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Alumnus Stephen Ball strategizes artists for Frontier City’s summer concert series

Oklahoma Christian University 2001 alumnus Stephen Ball currently works as general manager for Frontier City in Oklahoma City, a job that involves strategizing the summer concert series and selecting up and coming artists before they hit fame, which in years past included stars like Taylor Swift and Britney Spears.

For Ball, much of the summer concert series is strategized behind the scenes. Ball said Christian concerts have been very successful for Frontier City, especially since they are easy to promote within youth groups.

“We try to get multiple genres of music in, and it really helps our season-pass fan base, especially since a season pass gives admission and first-choice entrance to the concerts,” Ball said.

In choosing the concerts, Ball said he consults a buyer from Nashville, TN to help decide on artists to consider. Through his buyer, Ball said he gains access to information, before it is released to the public, such as which artists are having an album coming out.

“Agents will publish to us a price range of what artists are getting for shows, which helps us kind of shop out of a catalog,” Ball said. “We go after the biggest names on the list, and then it is kind of a game of figuring out if they are available and if it is convenient for them routing wise. Sometimes it is a game back and forth.”

According to Ball, sometimes the up-and-coming stars he selects gain too much popularity before performing at Frontier City, causing them to buy out of their contract. Ball said before Taylor Swift hit it big, he scheduled her for a summer concert, which she bought out after she gained popularity.

Similarly, Britney Spears found success before she made it to her scheduled concert at Frontier City.

“Sometimes, I think that is for the best,” Ball said. “Most artists have the option to do that. If you are an artist that can make over a million on a show, it would be better for you to buy out an existing contract and go to an arena and make a million dollars for the same performance.”

Ball said looking for rising artists who are “somewhat obscure” has paid off. Ball said Frontier City brought in Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Lady Antebellum before their careers took off.

“We always look for some of those names that are somewhat obscure, and often times we get lucky doing that,” Ball said. “We did that with a guy named Keith Urban that no one had ever heard about and he played here in 2001, opening for Dwight Yoakam, an older country name. In Yoakam’s contract, it had that a young man was going to sit on a barstool and play guitar. We had to pay him a few hundred bucks to perform.”

Summer concerts help Frontier City’s business by increasing the sales of the season passes, Ball said.

“Season pass holders are a big portion of our business because concerts are included with admission before the general public, helping drive group sales and business,” Ball said. “And a lot of companies will book a company picnic for their employees during a popular concert as well.”

This summer, Frontier City will host 13 concerts, the last three have not been released. The first 10 include:

April 21: MercyMe

June 2: Lauren Alaina

June 16: Plain White T’s

June 23: Blue Oyster Cult

June 30: Trace Adkins

July 7: Eli Young Band

July 28: 38 Special

Aug. 4: Queensrÿche

Aug. 11: Neon Trees

Aug. 18: TobyMac

In addition, Frontier City plans to bring in the Royal Hanneford Circus, comprised of 25 performers, July 12-22 for the park’s 60th anniversary.

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