Thursday, September 19, 2013

Cost Of Touring Remarkably High For Artists

By Cornelius Nunev


Being a musician professionally sounds like a fairly sweet concept for many individuals. Concerts, the open road and some think, a boatload of money. However, it isn't much of a living, even for groups that get a ton of attention, as the price of touring is through the roof.

Hard to live as a rock band

A lot of people may imagine the life of a touring musician involves plush tour buses, groupies, endless partying and lots of cash. Maybe for some, but most groups or artists trying to make a living don't make much of one.

It is quite interesting when you think about what The Dresden Dolls, a Boston group, made on their tour, according to a 2007 NPR interview. The two in the group, Brian Viglione and Amanda Palmer, only made $1,500 a month from the tour each. That is not a lot of cash for spending time in a record deal and touring. They even opened from some pretty large gigs.

Assuming they tour regularly, they will make $18,000 a year.

CD sales might bring them a little bit more cash considering they get $1 off every CD sale.

Relies on the band

Shane Blay, a member of the band Oh, Sleeper, a metalcore band that's been around for several years, posted prices of touring during a typical day on the road, on MetalInjection. Groups, he states, basically make cash on tour from guaranties, a fee for playing which varies by location, and selling merchandise like T-shirts and so forth. What he'd observed was that an average for a "mid-level" group like his was $300 per each category, an income of $600 per night.

Bands pay to print shirts. He reported $7.50 per shirt, which they sell usually at $15 per, meaning its half the price. So of that $300, $150 is already gone. Venues usually charge a 25 percent commission, $75, and the band's manager gets a 15 percent cut of the profits, or $11.25, meaning the band makes $63.75 from $300 in product sales. From guaranties go, 15 percent off the top goes to the band's manager and 10 percent goes to their booking agent, who arranges tour dates. That leaves $225 per night, before paying travel expenses, which he quotes an average of $150 just in gas between gigs, leaving $75. Then, after a $10 per day food budget for all five band members plus their merchandise seller, $60, which leaves $15. In total, that's $78.75 per night.

Divided six ways, that's $13.12 per night, per band member. That does not include whether or not their van breaks down or if they need to stay in a hotel or go to a doctor.

Not all costs bad

The Daily Mail explained that the very best way to make cash while touring is to be large enough that enough tickets will sell to make the additional cash. Roger Waters toured in 2010 which made about $90 million. The costs were only $60 million, which means he made a lot of additional cash.

However, the struggling artist does struggle and likely pretty hard. NBC News, the news site formerly known as MSNBC, ran an article in 2008 about numerous groups that were an inch from having to get rid of tours and possibly quit their profession due to high gasoline costs.

It also hurts a band when music is downloaded for free, so make sure you always avoid doing that.



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