts for this year, but committee members later decided to put all their efforts into pursuing a hip-hop act. \nKleyman said the board will work with agents in the coming weeks to negotiate a contract. They hope to make an announcement as soon as possible. \nAfter a long wait, this could finally be the year students get to drop it like it's hot. Knock on wood. \n-- Contact General Assignments Editor Adam VanOsdol at avanosdo@indiana.edu.