The headliner act chosen for this semester's Spring Fling will not be one of the five acts that students voted on in the fall survey, according to a Concert Board press release emailed to the Daily on Tuesday night.
Students were asked to choose between Vampire Weekend, The Shins, Snoop Dogg, Kid Cudi and LMFAO in a survey emailed to the student body on Dec. 14.
Although Concert Board was disappointed to learn that some students had chosen to disrupt the process by creating programs that allowed them to vote multiple times, it was able to ascertain that LMFAO had finished atop the poll, with Kid Cudi and Vampire Weekend coming in second and third place, respectively, the press release said.
"We knew our survey was beatable," members of Concert Board explained in the release. "One of us even received an email from a kid bragging [that] he wrote a voting program. We had hoped that everyone would play fair and respect the value of each others' [sic] votes, but no such luck. The good news was that the vote wasn't compromised."
Late in the negotiations, an email from Concert Board's agent informed its members that "LMFAO got injured doing the wiggle," forcing the duo to back out of its tour schedule for the spring, according to the press release.
Prior to this email, Concert Board had learned that it had outbid other promoters and universities and was given reason to believe that DJs Redfoo and SkyBlu of LMFAO would take the Spring Fling stage on Saturday, April 28.
"This was obviously not the news we wanted to hear. The process of booking LMFAO had already taken weeks of emails and negotiations," the press release said. "But that is what happens in the entertainment industry and we had no other choice but to move on to our other options quickly."
Concert Board had said that it would attempt to get the most popular choices but recognized that the first choice might not necessarily be available.
According to the press release, Concert Board's agent first attempted to contact the representatives for survey runner-up Kid Cudi but was informed that the artist's asking price for that weekend was outside its budget. Vampire Weekend was also no longer available for the weekend of Spring Fling.
"Unfortunately, booking an artist for an act as big as Spring Fling isn't as simple as saying ‘we want you!' and offering a hefty sum of money," Concert Board members said. "A big part of getting the artist is luck, and we just haven't had any."
Concert Board chose not to pursue either Snoop Dogg or The Shins, because they finished a distant fourth and fifth in the survey and members believed that they could secure a more popular act, the press release said.
The headliner has now been chosen and booked for the event, although Concert Board did not divulge the act's identity in the press release.
The board plans to announce the Spring Fling headliner at its Jumbo Jam event on March 8 in Cohen Auditorium, which will feature indie bands The Lower 48 and Gauntlet Hair.
"The survey … was not a complete loss. It did allow us to see what you clearly wanted in regards to a show. You want to see HIGH ENERGY! We can't release exactly who is playing yet, but we are confident that it will appeal to those who wanted a fun and crazy show," the release said.
