What Kind Of Vehicle Does Your Band Need For A Tour?

While the internet age has made it easier for bands to get their music out to the masses, there’s nothing online that replaces the face-to-face energy of in-person concerts and domestic or international tours. You might be picturing private jets and fancy tour buses, but let’s be realistic here. When you’re just starting out, if you manage to put together a tour, it’s done on a shoestring budget. Here’s how to find the best vehicle to hit the road in.

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Self-Care For Touring Musicians

Life on the road sounds like a dream come true. For all of the romantic overtones, though, the cold, hard truth is traveling on a regular basis can be downright exhausting. That’s why it’s important to head out on tour with a plan in place. 

There are many basic things you can do in order to keep yourself up and running — like sleeping well, eating healthy, and so on. However, sometimes a bit of focused self-care is required in order to truly thrive while cooped up in a vehicle and sleeping in strange places for days on end. 

If you’re on the road (or soon will be) and are looking for some ways to help keep your health strong and your spirits up, look no further. Here are some tips and tricks to keep yourself in tip-top condition while on the road.

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Touring Tips For Bands On A Budget

Hitting the road and taking your band on tour is exciting. Whether this is your first tour and you’re still getting your feet wet or you’re veterans of the road, it’s important to make sure you stick to a budget so you can get to your designated performance locations with ease (and have a little fun along the way).

Playing music professionally is actually more of an investment than people tend to think. Until you reach “rockstar status” or you have a record label paying for your travel expenses, most of the money spent on a tour will come out of your own pocket.

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5 Innovative Resources For Bands In A Bind

When you see bands play live or on TV, one thing you don’t see is the struggle. It looks like being in a band is a rich kids’ game. Most bands — even punk ones — seem to have one thing in common — they’re stacked with good equipment, quality merch, and good on-stage wardrobes. 

That’s because they did one of the following:

• Worked together to save a bunch of money.

• Relied on someone in the band who has enough money and resources to bankroll the project.

• Found someone outside of the band willing to be a benefactor.

• Robbed a bank.

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5 Essential Tips To Make Your First DIY Tour A Success

This article originally appeared on the Sonicbids Blog

Your band’s first tour can be your first step up the ladder to success, but if it’s not done properly, it can end up wasting a lot of time and a lot of money. Always take care in planning your tour, whether it’s your first one ever or just another month on the road. To make sure it’s a success, check out these five essential tour planning tips. 

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6 Ways to Get More People to Your Shows

Do you sometimes feel that your band’s draw is languishing? Are you tired of seeing the same people at your shows and want to play to a new crowd, even in your hometown?

If you’re like most musicians, you know that you absolutely can do better, that you have more fans out there than who actually show up at at the venue, and despite always receiving positive feedback, you don’t know why more people aren’t showing up. Here are some tips on building some momentum back into your tour dates so you can increase your band’s draw:

1. Find a Different Angle for The Show: It’s easier to get more people to show up if it’s your band’s first show, when you’re releasing a new album, it’s a tour kick off, or when it’s your final gig. Obviously, it’s because your fans realize those as special occasions and want to be there.

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The 4 Places You Should Be Entering All Of Your Concert Dates To Increase Concert Attendance

Entering concert dates is one of the most annoying parts of playing live. It’s both time-consuming and annoying to keep up with. Thankfully, it gets easier and easier each year to do this menial task. Entering dates into the services we have outlined below increases the chance of getting both fans and potential fans to your shows. Some of them can put them in the places where your fans go to hear and discover your music, where as others alert your fans who have liked you on Facebook that you will be in their town. Entering your dates into these services also increases your chance of being added to local concert calendars in local papers and radio stations. Making sure your dates are always up to date in these four services will increase the likelihood of getting fans out to shows and we will explain why.

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3 Ways Your Band Can Use Creativity to Make More Money

Money. Many artists struggle with it: either we’re poor at managing income or we lack creativity in getting it. It’s clear that with the shape of the music industry, most artists aren’t making a living from record sales. So how are they getting the support that they need?

You might argue that some bands make their money from performing: they command large guarantees when playing a show. Another popular idea is that most bands survive because of merch sales (few promoters provide a decent guarantee, if one at all). Others see crowdsourcing as the new golden calf.

I don’t think there is a one-size fits-all model for all artists. What artists need is something that is personal, transparent, and appropriate for their career. In 5 Non-traditional Ways to Promote Your Music, I called upon artists to use their creativity when it comes to music promotion. I think the same could be said of your sources of income as well.

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Playing Profitable Shows as a Band: The 25% Rule

A recent article by Last Stop Booking highlighted the fact that touring is now more important than ever. If you have the time, I highly suggest reading through the article to get a basic feeling for how you should be planning your tours as a band.

I’d like to add some tips/ideas to that post by going farther than just giving ballpark numbers and touring radiuses to go off of and instead dive into a profitable tour itinerary that just about any new indie band can use as a template.

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How to Book Your Band's First Show

I’ve written many things about booking, such as a step-by-step guide on booking a tour and a few things on getting into SXSW, but what happens if you don’t have a massive history of touring the country? What if this is a new band and this is your first gig? How do you get started?

Here are some tips on booking your band’s first show:

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I'm With the Band: Tips for Traveling Success

Whether you’re a part of the band, a helpful roadie or just a follow-you-anywhere fan, traveling with a musical group can be equal parts invigorating and exhausting. If you’re preparing to hit the road with a band, keep some basic travel principles in mind to ensure your musical adventure is as stress-free as you can make it, despite the hectic schedule and nights of activity you’ll surely face on the road.

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The Four P’s of Playing Live Shows: Post-Show

Dave Cool is the Director of Artist Relations for musician website and marketing platform Bandzoogle. Twitter: @Bandzoogle | @dave_cool

The “Four P’s” is a term used to describe the traditional Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion. I’m borrowing from that expression to talk about the Four P’s of Playing Live Shows: Preparation, Promotion, Performance, and Post-Show. This series of blog posts will cover the things that you can be doing as a live performer to maximize each show. In the final part of this series, we’ll go over what to do after your show is finished:

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How to Book a Tour: Unconventional Advice

There’s plenty of advice out there for booking a tour. In fact, I’ve written on it a few times (including this step-by-step guide). People generally talk about the same kind of stuff: how to approach a venue, where to book, promoting, etc. However, I want to cover some of the territory that people don’t talk about, the pitfalls that you’ll come across along the way.

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How to Book Your Band’s Tour, Step-by-Step

I believe that good information should be spread and even though I do booking for bands, I’m not afraid to share, step-by-step, how I go about this process. That’s what this music blog is all about, partnering up with artists to take the next step. I hope this helps your music career.

This is a more concise version of an earlier post which you can read here. I recommend you read that one too.

Once you’ve decided that you want to and are able to tour (and you’ve figured out the why’s), it’s time to plan the how, when, and where’s. This is what I do.

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