Amplitude Entertainment, a new company started by CU alumni, aims to bring big acts to universities and make concerts more accessible to students.
Nine months ago, Eric Kean, a 22-year-old fifth-year senior and music education major, and Justin Greenstein, a 22-year-old CU alum, founded Amplitude, a company dedicated to bringing concerts to students. The co-founders worked together at Program Council during their coinciding time at CU, which inspired them to branch out and form Amplitude.
Amplitude Entertainment brought Brett Dennen to Macky Auditorium on April 28 for their first show. (CU Independent File/Patrick Fort)
“We had aspirations of continuing to do bigger and better shows, but we faced budgetary constraints, and they wouldn’t really let us do shows of the caliber we wanted,” Kean said.
After encountering this problem multiple times, the duo decided to come up with a solution that would bring larger acts to college students.
“We started talking about it and brainstorming ideas, and we thought, ‘What if there was someone who would work with the student groups to build the types of shows they want to do and help them make it a possibility, regardless of genres or interest?’” Greenstein said. “We decided to put the idea into paper and wrote a final business plan.”
After writing 20 to 30 drafts of their business plan, Kean and Greenstein finalized their mission statement and plan and presented it to friends and family. Luckily the duo found a business partner to fund their endeavors.
The company’s main goal is making shows accessible to college students, and they offer student tickets at a discounted price of $15. The cheaper price is budgeted into the concert costs, and the duo hopes to offer even cheaper tickets to students eventually.
Currently, Amplitude is run solely by Greenstein and Kean. The company can be run at a high level by very few people, which means the duo does all the work themselves.
“We’re both effectively working full-time jobs, coming home and working another full-time job. And then passing out and waking up the next day,” Kean said. “That’s entrepreneurship for you.”
Eventually, the two hope to expand and involve college students in the process. Amplitude hopes to not only create concerts students want and can afford to attend but also expose college students to the business side of music.
“There’s an energy on college campuses that’s hard to find anywhere else, and that’s where me and Eric got our start – on the business side of music, and we want to keep working in that energy and sharing that experience with other people and hopefully giving them new experiences as well,” Greenstein said.
Amplitude Entertainment’s first show, featuring Brett Dennen, happened on Saturday, April 28, in Macky Auditorium. The show
also featured local bands Places and Kyle James Hauser as openers. Places, a Denver-based band, got involved with Amplitude through the band’s singer and guitarist, Tyler Glasgow, 24. Glasgow and Greenstein have been friends for years, and the band was excited to work with the company.
“I’m very impressed that they were able to bring in a big name like Brett Dennen; it is such an honor to play with him,” Glasgow said.
The co-founders were nervous before their first show.
“It’s always nerve-wracking watching something you’ve put so much time and energy into unravel and hoping it plays out in the best way possible,” Greenstein said.
Dennen’s talent and popularity provided peace of mind for the founders.
“If you book the most entertaining, talented musicians, there are very few ways for your show to really go wrong. So we did exactly that,” Kean said.
Amplitude Entertainment has a simple but substantial mission: making good music accessible to students.
“Ultimately our mission is just to do shows – do great shows, work with students whenever we can and generally just live music,” Kean said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ainslee Mac Naughton at Ainslee.macnaughton@colorado.edu.
