Interview Overview

[01:50] Eric offers an update to how APCA had to Pivot in the middle of hosting their Hershey, PA Regional Conference as they began receiving notification of the virus and campus shutdowns. He and his staff had to recreate their conference on the spot and go from live to streaming.

[06:39] APCA staff had to recreate the organization to meet the new online demands. Eric describes the new three pronged approach the organizations operating strategies including creating a new Facebook Group: APCA Online Engagement Group, Created a new website, APCAOnline.com

[12:42] APCA and his staff have been working on behalf of the many artists who have had cancelled gigs. They have successfully lobbied their state representatives to help get aide for 1099 workers included in the SBA relief packages.

[15:01] APCA has worked hard to move many of the aspects of their conference to offer online cooperative buying sessions, educational webinars, and multiple streaming options. Eric describes all the ways they have increased their capabilities and opened its doors to new potential buyers and artist/agent members.

Now we join my original interview with Eric that we did back in January, 2019.

[25:10] Eric gives a brief overview of the role APCA plays in student life on campus. Along with helping artists get gigs in the college market, APCA’s real purpose recruit students, retention of students and to help students succeed by enhancing student engagement on campus.

[27:52] He shares the 3 top ways in which a performer may benefit from APCA?
1. Facilitate getting gigs and booking tours. 2. These gigs provide stability as they pay well. 3. College gigs help artists pursue a larger career to take it to a next level.

[30:43] Eric talks about what sets APCA apart from other booking conferences and how APCA staff are also entertainers and therefore more empathetic to artist’s budgets and needs. He discusses how to showcase, how to attend the conferences and the varieties of buyers at the conferences in addition to the colleges.

[34:38] Showcasing at conferences is huge for any artist wanting to be seen by potential buyers. Go to APCA.com, to get showcasing information and conference packages.

[35:40] Pricing your act appropriately is so important. Eric shares pricing templates for agents and artists. Block booking or cooperative buying pricing is also discussed along with school buying incentives.

[41:66] Eric dives into the two different types of educational sessions scheduled at the conference, how artists may participate, present and benefit.

[46:44] Eric discusses why they use certain locations for each of their regional and main conferences. He elaborates on how they use specific locations to further help the participants engage in the conference, why they use certain locations year after year.

[50:01] He discusses the benefits APCA staff and resources provide to artists and agents including their updated database, their relationships with the buying community and the opportunities offered to enter new markets to grow the artist’s careers.

[55:17] He talks about the two different types of acts that are considered on campuses; those that are attractions (having some celebrity) or a curtesy, (something the university feels they should provide to fulfill a directive for specific programming coming from campus organizations or departments).

[57:10] We discuss the importance of understanding how to package your act to meet the needs and trends of campus activities.

[1:01:20] Our discussion evolves into how to discover the many career paths available to artist through the college market and how to develop new programs to meet the demands and interests of multiple audiences and create life-long career opportunities.

Check out APCA and all it has to offer you if you are a touring artist and would like to add performances on college campuses as an additional income stream. Working with student organizations and various academic departments can be a great way for you to impact college age student’s lives.

My thanks to Eric Lambert for sharing his time and expertise about working in the college market.