
How To Plan An International Tour For Your Band







Going on tour is one of the most exciting experiences for a band. You get to interact with fans, connect with other artists and forge a musical identity for yourselves. However, planning a tour isn’t always so exciting. From inspecting your trailer to setting ticket prices, a lot goes into preparing for this grand adventure. Luckily, you can do it with a little more ease by following these touring tips:
Deciding to take your band on its first tour is incredibly exciting. You get to plan where you’ll perform, how you’ll interact with your fans and what you’ll do on off days. Speaking of which, make sure you schedule a few days of downtime. It’ll help you rest, recover and even network.
Touring European cities like Paris, Barcelona, and Berlin is a performing artist’s dream. Europe’s cultural scene is vibrant and supports up-and-coming musicians. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, travel to Europe is currently restricted. Foreign travelers are banned from the EU bloc for 30 days, and France is in near-total lockdown.
Thankfully, governments are hopeful everything should return back to normal by summer, which just happens to be prime music festival season. Sadly, the United Kingdom’s legendary Glastonbury Festival is one of the casualties of the pandemic, canceling its 50th anniversary. Without Glastonbury, there were still be plenty of festivals and shows to play in the coming months as the continent comes back to social life.
So you’ve hit the big time (or maybe just big enough) and have decided to go on tour with your band. Veterans and newbies alike need some guidance before they put rubber to the road.
As with any business, life as a working musician can involve some pretty monotonous and repetitive tasks, which quite frankly we could all do without.
At Bands For Hire agency we’ve built our internal systems to reduce the boring everyday administrative chores and spend more time on what really matters. For you, that means more time writing music, rehearsing and marketing your original music - for us it means more time with clients and doing the things we love such as creating content, listening to new acts and well… developing helpful little tools.
Are you a musician who is currently planning a tour? If yes, you need to understand that the type of vehicle you have is vital in the success of your music tours. Although many musicians may prefer renting vans, it is imperative to note that such a move proves expensive in the long run and might even limit the number of gigs that one can attend. As a gigging musician, you deserve a vehicle that enhances your comfort and flexibility.
Regular exercise can benefit everyone. As a musician, working out keeps you in shape for playing shows and touring. But, it can also help to boost your creativity and focus. It can also boost your self-confidence and improve your overall mental health. As a result, you can make better music and put on better shows.
Every musician dreams of going on tour. Not only is it a lot of fun, but it’s the best way to gain exposure and get noticed. Playing in front of a live audience puts your music directly in front of people, so they’re more likely to tell their friends about you and purchase your songs.
Winter is officially here, but that doesn’t mean touring season stops. Maybe you’re not playing sweaty summer festivals at the moment, but there’s nothing quite like cozying up to a coffee shop or even playing a house concert for your next gig.
While touring in the winter can be fun, there are also some extra things to keep in mind that you might not have to think about during other seasons. Your safety, of course, should always be your number one priority.
Making the decision to become a musical artist is one that could change the course of your life. You could go from working a stable job to becoming a rockstar whose life is characterized by bright lights, raving fans, and humongous stages. At some point in your career as a musician, you may need to think about whether you want to tour nationally or internationally.
Over the last few decades musicians have had to become more savvy regarding the business aspects of the creative endeavours that they’ve dedicated their lives to. Whether it’s due to the myriad examples of how unsuspecting creatives have been taken advantage of, or the industry shifts that have affected how revenue is made, musicians are taking the development of their business skills almost as seriously as their musical chops. While this adds a certain complexity to musician’s lives, this is also incredibly empowering.
The question of whether or not to go to college, or to go back to college, is one that many musicians ask themselves at some point during their career. Going to college is challenging for musicians, and the truth is, a college degree isn’t a requirement to have a successful music career. But a degree can help, and if you major in a field like business, sound engineering, or marketing, that degree can both enhance your music career and provide another source of income if you ever decide to change your role in or get out of the music business.
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(Updated January 13, 2016)