Kesha to perform at Tufts Spring Fling, free for students

While students at Penn will have to shell out $45 to $55 each to see Kesha perform at Spring Fling, students at Tufts will be able to watch her perform for free.

Tufts, which hosts its own Spring Fling, has also snagged Kesha as its headliner. Kesha, along with MisterWives and Lion Babe, will perform at Tufts on April 25, a week after she performs at Penn. Tufts undergraduate students are allotted a single free ticket, and every additional ticket costs $30. At Penn, students must pay $45 for general admission, and non-student concertgoers must pay $80 for a ticket.

Unlike in previous years, when three artists performed, this year the Social Planning and Events Committee opted to spend its artist budget on two performers, Kesha and Kygo.

While SPEC members could not comment on the confidential details of their contract with Kesha, “a lot of factors go into booking an artist, and they’re all there regardless of which artist we look into,” SPEC Concerts co-Director and College senior Suvadip Choudhury said in an email.

Despite the price difference, Penn students recognize that there may be larger factors at play.

“Tufts is not a need-blind school. This means that they can reject people based on financial information. Given that their cost of attendance and class size is comparable to ours, they net more money from the students. I’m not upset about the Kesha situation as I would much rather have to pay $50 to see an artist than the $60,000 ticket price associated with a year of tuition,” College freshman Julio Sosa said.

“If the fees are basically only to cover what we’re paying for the event, then great. Personally I’m rather curious as to how to expenses break down,” Engineering and Wharton freshman Rafael Dimaano said.

Other students speculate that contractual terms may be behind the ticket price difference.

“She’s probably charging Penn a lot more money because Penn has one of the largest Spring Flings on the East coast. If she charges us more, we have to pay more,” Wharton junior Sneha Shashikumar said.

The talent budget for SPEC concerts this year is $180,000, as detailed in the SPEC concert budget.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.