1,500 fans await Posner debut

Mike Posner, 21, (that’s Posner with a long “o”) is not your typical college student.

On one hand, he is a December graduate of Duke University with a double major in sociology and business. On the other hand, he is a music artist touring several major college towns throughout the Midwest.

Posner is in Bloomington, and he will perform at Jake’s Nightclub Friday.

Posner’s fans have eagerly anticipated the concert since early December when a Facebook group, entitled “Mike Posner @ Indiana University,” was created. It has more than 1,500 fans.

IU freshman Bailey Schelter is one of Posner’s most exuberant fans. She started listening to Posner’s music about a year ago.

“I just kind of fell in love with him,” Schelter said. “I like the combination of beats he uses from other songs, but if you listen carefully, it’s not exactly the same. He also makes his own music,” she said.

The lyrics are “almost satirical,” Schelter said, with plays on words that call to mind “Weird Al” Yankovic.

“I listen to Mike Posner on repeat,” she said.

Posner is hesitant to classify his music as one genre, though. ITunes, which features one of his EPs and two singles, lists Posner’s genre as “unknown.” Posner said he’s okay with that.

So how does a  small-town college kid from Michigan end up on iTunes?

“I started making music in my dorm room for my friends freshman year,” Posner said, “and I started singing two years ago.”

Posner’s tour focuses on college towns because college students make up his direct social network. Posner said he’s grateful that his classmates at Duke listened to him when no one else did.

His first album, “Matter of Time,” was released in early 2009 and everything “snowballed” from there, he said. 

“For months and months I was doing shows across the country, and no one believed that I was Mike Posner,” he said.

But this, he said, only confirmed that people liked his music.

“I knew I was getting recognized for the right reasons,” Posner said. “It wasn’t a gimmick.”

When asked what he likes most about being on tour, Posner said, “I’m in a position to make people happy, and at the end of the day I just want to make my audience smile.”

His crowds have gone from hundreds to thousands, but this doesn’t seem to faze him.

“I was nervous when I first started, but I know what I’m doing now,” Posner said.

He said he’s excited to visit Bloomington and his five friends at IU.

“I heard it is a really fun place,” Posner said, adding that he might be back in April for Little 500 week.

“Physical tickets are sold out, but there will be more tickets available at the door,” said Russell Markus, founder of the talent company Fifth Agency.