Promoters rake in cash

Promotion companies are the ones raking it in when shows like T-Pain visit the University of Montana's Adam's Center, said the director of UM Productions Tuesday.

Senior Marissa Grinestaff has been director of UM Productions for three years, and said as a student-run and student-operated group, they contract with promotion companies to help get shows up and running in various Missoula venues. Although UM Productions supplies the production crew, organizational help and security, the promotion companies bring in the majority of Missoula's big shows, and consequently make the majority of the money.

The Snowstorm Music Tour that brought T-Pain to the Adams Center is promoted by the North Dakota company Jade Presents. The Knitting Factory is another promotion company that UM Productions works with on a more regular basis.

UM Productions and GrizTix negotiate with promotion companies about ticket fees. UM Productions usually gets one dollar per ticket to help with production costs, Grinestaff said.

Kelsi Plante, who works for GrizTix and deals with ticket sales for Adams Center shows, said GrizTix gets three dollars per ticket from the T-Pain show to help out with the costs of producing the actual tickets. The rest of the money behind a ticket purchase goes to the promotion company, and the artist.

Grinestaff said pulling the shows together is a huge responsibility.

"Everything is put in our hands," she said.

UM Productions works hard when a show comes to town. In the days preceding a concert, staff members may work 20-hour days in preparation.

The Adams Center is one of the largest concert venues in Missoula. At maximum capacity it holds just fewer than 5,400 people. Plante said the biggest concert recently to drop into the Adams Center was the Foo Fighers last May. That show sold 5,327 tickets, Plante said. Bigger Missoula venues are Osprey stadium, where Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp rocked a late summer concert in 2010, and Washington Grizzly Stadium, where the Rolling Stones played a sold-out show in front of about 20,000 fans in 2006.

Grinestaff said UM Productions more or less breaks even on most shows they help produce, and their biggest cost is paying their staff. Grinestaff will lobby for funding Thursday during ASUM's budgeting process. Last year, UM Productions received $53,793.61 from ASUM. Grinestaff said she hopes to get at least $60,000 for next year.

cody.blum@umontana.edu