More than 1,400 students participated in an online survey to help select a musical act for an upcoming campus concert.
The poll, posted on St. John’s Central from Nov. 7-15, asked students to vote on musical acts they would like to see headline the annual spring concert. The choices ranged from hip-hop and R&B artists, such as Lupe Fiasco, Nas and Ne-Yo to Rock groups like Death Cab for Cutie, Foo Fighters and Paramore to Pop acts such as Katy Perry, the Jonas Brothers and Leona Lewis.

The survey also addressed the possibility of students wanting to see performers who may not be able to perform on campus and asked how much they would be willing to pay to see these acts perform outside of St. John’s.

“Due to high artist costs, demands, and keeping with the mission of the University, it is not possible to bring certain artists to campus,” read one part of the online survey. “If St. John’s University purchased tickets to an Off-Campus concert, who would you buy a ticket to see and how much would you be willing to pay?”

Some of the artists in this list included Jay-Z, Coldplay, Madonna and Alicia Keys.

According to Jen Panzarella, assistant director for Campus Activities, results from 10 percent of the people surveyed is enough to get a clear representation of who people want to perform. For this poll, the 10 percent was achieved.

This is the second year Student Life has asked students to choose who performs at St. John’s. In previous years, the acts were sponsored and booked by Student Government organizations.

According to Panzarella, the results have not been analyzed yet and the results may not be immediately announced.

“Due to contractual obligations, we do our very best to never divulge who we are bidding on or who the top choices are,” she said. “It is not until we have signed contracts that we are able to speak of the selected artists.”

Panzarella added that calls will be made to musical acts once the votes have been tabulated.

“Normally, we take the top 10 to 15 artists from the survey and work with a select group of lawyers and agents to put out bids or make calls to determine interest, cost, and availability,” she said. “In the event an artist is not available to us for whatever reason, we would refer back to the survey and select the next popular artist on the list.

Unfortunately, some students said they felt this approach left them in the dust.

“I think we need a person to walk into [classes] to announce these things, because most students are oblivious,” said Yifan Wang, a freshman.