Here are some questions that an individual recently sent us about booking for a first-time touring band. No doubt some of your reading will have these same questions:
How much should a band expect to make on their first tour?
The short answer is: NOTHING. When your’e going to new cities where you’ve never been and nobody knows your name, you should expect to go into the negative. You might spend $45 on a tank of gas and leave the show with $20. You might blow $40 to feed the whole band and only sell 3 Cds that night. This is why we say “nothing”. It‘s incredibly hard to pull out fans when you don‘t have any (read: 5 Lessons I Learned From My Terrible Tour) and that’s usually the case for any artist playing in a brand new city. It’s important to try and get at least 1 or 2 “anchor” gigs. Those are the ones that pay a few hundred bucks and help subsidize the rest of the tour. Read: The Best Way to Book a Tour. But if you‘re a band, expect to lose money on your first tour. Breaking even is a dream come true. Making money is like heaven.
How many people should we expect at our show in a new city?
Well this is heavily dependent on who you’re splitting the night with, how well you’re promoting, where the venue is, and what day of the week your show is on. It’s pretty easy to gauge the turnout for a show based on how much traction you’re getting on Facebook, Twitter, and all other other forms of communication (email, Instagram, conversations…etc). No RSVPs, no tweets, no responses, no likes…it usually means you’re not going to get the turnout you want. Im not promising this is always true, but Social Media is the new Word of Mouth. If you’re not hearing anything, that obviously means something.
How do we get people in the door?
As an artist playing in a new city, your primary concern is linking up with local bands who can help with their draw. In fact, that’s 10x more important than making money. Get potential fans in the door. Work your butt off to find quality artists to co-bill with because they will be your ticket to making real fans. When you have fans, the money will come. Trust me. It might not be on this tour, or even on your second tour. But the more you focus on fan-building, the easier it will be to fill a room, and make money on ticket sales and merch.
Should we expect to play to an empty room?
Ugh! We hate this question because the answer is yes…kind of. Don’t expect to play to an empty room but definitely brace yourself. It’s easy to jump head-first optimistically into a tour, but low turnouts happen all the time and they can totally kill your spirit. Do everything you can to notplay to an empty room. Look for venues that have solid foot traffic and do all the publicity you can to make sure you’re not wasting a drive.
Good luck on your first tour!
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