Slope Day: Behind the Selections Survey
By Syjah Harris
Let’s be real: us Cornellians really don’t have many options when it comes to attending live concerts. Music artists rarely make the trek up north to our remote bubble, and when they do, it’s usually at a relatively small venue. Consequently, students patiently anticipate and speculate for the biggest day of the year - Slope Day.
While we all mindlessly make our way to the Slope on that fateful day, there’s a group of students who have been working behind-the-scenes to make the day possible for the entire year. The Slope Day Programming Board (SDPB) is a group of students that plan Slope Day from the artists bookings to giveaways.The largest topic of conversation is usually who the artist will be, and the selections survey usually released this semester causes quite a stir; the drama only reaches its peak once the artist is actually released, with eruptions of disapproval and saltiness among some students if the artist is not quite as big or exciting as they’d anticipated. This semester, I’ve remained in close communication with SDPB as music director for Slope Media Group. I write this article to give some perspective into their process, and all factors they need to measure when making these decisions.
There are five points of criteria that the SDPB uses to decide on an artist: price & availability, student appeal, on-stage talent, reputation, and non-repetitive from past years. Utilizing input from a slew of on campus organizations in the creation of the selections survey, SDPB this year has taken an extra step in understanding the student appeal of certain artists. Collaboration with groups like Multicultural Concert Funding Advisory Board, Gender Justice Advocacy Coalition and many more allow for a better representation of the Cornell community’s input, beyond just collecting survey responses.
A common frustration from students in recent years is lack of genre diversity in headliners for Slope Day. But this is due to a lack of foresight from concertgoers. I mean, I’d love to see Harry Styles sing sweet nothings on Slope Day...but he’ll also be in Europe in May. Given his large following on a worldwide level, his tickets also aren’t cheap (confirmed by my bank account after the Ticketmaster presale yesterday). What matters here is the price and availability of specific artists, and the limits that SDPB has on those stipulations.
On top of all this, would the greater Cornell community be interested in seeing Harry Styles? While I know there’s a large group of day-one Directioners that would, I’m not sure this would translate to all subcultures of the Cornell community at large. I’m sure there’s a population on this campus that would love to see Lil Pump, but SDPB has to look at the bigger picture. So, when you see the survey and maybe don’t see your favorite artist on the lineup, consider just how big they are in the larger music landscape as well as how palletable they would be for your peers as well.
Slope Day Programming Board has a lot of different things on their plate, and berating their process is way less effective than providing constructive criticism and suggestions. After all, they have general body meetings that are open to the public! If filling out a survey isn’t enough impact for you, bring a friend to the next meeting to see how everything goes down behind the scenes. In an effort to gain more insight on what ~vibe~ Cornellians are looking for Slope Day 2020, SPDB restructured the selections survey to not only gauge your interest in prospective artists, but also feelings towards previous acts. I would say there’s someone for everyone on this survey, so take it HERE to make sure your input is recorded! To get yourself even more hype for Slope Day (even though it’s 6 months away), or if you need a new studying playlist, check out SDPB’s Spotify playlist below featuring hits by some artists on the selection survey including Normani, Alesso and Lil Baby!