7 Tips to Start Planning Your First Music Tour
As a new artist, you’ve taken all the steps to build your audience and grow your streams on different music platforms. But if you’re ready to perform your music live, you’ll want to start planning your tour.
Musicians today are more than just musicians. They have to be full-time booking agents, marketing teams, and publicists.
Let’s take a look at the steps you’ll need to take to set up your very first music tour.
- Have Your Set List Ready
One album alone is enough for you to play a full show. But having a good flow is key to keeping your audience excited, mixing in different tempos and keys to keep from sounding monotonous.
First, you’ll want to know exactly how much time you’ll have for your set. This will determine how many songs you can play. Many artists now add cover songs to their show’s setlist.
GuitarX is a good resource for free music guides and resources to help discover what’s most popular right now.
- Create An EPK
Venues want to know who they’re letting onto their stage and how much publicity they can anticipate from the artists they plan to host.
Your EPK (electronic press kit) is vital to pitch yourself to venues around the country. This includes things such as your music, website, social media accounts, press releases, bio, photos, and performance history.
- Plan Your Route
As you begin to solidify a few of the first tour dates, you’ll want to start mapping out where these locations are. When you’re first starting, it may not financially benefit you to have a show one week in California followed by a show the next week in Florida.
Planning your desired dates and locations ahead of time will allow you to have a general route you intend to drive. Otherwise, you’ll be bouncing around, having to pay for flights, costing you more in the long run. Because let’s face it – you’re probably not like Elton John on tour with the ability to pay for a private plane.
- Talk To Your Fans
Choosing which cities to play for your first tour will be primarily centered around your fan base.
Take a poll on social media or through your email list to get an idea of where they would like to see you play.
- Partner With Other Artists
Building your network is a part of the game. Tagging along on someone else’s tour as an opening act could be a great stepping stone to build your career.
They’ll more than likely have experience with touring and have built a rapport with venues in the past. Plus, if they’re a bigger band, they’ll have more opportunities for gigs that allow you to tap into their fan base.
- Start Saving Ahead of Time
As a new artist, you’re going to have to pay for most of your expenses out-of-pocket. This includes travel-related costs, food, housing, and emergency funds. The reality is that you won’t be making millions of dollars on tour, especially your first one.
Plus, you won’t be working while you’re on the road because performing will be your full-time job. A great alternative is to raise money through your fan base with Kickstarter or Patreon. You can provide your fans with exclusive music and content through paid subscriptions or by having them fund a part of your tour.
- Post Online Consistently
You have to continue building hype about your tour even while you’re traveling. Make sure to find time throughout the tour to post on social media and keep up engagement with your fans. Collaborate with other artists through live stream content or having them tag you in their posts for cross-promotion.
There are also several platforms like Hootsuite or Buffer that allow you to schedule your social posts before you leave for a tour. This way, you won’t have to think about it while you’re busy traveling and performing.
Summary
At the end of the day, you’re a new artist that needs to start building a reputation with venues around the country. When booking your music tour, always be professional. You’re a musician which also means you need to have the mentality of an entrepreneur.
On a final note, always be in contact with the venues you book and schedule times to speak virtually or in-person well in advance of the show. This will let them know you take your responsibility as an artist seriously.
