Music Maker Productions, Mississippi State’s student run organization responsible for bringing concerts to campus, is planning a season of acts. The first for this semester will be Floridian Southern-rockers Shinedown, best known for hit singles such as “45” and “Save Me.” The show will take place Oct. 11 at the MSU Amphitheater. Student tickets are available for $10 at the Bryan Athletic office. Tickets for the general public are $15 at ticketweb.com. The show will also feature Kentucky rock group Black Stone Cherry.
On Nov. 3, country music star Dierks Bentley will play at The Hump along with the Randy Rogers Band and Miranda Lambert. Student tickets cost $17.50 for the show.
Music Makers student director Brad Burton is optimistic about the choices made by the organization this year.
“At Mississippi State a lot of people are country music fans so we like to bring it here, but country’s not the thing we want to get stuck in,” Burton said. “We’re bringing Shinedown, that’s a little more rock. We have talked about bringing more hip hop/r&b shows, indie bands or stuff like that. Something that appeals to other people also.”
Music Maker Productions is made up of 19 members including four officers: Prospective student members go through an interview process at the beginning of each fall semester, of which five or six new members are chosen. Two staff advisors are also part of the team.
“Anyone can make a suggestion of an artist based on if you like them or just based on their routing if they’re coming through,” director of publicity Daniel Hicks said.
“[The staff advisors] do a lot of the contacting the agents for us once we decide as a committee to get the band based on who we think would fit well at Mississippi State,” Burton said. “If they are available for that date, we put in an offer, then we wait. They have a time span of two or three weeks, and if they accept we start working on getting everything ready for it.”
Hicks also prepares for the arrival of the bands by publicizing the acts and designing posters for advertising concert dates.
Music Makers has high aspirations for next spring, due partially to a significant budget increase.
“I’ve been on Music Makers for four years, and this is by far the largest budget we’ve had,” Burton said. “Most of our money comes from the university. The other part we get through the Student Association which comes from the two percent sales tax the town has. We’re able to bring a lot more shows now than we have in years past. We have several in mind. That’s what we’re here for.”
“Hopefully it will be a big spring for us,” Hicks said.
Students that aren’t members can also give suggestions for shows.
“They’re more than welcome to e-mail us, call us or stop by our office,” Burton said.
One of the best ways to stay informed about upcoming shows is through Facebook.
“We’ve got a Facebook group together called ‘MSU Concerts.’ It’s a good way to get the word out. That group is going to be a first look. Any concert we release will be released first on that Facebook group, and also we give away free tickets.”
“You could send messages through that,” Burton said. “We already have about 900 members, so as soon as we find out any updates about the concerts, I mass message everyone in the group.”
To contact Music Maker Productions, call 325-2930 or e-mail [email protected].
Dierks edited.tif – Country star Dierks Bentley will play The Hump Nov. 3.
Shinedown edited.tif – Rock band Shinedown will perform at the MSU amphitheater on Oct. 11. Tickets are available to students for $10.