This year’s Homecoming concert headliner has an online fan base of nearly 500,000, but they don’t seem to have much of a following here on campus.

“Ain’t never heard of them before,” said sophomore hospitality major Tatiana Mullins about the act. “People would come to the events if they had someone we actually know.”

She’s not the only one who feels this way. Senior film major Ed Gage said, “They could sell and make money if they booked big stage bands.”

However, the Homecoming Committee, who chose the act, felt that Timeflies was the right pick for this year’s event.

Trevor Lewis, the director of the Homecoming Committee, said, “Timeflies might not be the most well-known group, but because we’re also mixing two events, and you’ve got the convenience of having the concert in the same place as the carnival, we’re pulling from different demographics.”

This year, the Fall Family Fest and the concert will be held in the same location next to the football stadium on Friday, Oct. 30, leading the committee to pick a family-friendly performance. Last year, the two events occurred on different days.

“We think they provide every checkbox we’re looking for, in terms of a concert,” Lewis continued. “When we do look for concerts, we not only look for name recognition – which is relatively big – but we also look at what kind of quality of concert they are able to put on.”

Other musicians the committee looked into bringing to campus included pop singer Andy Grammer and country acts Randy Houser and Rachel Platten. In the past, the school has brought in award-winning acts like T-Pain, Jay Sean and Pitbull.

Lewis said, “A lot of times, [availability] is the biggest thing.” He further explained that artists of such notoriety often get “snatched up on tour.”

He added that other schools, like Florida State University which is bringing in the Zac Brown Band this year, have alumni and donors who give money to the school specifically for Homecoming. FAU, however, uses Activity and Service Fees – a charge included in every student’s tuition that helps pay for on-campus activities – to afford Homecoming week.

According to the 2015-16 A&S Fees budget, Student Government allocated $205,436 for this year’s Homecoming festivities. Last year, Homecoming’s budget was $240,004, but was affected by a 15 percent Student Government-wide budget cut at the beginning of this fiscal year.

The public records request for the cost of the 2015 Homecoming Concert act was not filled by the time of publication.

In the end, the Homecoming Committee was most comfortable inviting Timeflies to perform and is pleased with the decision. “We do a pretty good job at catching talent before they’re big, and I think this is one of those bands that can get there,” said Lewis.

The hip-hop/pop duo made up of college buddies Rob Resnick (producer) and Cal Shapiro (vocalist) got their start on YouTube back in 2010 with an audio track of their original song, “All Night.”

But their remixed covers of songs including Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It” and The Little Mermaid’s “Under the Sea,” both with millions of views, is where they gained the most attraction.

Resnick and Shapiro went on to release their debut album, “The Scotch Tape,” in September of 2011. It reached No. 8 on iTunes’ overall chart, and No. 2 on the iTunes pop chart. Vanity Fair magazine called them “musical masterminds of electro-pop-hip-hop-rap.”

The success continued. Their EP, “One Night,” released in 2012, debuted at No. 29 on the Billboard 200 and they were named one of Billboard’s 13 artists to watch in 2013.

Since then, they’ve started their own record label, Forty8Fifty, in partnership with Island Def Jam Music Group, put out a second EP, “Warning Signs” and dropped another album, “After Hours,” which features past Homecoming concert acts Fabolous and T-Pain.

Their third and most recent album, titled “Just for Fun,” came out Sept. 18 of this year and contains the single “Worse Things than Love,” featuring singer Natalie La Rose, who is best known for her song “Somebody.”

Opening for them will be another hip-hop/pop duo, Kalin and Myles, who have worked with Timeflies before.

Lewis does claim that students’ opinions were asked before Timeflies was chosen, saying that many recognized them from YouTube and Greek life members were familiar with their music.

As for those who don’t know Timeflies, he encourages them to come out. “I think they’d just be missing out on an amazing opportunity to see an amazing up-and-coming band that has the ability to make it really big.”