Immediate reactions must be mixed right now. I can see some of you getting very excited, while some are laughing and swearing wondering who I am and how can you explain such a popular topic people write books about but only on a simple web page. I have done plenty of independent tour booking, read a few books; bought software called Tour Manager, and just talked to people hearing of horror stories as well as success stories. So, if that is good enough I hope you take the time to see what kind of advice, ideas and input I have in this area that can possibly help you or reinforce what you may already know. For those readers out there who are not musicians maybe now you can understand what goes into booking a tour and inspire you to go see shows when a touring act is playing and support them by buying their merchandise and signing up for their newsletter.
I am going to speak at this topic as if the band is not with a label of any considerable size, little to no outside financial support, maybe have a manager (who is also your booking agent, and roommate!). It is important to make sure each member in the band is aware that they will need to take on some kind of role of responsibility besides playing his or her instrument. This encourages the entire band to take ownership in the tour which will make sure the team effort is there.
The Band
What I want to talk about is making sure everyone is involved. The stress and pressure this kind of an undertaking can put on one person is just not worth it. If you are a solo person, find a friend, or someone who will to help you out. Make a 3-ring binder and get some kind of inexpensive dividers that will represent each show you have. Here is a list of what this binder will contain in each show section:
1) Hotel info with address, number, and price per room (or a name and address of who you are going to stay with, whether it's a family member, van, bus, or another band's house).
2) A Mapquest map from where you are at that section of the tour to the hotel, then to the venue.
3) You will have a page with the venue information, such as address, phone number every possible name they will give you, such as managers, owners, sound person, and booking agent. Don't forget email addresses!
4) Then a ledger to keep track of every dollar you spend and make during that show section. This will enable you to track trends in your spending, earnings, and other information that will help you the next time you tour. If you are selling merchandise make sure you make a separate line for each type of item, such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and CD's. Also keep track of gas spending.
5) Anything else you feel you will need to have on the road.
It's all pretty simple.
The purpose of the binder will help you to stay organized and to have a place where all of the different jobs can come together and monitor progress.
Now, the band needs to assign roles or duties. As a band, make a check list based on the length and size of your tour of things each member has to do. Here is an example of the duties split up to prepare for a tour:
1) One member will need to look up and write down hotel listings and find the best deals – by the way, don't forget to ask for specials…most hotels can offer you some kind of special if you ask for it.
2) Another person can collect the listings of venues in each of the cities they decide to go to. This person should also be the spokesperson for the band, someone who can speak well and talk humbly about the band.
3) If you have some one who handles your graphics, artwork, website, fliers, have that member take care of coordinating merchandise, setting up a tour link on the site, and trying to get support from other online resources for the tour, such as Myspace.com, Craigslist, and many others you can find by going to search engines.
4) Collectively the band should work on the promo kits and mailing them out to the venues interested. The entire group also needs to discuss legal matters, such as performance agreements. For your protection I encourage everyone to check out www.prepaidlegal.com where you can pay very little per month and have legal representation in case a venue doesn't live up to the legal agreements or anything else happens along the way. It's a good feeling to say to a club owner or manager, “…fine, then I'll call my lawyer!” For sample performance agreements you can check out
Nolo's Music Law – How to Run Your Band's Business which you can also buy digitally and use the files directly from the CD. If you get Prepaid Legal you can have your attorney review documents for free and get advice while you are on the road.
BOOKING AGENT
These are critical elements of starting to plan a tour. The rest of it should come easily. Now I will cover a few extra elements of a tour. If you can afford to get a booking agent or agency on board, go for it. Make sure you find out how much they want, and if they want anything above 10% I would find out what other services they plan on providing, such as promotional efforts, fliers and other printed materials given to you on a contingency agreement, which means they are taking a risk on you and will pay for those materials. You will only pay for them if you make money. These are just a couple of tips when negotiating a deal.
When you take on an agent, make sure you set the rules as much as you can, like we would like “X” amount of shows per week for a month. Even though this tour isn't for another 6-8 months, make sure the agent is given time-line of then they need to have all of the shows booked. This will ensure that the agent has time to send out performance agreements and get them back signed or not, in which case they will have to negotiate.
PAY GUARANTEE
This day and age, a typical independent touring act will have a difficult time getting a guarantee. Don't be sad, it never hurts to ask. In your performance agreement have a basic statement of how much you need to cover your expenses. To your discretion you may want to make up a basic list of what it will cover, such as meals, lodging, gas, and savings. I say this because some venues may offer a portion of those needs, such as paying for your hotel room, or giving you a free dinner, and so on. The performance agreement will use more words and better descriptions, but here is an example of what this short list may look like is:
Guarantee requested amount = $260.00 paid as cash or check at the end of the show. Below is a breakdown of the use of these funds.
1) Lodging = $100, represents 38% of total guarantee.
2) Gas = $50, represents 20% of total guarantee.
3) Food = $60, represents 22% of total guarantee
4) Savings = $50, represents 20% of total guarantee
This is a good breakdown so you can easily figure out what the club still owes you if they pay for one meal per member, as I figured $5 per meal, times 3 meals. You can do the math.
ETIQUETTE
So, you arrive at the club and the employees are just not being hospitable. Please remember that you are not the biggest thing to go through there, and these guys know it. They have also seen some poor attitudes that have lead to them reacting negatively. So, be courteous, be flexible, and most of all don't argue or fight back. You have a reputation, hopefully a good one that you do not want to ruin.
TRANSPORTATION
I have seen some vehicles I wish I had pictures of. These vehicles had traveled across the entire United States and surprisingly enough, no problems. Then I have seen those with nice vans and trailers and experience all kinds of issues, from flat tires to overheating problems and many other things. So, is there really a perfect vehicle to travel with? Sure! The kind you don't have to take care of or pay for! But will that happen in this scenario? Probably not. If you don't already have a vehicle to tour in, make sure you select something you are entirely comfortable with. If you have to put some work into it, please pay a professional to do the work. Nothing like you doing the work, something happening and the blame is all on you…bad vibe for the band.
EQUIPMENT
Got strings? Sticks? Drum heads? Picks? Extra cables? Batteries? Yes, you will need extra. Please plan ahead for the unexpected. If you have a nice fancy guitar you play on, have a cheapo second guitar, at least, set up the way you like it just in case the worse happens. If you are used to carrying around stacks of gear, extra equipment just because you can on a local show, leave that extra stuff behind. Practice using the simplest set-up you can get away with. I don't want you to settle with the minimum, I just want you to think about the fact that the bass player does not need an 8x10 cabinet on the road, nor does the guitar player need 2 4x12 cabinets with his head. Consider a combo. Keyboard players, this can be difficult for you…maybe consider using virtual instruments on a laptop instead of 2 or 3 keyboards. Consider going direct into a PA system instead of having a large keyboard amp. You all get the idea.
PRINT MATERIALS
Fliers are good if you are going to be in town a day or so before your show. You can also go to Craigslist and look for street teams, as well as using Myspace to attract people in other areas. Get fliers out that way. Posters are important. Do your research for good quality printing. Don't send a club a black and white photocopy…and especially don't send a dozen of them! That's just a waste. If you get good quality kind, design it so there is a space at the bottom, for example on an 11x17 poster leave about 4-inches at the bottom so you can LEGIBLY write the show venue, date, time, and cover charge in that space with a sharpie. Send each club 2-6 of them, depending on how many they can handle or want.
ADVERTISING
This can be expensive. Your best bet is to do your research and find all of the radio stations in each town that play your kind of music and see if they have a local's only type show or unsigned bands show that you can solicit to. This will enable you to possibly get free airplay. Print ads can be beneficial. Talk to the venue you are playing at and see if they are running an ad. If they are, see if they need a picture of the band to put in the ad. If they are not, see if the club will co-op, or split the cost of an ad in the local entertainment paper.
The college market is an art of its own. If you can find out how to get onto their radio stations, websites, fliers, posters, street teams, you are guaranteed a decent crowd.
Demos for free can be a benefit. Please make sure it sounds good. If you have a full length production, burn 3 tracks onto a CD and give them away at shows. Make sure your website is on there. This will help with retaining an audience.
In-stores are where you get to perform at a record shop for 30-45 minutes on average, and show off your stuff to passing customers, and have you CD's for sale! Great way to catch the general public.
MERCHANDISE
The more the merrier. I know it's not always cheap and it takes time to build a collection of goods, but do your best to get the basic, such as free stickers, buttons, t-shirts, posters, band pictures signed, CD's, and maybe hats if your logo is cool enough. Be competitive with your prices. Plan on not making too much off of your first few batches. Make sure you break even, be careful about giving stuff away to too many people, and try to earn enough to pay for another batch of goods.
GETTING HOME
Driving a lot can be exhausting. If you can afford the extra person to help as a roadie and be your driver, this will help with stress levels, and making sure everyone in the band gets sleep. The driver sleeps during the shows and at night…then helps with set-up and tear-down.
Get home safe. Once you get home, send out an email to everyone that signed up on your email list and thank them for attending! You need to be friendly and treat those people like family. They are going to be the ones that bring out their friends next time, and buy more stuff from you! Make sure your website is updated, post pictures, and send out regular emails to your fans. If you have more than a couple hundred emails you may need to get involved with an email company, such as www.Intellicontact.com and many others like it where you pay based on different criteria, but are usually very affordable and well worth it.
Make sure your equipment is still working, make sure the vehicle is not about to fall apart, and sit down with the rest of the band and go over pros and cons of the tour. Hopefully some of the tips I have provided plus the experience you gain and all of the other little things you learn and pickup along the way can help you to plan an even better and more organized and successful tour next time around.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me at erik@revampmusic.com . If you are going to be going on tour, remember, there are many websites that will help in posting your tour online. Do your research.
