Cockstock is never the same. The yearly concert changes performers and venues. Students desire recognizable artists, but financing and logistics don't always allow for them.
Since the event relies on the Student Activity Fee, tickets are typically free with a CarolinaCard or come at a discounted price. Cockstock features an opening act, a headliner and an exciting environment for students.
Cockstock began in November 2016 with Rae Sremmurd and Kamaiyah at the Strom Thurmond Fields gates. In the past, Carolina Productions, the organization in charge of Cockstock, has brought in artists like A$AP Ferg, T-Pain, COIN and Quavo.
While not always possible due to the budget, large names are usually followed by small artists and vice versa. For example, COIN was the headliner for 2023, and Quavo was the headliner for 2024.
For its 10th anniversary, Cockstock 2026 stood out from the events in the past. It was the first Cockstock to be held on Blatt Field and with a festival format. The festival had no opener and instead featured three artists: Weston Estate, Social House and Luh Tyler.
Many students shared mixed reactions to the lineup on social media platforms such as Instagram and Yik Yak.
Fetty Wap was a popular request for Cockstock 2026, and when Carolina Productions couldn't deliver, the Fraternity Lots did. Fetty Wap performed on March 21 at the 9th Annual St. Patrick's Day Celebration. Not only would Fetty Wap have been a challenge on the already-tight budget, there was another problem: he had a criminal record, D'Asia White, Carolina Productions event coordinator, said.
"We all agreed that (Weston Estate, Social House and Luh Tyler) were our best options out of what we were presented with, considering all the restrictions," White said. "They can't be in jail or anything."
Cockstock began as a part of Homecoming until 2024, when a booking issue caused the event to be postponed to January 2025. Carolina Productions President Branden Miller said Cockstock 2026 was intentionally held during the spring to give students a fun milestone past the beginning of the school year.
"We start planning Cockstock in the summer," Miller said. "Where do we want to do this? ... Just looking at a bunch of different places and looking at our budget and looking at what we did, we're like, 'Oh, let's do it on Blatt.' And then from there, we're like, 'What's that going to look like?'"
The Colonial Life Arena is often a venue for performers, but not without cost. In order to host Cockstock, Carolina Productions must rent out the arena for around $30,000, Courtney Buzan, associate director for student events and traditions, said. This has led the event to be held at alternate locations, such as Greene Street and Strom Thurmond Fields.
Using Blatt as a performing space was technically free, but it came with its own issues. Blatt is a recreational field, it doesn't have the infrastructure to naturally support Cockstock like Colonial Life Arena does. Despite that, Buzan said Carolina Productions made it work.
"Blatt is not a good place to do green rooms. They don't exist," Buzan said. "We had to get really scrappy with how to use Blatt. We're using squash ball courts and classrooms on Blatt to serve the green room purpose, especially because we have three different artists, so three different green-room spaces."
The biggest problem Carolina Productions faces with Cockstock is how the event depends on an inconsistent budget, Miller said. The year begins with a baseline budget that is split between Cockstock and other events held by Carolina Productions, Miller said. Some of Carolina Productions' other events are Cockbuster movie nights, activity nights, petting zoos and the Dating Game.
In 2025, Carolina Productions spent over $300,000 on Cockstock. In 2026, Carolina Products has spent $120,000 on Cockstock due to a tighter budget. While Cockstock is paid for by the Student Activity Fee, Buzan said not all of the money can be used by Carolina Productions.
"When you think of the allocation, it's from the Student Activity Fee, and then it's the portion of it that is Carolina Productions," Buzan said. "It's the student leaders of that organization that determine the percentage of that total allocation that they put in the name of Cockstock every year. So that changes year over year."
Carolina Productions has consistently spent more money than they have brought in, according to the budget records over the past five years.
The differences in spending weren't from Carolina Productions randomly deciding to be more frugal. Cockstock 2025 was partially paid for by $100,000 found by Student Government, which covered the cost of the opener, Mariah the Scientist, and allowed the headliner to be Quavo, a big-name artist. Cockstock 2026 did not have that extra money.
White said that, knowing the constraints, Carolina Productions had a decision to make.
"It was really difficult to decide if someone was necessarily good enough to bring in a big crowd with just one person," White said. "I think we fell more into the, 'Okay, let's do multiple artists, and hopefully different artists will bring multiple different people,' since we had to go with smaller artists because our budget could not even think of affording a big artist."
Students were surveyed to determine the most popular genres. The top three genres were pop, rap and indie rock. Carolina Productions looked for artists that fit those genres and the budget.
Ahmariah Pagan, a first-year retailing student, went to Cockstock to represent the Association of African American Students. She was most familiar with Social House because of the collaboration with Ariana Grande.
"I went to Café Verde. I had just grabbed me something to eat. So once I got my burger, I was hearing the song," Pagan said. "I just ran straight back down. It was so fun."
Pagan also said she listened to Weston Estate and Luh Tyler prior to the event so that she wouldn't be standing around during their sets. She said the artists were interactive with the crowd. The environment was so lively that students didn't need to know the music to have a good time, Pagan said.
Carolina Productions met with the other partner organizations in September to create a plan, White said. Alongside the president or representative from each organization, White led discussion meetings every other week. The other USC organizations involved are National Pan-Hellenic Council, Student Government, Dance Marathon, Homecoming, Residence Hall Association, Cultural Greek Council, Interfraternity Council, Carolina Traditions Council and Association of African American Students.
Cockstock 2026 also had a smaller budget because there were less donations to the Cockstock committee. Budget cuts made it difficult for other organizations associated with Cockstock to financially support the event, White said.
"This year we had one org help us, and that was RHA. They brought the 1,000 shirts that the first 1,000 students will get. But that's the only help we had," White said. “We had no help towards the artist or anything.”
Performers are only one part of Cockstock. Other costs that must be taken into account are the venue, production, marketing and the middle agent, Buzan said. The middle agent helps Carolina Productions negotiate with artists for fair pricing, which can be difficult when prices continue to rise. Cockstock 2026 spent around $70,000 on performers and $30,000 on production, according to the budget.
Fair pricing is important because neither party wants to lose money.
The college performance market isn't attractive to bigger artists. Artists are less likely to be interested in performing at a smaller venue when they could be selling out 100,000-person arenas, Buzan said.
Students who attended Cockstock will receive a feedback survey from Carolina Productions to express their thoughts and opinions on the event,so students can have genres and artists they enjoy in the future.
"We just really wanted to have it so it was every student has something they enjoyed," Miller said. "There's really never appeasing everybody ... We just did what we thought genre-wise each student would like and get somebody whose music isn't bad."