Touring Is Expensive! Why? And How much?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtkWcdJWuas
Prices vary but here are the things you need to consider when thinking about a tour. They all add up!
Depending on how you have it set up with the venue, if you don’t pull in enough people you’ll have to pay the venue. This isn’t always, but sometimes. Again it depends on how you set up the show. If you’re bigger you’ll never have to worry about this because you’ll have tons of fans coming to every show.
But if it’s a HUGE show and you’re a BIG artist. You have to pay for a lot more. I assume if you already know all of that information that you aren’t reading this guide though lol. So let’s continue.
Facebook posts to promote the show in your area
Street Teams should be paid in gear and merch and possibly tickets. These things costs money
Cost of flyers and promotional materials
Time spent promoting = Money
You gotta stay somewhere every night don’t you? you can’t be couped up in a van or truck for weeks. You’ll be so annoyed and sleep deprived that you won’t even be able to perform!
This is an actual receipt from 3:40AM after the show I did in St Louis, MO.
See why food can add up daily for everyone? This was just after a show. We bought 3 fans food then we all hung out. Good times!
Consider you have to buy breakfast and lunch everyday for everyone on the bus with you. You have YOU, YOUR DRIVER, YOUR HYPE MAN And possibly another person. Thats 4 people at 3 meals a day, plus you all share 1 or 2 hotel rooms a night. That adds up!
Let’s not forget about the vehicle you are using to travel around on this tour. It needs to be a reliable vehicle that you can everyone on your touring team can actually fit in comfortably. Then you have to consider gas from city to city.
You can see why touring can be a pretty expensive thing to do. I didn’t even mention the mental costs on you of touring. The lack of sleep, stresses and more stuff. Being an artist is a lot more work than most people think it is. You will grow and learn to handle this just like you do everything else though! You got it!
– NovAK