Fairs in the state utilize data to get the best entertainment possible for their concerts

NEBRASKA -- "I mean social media has been game changing," said Karli Schulz, Nebraska State Fair Entertainment and Events Director. 

In today's time, technology has revolutionized the way the world works and has even made its way to helping fairs evolve to better match their diverse communities.  

In Nebraska, most might think that country music is the only genre performed at county and state fairs but think again. 

Madison County Fair member Dave Amick said that with new avenues to receive music, people are open to listening to different genres. 

"We are in a little bit different situation now than we were years ago when basically people got their music from radio or records, and so you usually picked a lane and you stuck with it," said Amick. Well now music is such a broad spectrum for people." 

This fact has driven the county fair to rethink how it scouts talent, leading them to a process that uses data driven results. 

"Our goal is to rely on the data to see what artists are performing well at typical size venues like ours and outlying areas outside of major metropolitan areas and give us the best shot of bringing in somebody that A) people are going to really like and B) that's going to sell the most tickets," said Dave Amick. 

Amick said that process was successful generating great community feedback from last year's entertainment. 

"Most people told us last year, they're like this is awesome we never thought we'd see anything like this in Madison County, and this is the first concert we've ever come to," said Amick. 

On the other hand, the State Fair still utilizes more common practices of securing talent such as reaching out to other fairs for information. 

"We look at ticket counts for shows in similar populations and/or if the artists has played Nebraska before, seeing how they do in that population and then also just getting public input is a big one as well," said Schulz. 

Despite common research, it also uses technology to its advantage such as streaming numbers and other factors. 

"Social media, seeing who's popular, looking at Spotify listens and streams and a lot of data analytics," said Schulz. 

Both fairs want to bring new and fresh entertainers to appease all who attend but remain aware that not everything can please everyone. 

Fairgoers are urged to reach out to the fair boards with recommendations for any entertainment ideas to better excite the community.