You have signed your contract, you have worked with you label, you have completed your project, you have released your project and now it is time for the step mosts artists look forward to and consider the most fun aspect of being an artist, touring. How does touring work? What is your tour going to look like? Who and what will be apart of your tour? As a new artists, you may not know what to fully expect from tour life. As the average music fan in the public, you may see the glamorous side of touring, the perfect live show production, the stage energy, the roaring fans, the parties, the adventure, but being the artist on these tours is not always everything it looks like on video, and what social media shows you while the artist is on tour.
What are the different aspects of being an artist on tour? What will be expected of you? Starting at the top, while you are on tour, you may not just, “Be on tour,” you may doing your press run promoting your album and tour as well. Sometime the label will put both of these together because it is easier to do a full press run (at least in the eyes of the label, mostly due to financial reasons) while you are already traveling, than it would be to do a nation wide press campaign, then do a nation wide tour a few months later. For argument sake of this article, let’s assume that first you are doing just a press run, then both, and then we will look at if you are doing just the tour.
Your press run to promote your newly released album will consist of a few different aspects, and depending on your popularity can be local, regional or national. (the international aspect of all these things will come later in your career and will be done all in one shot based on logistics, as it doesn’t make sense to have an artist travel overseas just to do press, only to send them back overseas to do shows a year later) If you are starting with a local press campaign, this will include local radio stations, local pop up events, local meet and greets and different appearances around the city. For an easy example (both because I am located close to here, but also because it can be shown as an easy example to travel locally) I am going to use New York (and New Jersey as they are generally connected during an east coast press run) for our local press run. As a New York artist (assuming based on previous articles you are signed and have a decent popularity) you will start by doing radio promotion, which normally includes interviews. Hot 97, The Breakfast Club, Power 105, Ebro in the morning, and more are all going to be stops on your press run. (as it pertains to radio stations) Doing interviews with each of these radio shows (sometimes in the same day) will be a way for you to speak about your new release, different aspects of your life, you as an artist and so on, to a large local audience. (understanding that some of these radio shows are national as well) The shows will play your single and promote that you are coming to and on the show for a certain period of time. (usually the day and/or week before, and the entire day after you have completed your interview) In todays media climate, they will also post your interview online to their social media and YouTube channels for additional promotion. (both for you the artist and themselves as the radio station) From there you will have local meet and greets with fans at different venues, that will promote you coming to their spot, (usually different restaurants or stores that tie closely with your brand and image) where you will sign autographs and take pictures. Lastly, you will do club walkthroughs, which means you will have a paid appearance at specific clubs. The club will be advertised that you will be at this club, in this section, at this time. Normally, you will not show up before midnight, (which I can attest to, absolutely sucks, especially if you are traveling the same day and have other obligations before the club) and when you arrive you will be escorted to your section, get free drinks, and will, “Perform,” a short music set at the club. A set is not always what you think it would be, in most cases a walkthrough club set means you stand in the DJ booth with a microphone while your song is playing (as an MP3 through the DJ equipment) partially singing along, and partially hyping the crowd. After about an hour or so at the club, you leave and that is your walkthrough. (sometimes these are fun, sometimes they feel like work, but almost always, these are an easy check) Moving to the regional press campaign, you will now be traveling to a few different states (following our example) on the East Coast. Most of the time these are within driving distance, but sometimes (mostly due to schedule) you will fly. The same type of events occur (radio interviews, online shows, meet and greets, club walkthrough, etc.) just with a different audience for you to gain more exposure, while touching your fans and audience in that market. If you are driving to these different places, if you are lucky your will have multiple events in that city in the same day with different stations and publications making your time worth while, however sometimes it is one event and out. (which means you are traveling to and from that city in the same day, if you have multiple events, depending on your schedule the next day, you may stay overnight) If you are flying to these places due to travel distance and scheduling, in most cases you will be flying in and out of the city in the same day. (and again I can attest to how stressful this is and how much it sucks, and I was never the artist in these situations) Finally, if you are doing national press runs, you will be traveling almost non stop. Each city you go to will have multiple events scheduled for the same day (any where from two to I have done as many as eight in the same day, one every hour all day long) then leaving that night to go to a different city. While this is great publicity for the artist, if you are not prepared and properly taken care of (by yourself, your team and your label) you are in for a long tough road.
For the next example, let’s assume you are doing a press run while touring, this means not only are you conducting meet and greets and interviews during the day, but you are performing each night. All I have to say is welcome to the life of an artist. During the day you will be responsible for traveling to a variety of radio stations to do (basically what amounts to the same type of) interviews, all across the city you are in, then traveling to the venue for sound check, (which can be anywhere from a few minutes, depending on the nature of the show, to close to or more than an hour long if you are the headliner) after that, spending the remainder of your day in the dressing room, preparing for the show that night, then performing your hour long show. You would think your night is over after that right? Sorry, but you are wrong. After the show (unless it was scheduled to happen before the show, which is always the better and more preferred option) you will do a meet and greet with fans who purchased VIP tickets, taking pictures, signing autographs, talking to each and every fan (sometimes hundreds of them) for sometimes what amounts to a few hours, before then getting in your travel bus, or van, or plane to go to the next city to do the same thing all over again. As a fan you may see the tour videos of all the fun antics, laughs, events, parties, and shows that the artist does on tour, but you never truly see the behind the scenes of what the artist is doing prior to and after the shows. The press, the travel, the preparation it is hours upon hours of work just for the artist. (not mentioning the team the artist is traveling with, which can range from a few team members to an entire show staff that is setting up and breaking down all the equipment used for the live show at each venue, packing and unpacking said equipment every night hours before the artist gets to the venue for sound check and hours after the artist leaves, before traveling to the next city with the artist) I have been on tour and press runs where personally I was awake for 72 or more hours, just to ensure everything was running and operating smoothly so the artist was comfortable and didn’t have to focus on anything other than mentally preparing for and doing the show. It is exhausting, and when you hear the, “War stories,” artists tell from their tours they are telling the truth. Have you ever wondered why after a three month long tour you don’t hear from or see that artist for at least a few weeks or sometimes months? It is because a majority of the time the artist (as well as their team) is completely worn out. Returning from tour, most artists and their teams were doing anything and everything necessary to complete the shows and give the fans everything they expected and more, so much so that they end up sick, malnourished, broken down and worn out. This is why you are seeing more and more artists nowadays cancels shows and sometimes full tour dates because they are not mentally able to keep up with the schedule that is put upon them during these tours and press runs. As an artist you have to be mindful to always take care of yourself while on the road because the toll it takes on you mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually is excruciating. It is the job of your manager and A&R to make sure the label hasn’t completely screwed you (as they most often do) when it comes to scheduling.
Finally, the third option, you are just on tour, doing shows and don’t have to worry about press. (at least as it relates to anything outside of fan meet and greets before and/or after the show for people who purchased VIP tickets) In this case you are traveling the country (hopefully the most logistical way possible) from city to city, coast to coast on a few month long tour. Generally you will begin this journey one of two ways, either one, close to or in the city you currently reside in, or two, on the complete opposite side of the country. In both of these cases your final shows will always be as close to your home town (or the town you currently reside in) as possible. You will spend one, sometimes two nights (depending on your fan base in each city, and how many shows you have in that city, normally not more than two, unless you become Dave Chappell and get booked out in NYC for months straight) in a single city before traveling to your next stop. As a new act you may not be afforded the luxury of a plane, meaning you are getting a tour bus (if you are lucky) or a sprinter van, pilling your whole team in there and taking a road trip to your destinations. As an established act you most likely will get a plane to travel to each destination, however in some circumstances you will use a buss to travel between close shows. (like New York and New Jersey and Philly for example) In either case, be prepared to start your show around nine, ten or eleven at night, be on stage for at least an hour, be in the dressing room after the show for at least another hour (sometimes more if you have an after show meet and greet) then getting on your van, bus or plane and traveling to the next city. Depending on where you are going, you will arrive very early in the morning, check into a hotel, get a few hours of sleep (if you are lucky) then start your day mostly likely around nine or ten in the morning that same day for a fan meet and greet at the venue before the show. Once the meet and greet is done, you will have sound check for your show that night (unless you have become an incredulity established act, which I know some that don’t do sound check and leave it up to their trusted live engineers to have the sound and equipment ready for the show) then be in the green room waiting for your call time. Yes, in the green room based on your writer, you will have food, drinks and other things that you asked for, but sitting around in a green room for hours isn’t great, especially coming off little sleep and days of travel.
Touring is great for the artist, as this is where most of your income is generated. However, the act of touring is terrible. Yes, you travel across the country and across the world, but the toll it takes and what is expected of you, is not something you can really be prepared for until you have gone through it. Everyone is always excited for the tour, and is ecstatic when it begins. A few days into the nonstop travel, believe me everyone’s mood changes, and by the end (even if you have had a great and successful tour) you are ready for it to end and go home. How Tech Nine and Strange Music are able to tour so many days constantly every year is to this day is something I don’t understand and can’t fathom. Be prepared mentally, physically and emotionally for the tour life. Take care of yourself and be cognizant of your health, because life on the road (even if you have the luxury of a private plane) is grueling.
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