Mac Miller, an American rapper from Pittsburgh, will be giving a free public concert on the UA Mall at 7 p.m.
The Associated Students of the University of Arizona is bringing Miller to campus because he is an up and coming artist, according to Jennifer Hernandez, associate director of the ASUA Wildcat Events Board. Miller’s album Blue Slide Park debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart on Nov. 16, 2011.
“We want people to check him (Miller) out,” Hernandez aid. “He just keeps getting bigger and bigger. We wanted to jump on the opportunity so we could get him to come.”
The concert will cost about $60,000 in total to put on. Miller’s artist fee cost is $40,000, and production costs are about $20,000, according to ASUA President James Allen.
Out of the total cost, ASUA’s special events budget covered $15,000. Allen raised the rest from various UA organizations such as Student Affairs, the Student Union Memorial Center, the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership and Business Affairs.
Because the governing body doesn’t have the money to bring big artists to campus, Allen said, they wanted to bring someone that students could get excited about who was rising in popularity.
“Students pay for a lot already,” he said. “The least we could do is make the concert free, public and fun.”
Another reason ASUA asked Miller to perform is because his artist fee was not nearly as expensive as past performers. Jay-Z, who came to campus in 2009, was paid $750,000 to perform. The 2009 concert in total cost $1.4 million, but ASUA only collected a little more than $500,000 through merchandising and ticket sales. To cover this loss, ASUA entered in an agreement with the UofA Bookstore, and is paying the bookstore back in increments until 2014.
