How to book a somewhat successful tour The most important part is planning I like to start working on a tour 4-6 months beforehand month #1 1. create your dream routing, this will change, but its good to have something to send people 2. start posting feelings about where to play, who to contact, see if you have friends in other areas that could help you with shows 3. start messaging/emailing bands/promoters about shows, not just for the tour but also anything they have you can hop on in the next month or two. This will help you create a relationship with them that will help you book those pesky weekday shows on your tour. It should also help you create a draw for your next time back while on tour. 4. start saving money, get a second job, do whatever it takes to put away money because gas/repairs arent cheap and odds are you will break down. 5. set up a paypal debit account, it comes in super handy if you need money asap. month #2 hopefully by now you have at least 1 or 2 dates for your 7-10 day tour sorted and some other shows 1. now rework your routing if needed 2. start building connections in the areas booked, add people from the tour, talk to them, try to create street teams, ask people if theyd like some free merch or something. Allocate like an hour a day to this, you can search on FB for friends by location/mutual friends, use this tool! 3. continue messaging/emailing bands/promoters about shows, not just for the tour but also anything they have you can hop on in the next month or two. month #3 by now at least half of your tour should be locked down, if not, maybe consider shortening the tour, or focusing on weekends until you have a better network for tour support. 1. your routing should be locked down, there might be holes, if so just focus on them, try house shows, parties, acoustic sets, show trades, etc to fill in these gaps, if you are on tour for 10 days and have 3-4 days off thats not really good. 2. by now you should have a handful of friends in all the cities you have locked down, but you should still continue building connections in the areas the more friends/fans, the better. These connections can save you money on food, and usually help you find places to stay rather than hotels. Plus you might make friendships that last 20+ years like I have. 3. start researching the towns/venues, what is nearby? malls, skateparks, practice spaces, etc, these can be great places to go to hours before your show to help make connections and promote your band/show. month #4 ok so tour is a month or 2 away and its crunch time 1. make sure your van is in good shape, schedule any repairs for at least a month before you leave. 2. Promo!!! see if your shows have event pages, if they do invite the contacts youve made, ask them to help promote, send them flyers and some merch to give out. 3. if there are still holes in your tour now is the time to buckle down and figure out how to fill them, no show? look for a big local show that you can go to and flyer at, walk the line and ask people to listen to your band, etc. month #5-6 hopefully, by this time youll have put in the time/effort to book a solid tour, continue working on promo/building contacts/filling holes before you leave make sure you have the following: AAA money saved, a good rule is $100 for every day on the road a spare tire/jack merch flyers/download cards and contacts contacts are the most important thing on tour, if you spend months making them you will have an amazing safety net incase something goes wrong
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 18:13:20 +0000
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