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Bandize was not created to rid the world of booking agents. In fact, we think booking agencies can be quite beneficial for a lot of artists out there, but they are not a necessity at all career levels.
This is just a brief introduction to booking your own tour. We wanted to show you that with a few organizational tools up your sleeve, booking a tour can be as easy as making connections.
Step 1: Decide where, when, and how you want to go
If this is your band’s first tour, you may want to consider doing a regional tour to start. This will allow you to build an audience locally before expanding into a national tour and creating a fan base all over.
Once you’ve narrowed down the dates, you need to decide where exactly you want to go. My suggestion is to pull up Google Maps and start plotting out a route. Don’t worry so much about being exact, just think about the cities you’d like to play. The bigger the city the better as this will allow for more venue options.
Try to avoid booking shows too close together as most venues won’t appreciate that. Example: If you’re playing a town that’s 30 minutes away from the town you’re playing the next night and the venue finds out, they might ask you to cancel the other show, or do both shows with them (if you have a significant draw).
Another thing to consider is conveyance. Should you rent or buy a van? Do you need a trailer? If you’re only a few people with very, very small instruments, can you just take someone’s car or SUV? These are all things to consider.
Tip: Personally, I’ve been on a few tours where we took a van and a trailer and though it was definitely pretty spacious in the van, we were spending unnecessary money on gas and parking that thing was a real drag.
If purchasing a van is simply not in your budget, there are several companies out there that can assist you in renting a van (Bandago, Capps Van Rental, West Coast Van Rental – to name a few). Something else to remember when renting a van is to make sure they allow you to take it out of state as sometimes there are restrictions regarding that.
Step 2: Start making connections and turning them into shows
Once you’ve decided on an approximate tour route, start making some connections. In the past I have used Myspace to contact bands in a specific radius of where I want to play, but upon contacting them I have been informed that they no longer offer that feature (even though it’s on their site, just blanked out). So, because of this, I would definitely recommend using PureVolume (as seen below) or any other service like it to start contacting bands in the area(s) you want to play. You can usually find these “Band/Artist Browse” pages fairly easily.
(http://www.purevolume.com/browse)
This is a fairly simple concept, so I won’t go into too much detail, but I will provide you with some tips.
- Make sure the band you’re contacting at least kind of fits your own band’s genre/musical type.
- It may be appropriate to offer them a “show trade” in which you book a show for them when they come through your hometown.
- Be polite. Remember, you’re basically cold-calling here, so use commonsense and don’t be rude.
You can also use services like Gig Maven or Indie Vennue Bible, but if your band doesn’t have a draw in the area you’re trying to play, it’s a better idea to hookup with a band that does.
After you’ve booked and confirmed the shows
Promote, promote, promote. In itself, being out on the road is one of the greatest experiences in the world, but wouldn’t it be even better if people showed up to see you play?
From the second you get confirmation that a show is officially booked, start promoting. Contact local newspapers and other publications to let them know you’re going to be playing in the area. It’s never too early to start promoting. Contact local college radio stations to see about doing an interview or even playing live on the show. You should have one already, but if you don’t, create a street team and send out flyers and other promotional materials to get the word out. Be creative.
Decide where you’re going to sleep
Unless you plan on sleeping in the van every night, you need to figure out where you’re going to sleep. Relatives are always a great choice as the showers are usually clean and the fridges are usually stocked. Hey, that’s what family’s for, right?
If you don’t want to spend money on a hotel, consider signing up for a free account at Better Than the Van, which is a great service for bands at any level. You can connect with people in the area you’re playing and sleep on their couch!
Music and merchandise
I think we all know that people just aren’t buying CDs like they used to. If you don’t know that, you have a lot of reading to do before thinking about going on tour. Thankfully, there are numerous other ways to travel with and sell your music.
People are buying vinyl. Vinyl sales during this year’s Record Store Day jumped 222% (via Hypebot) from the previous year! If that increase doesn’t tell you to press vinyl, I don’t know what will.
However, there are numerous things to consider when it comes time to think about pressing vinyl. The main thing I can suggest is: know your audience.
Cons:
- Vinyl is expensive (Example quote: 1000 standard weight, black vinyl 12″ LPs + full-color LP jackets = $2,404 before tax or shipping)
- Vinyl is heavy
- A few hundred LPs takes up a lot of space in the van
- Vinyl warps in heat
Pros:
- People are buying vinyl (this deserves more than just one bullet, so I’m going to put it on the next line as well)
- People are buying vinyl
- Can offer a free digital copy of your release for anyone that purchases the vinyl copy
- Gives your fans something tangible, special, and (if you decide it to be) rare
If vinyl is not for you right now, there are other ways to travel with your music. Just because people aren’t buying CDs like they used to doesn’t mean they’re not buying them at all. You can get 1,000 retail-ready CDs for $799 (amazing price!) at Built by Icon. Another option is using a service such as Dropcards that allows you to simply hand out, or sell your music to your fans by handing them a physical plastic card that they will use to download your music when they get home.
When it comes to merchandise, you really need to know your audience and consider doing something other than just the obvious (and necessary) t-shirts and sweatshirts. Think about offering something special that they can’t get through a webstore or through any physical retailer. This will also in turn give people more of an incentive to come out and see you live. Ideas include: coffee mugs, lighters, keychains, etc. Again, know your audience and provide them with something cool and even useful. I personally really like items such as keychains because, unlike a t-shirt that’s worn maybe once a week, they will be using their keys all the time.
What to bring
Aside from the obvious items such as clothing and maps, make sure you think about the following items:
- Extra guitar strings, drumsticks, cables, etc. Nothing is worse than breaking a string halfway through your first song and then having to ask to borrow someone’s guitar from a band you don’t even know.
- Sleeping bag
- Ear plugs (for both playing and sleeping)
- Sign up for AAA! For me, this has paid for itself several times over and you also get discounts at hotels etc.
Tip: If you’re going to be touring on a budget, bring along a cooler and keep it filled with ice and make sure it’s easily accessible in the van. Those trips to Taco Bell can really add up, so keeping a nice supply of food and drinks can really end up saving you a lot of money.
Yes, I did say “maps” up above. I’d like to see your fancy iPhone work on a lonesome west Texas highway. A GPS device is also another great option, but make sure you find a nice hiding place for it when you’re not driving or it will get stolen.
Have fun, but set goals
Touring should be a fun experience, but you’re also out there to make progress as a band.
Try to get an idea of how many people came out to see just your band. This can be tough as there will usually (hopefully) be other bands playing with you, but it’s worth giving it a shot so that you know to increase your promotion efforts next time or if you did a good job.
Start, promote, and manage your band’s mailing list. I also recommend having a “city / state” column on mailing lists so that when you send out a mailing you can target specific areas even if it’s just by email. This is a great way to promote your future tours/shows in the area.
If people aren’t coming to your merch stand…mobilize! Walk around, talk to people, ask them how they enjoyed your performance. If you get a positive reaction (or even if you don’t), consider offering them a discount or deal on your latest release for simply giving your music a chance. I am reminded of a video posted by the guys over at Topspin where a member of Chester French goes outside of a venue they just played and sells 65 copies of their CD for $5 each by just talking to people. By the way, that comes out to $325.00! You can see the video here.
Wrap up
When you return home from tour, there is still work to be done. You need to organize a band meeting to discuss what worked, what didn’t work, and what you’d do differently next time. It’s also not a bad idea to send thank you / follow-up emails to anyone that booked you a show or put you up for the night. This is a great way to maintain a great connection in that area.
Well, that’s about it. This entry started off as a simple “how to tour on your own” post, but turned out to be a lot more in-depth. I certainly don’t think that everything I covered is for everyone out there touring, but hopefully there’s at least something in there you can find useful.
