A Comprehensive Guide to Booking Your Own Tour

Interacting with Promoters, Confirming your Show, Negotiating your Deal, Routing Your Tour & Staying Organized!

This article is a comprehensive guide for any artist looking to book their own tour. The nuances of a genre-specific formalities have been omitted, as the diversity of culture surrounding live-music are as numerous as they are varied. I am confident that the principles below are broadly accepted as the Standard Operating Procedure of small-to-intermediate entertainment booking and are based off of my own experiences travelling and performing music in the United States, an interview with Erwin Schemankewitz, owner of Ever Upward Entertainment Booking Agency in Denver, CO, as well as my studies in the Music Business Program at the University of Georgia.

How to Book Your Show: Hold, Challenge, and?Confirm

The universal process for booking a show is built on the foundation of a first-come, first-serve basis, whereby the first artist to contractually commit to a date at a venue/promoter is confirmed for the performance. The action of “confirming” that performance is actually a 3-Step Process: Hold, Challenge, & Confirm. Let’s break down each of these steps, one at a time:

Hold

A “Hold” is a verbal confirmation that the band would like to perform on an available date. The venue promoter will distribute holds on a first-come-first-serve basis.

If an agent wants to book a date at a venue to perform, the agent emails the promoter and asks for a hold on an available date. If another Agent for another band wants the date, that agent asks for a “2nd Hold”, or a “3rd Hold”, and so on. This process continues until an artist or agent decides to confirm their Hold or is challenged by someone else for the show.

It is not uncommon for a perfect weekend run of 2nd or 3rd holds to be ruined by an early challenger. For this reason, agents often have several holds in different markets or venues to safeguard their existing routing and to make sure the band can hit crucial markets. Sometimes the booking agent will even ask to hold multiple dates at the same venue. This happens when a band knows they want to play in a certain market (lets say, Atlanta), but they are not sure which date will work better for their routing or turnout.

When a booking agent is ready to confirm a show, the Agent will confirm/challenge a run (shows in succession) of holds at once with the promoters.

Challenge

“Challenge” is the process of forcing the other holds on a date to confirm or back out within 24 or 48 hours of the challenge being issued.

For example: A booking agent with a 2nd Hold may Challenge an agent with a 1st hold for a date at a venue if they are ready to commit to a contract. Upon being issued a Challenge, the promoter of the show will give the agent with a 1st hold a 48 hour window of committing to the show or backing out.

If you have a 5th hold on the venues and you issue a challenge on the other holds, the promoter emails the other 4 holds and says “Your hold has been challenged, do you want to confirm?”

Confirm

A “Confirm” is the verbal agreement that you intend to sign a performance contract and commit to a performance date and deal with a venue promoter.

What happens if you back out of a?Confirm?

Legally & financially, nothing happens. You have not signed a Performance Contract that would obligate the artist and promoter to certain terms if the show doesn’t happen. However, I highly advise to never back out of a confirm outside of an Act of God (known legally as a “force majeure”). The confirm is only a courtesy in legal terms, but it has a social weight?—?an obligation that you intend to sign a contract and bring legal and financial consequences to the performance.

The music industry is a small world, which means that word travels fast, especially among Promoters. So while you technically have not invoked the cancellation clause of a performance contract, that promoter might hold a grudge against you behind closed doors. A promoter will not go out of their way to bash the reputation of an artist that pulls out of a “confirm”, but as an agent you are putting yourself into a serious disadvantage when trying to perform in that market again. Now, if the show is 4 months away and you pull out of a confirm because of some foreseeable event (wedding, birth of a child, double booking, etc), there is a reasonable amount of time for the promoter to find a new artist that night. But obviously, this is an inconvenience that everyone wants to avoid.

Once you have Confirmed your show, it’s time to sign a Performance Contract.

The Performance Contract

The Performance Contract outlines the details, finances and deal structure of your performance. Attached to the Performance Contract are additional specifics on behalf of the artist for the venue that “ride” on top of the contract. These are called riders. At the Club level and above, your performance contract will include a Hospitality Rider and Technical Rider.

Performance Contract?Details

The Performance Contract will, most importantly, contractually obligate the venue/promoter to pay the artist some amount of money for a performance. Your Booking Agent will negotiate the performance fee (more on that in a later section) with the Talent Buyer. The Performance Contract also includes details such as: Ticket Price, Name and Address of Venue, Parking for Load In / During the Show, Load In Time, Sound Check Time, Doors Opening Time, Show Time, Set Length, and if there is there a Hall Fee (A % of the Merch sales paid to the venue).

Hospitality Rider

The Hospitality Rider includes details about hospitality, such as Accommodations for special hospitality needs, Green Room access and accommodations, hotel/sleeping arrangements (if any), food/meals provided to the artist such as a Buy Out (Instead of providing food to the Artist, the venue pays out a flat fee to each member of the tour), if there is a Runner (A person or persons hired to act as personal shopper or driver for the band and crew), security personnel, access to private bathrooms, shower, or dressing room, & the number of Comps (complimentary tickets) or guest list spots.

Technical Rider

The technical rider includes details about the artist’s Stage Plot, Input/Output list, technical specifics for the stage and performance, lighting needs and availability, back line availability, crew members available on site for assisting the band, and accommodations for any special technical needs. The Technical Rider will be spearheaded by the Venue’s Production Manager and should be thoroughly reviewed by the band’s management.?

Know Your?Deals

Guarantee

This is a Flat Fee that is guaranteed to the artist no matter the venue income (tickets sold) or expenses (production, marketing, security) related to the show. Guarantees are common in soft ticket events (such as festivals), opening slots for larger bands, Bars, Clubs, and small Theatres.?

Guarantees are highly favorable for bands because it allows for a reliable projected income from a show or run of shows. Even if no one shows up to your show, the venue is obligated to pay the band their guaranteed amount.

Door Deal

This is a % of the money made at the door via Ticket Sales. If you have an 80% Door Deal and sell $150 worth of tickets, you will walk out with $120. ?Door Deals are most common where the venue has a built-in crowd and will sell tickets regardless of who is performing. Door Deals are a way for a venue to offset the cost of the entertainment onto the patrons of their establishment. Door Deals are also a way of protecting the venue from poor ticket sales.?

This deal is highly favorable to the venue, so beware of signing a door deal in a new market, on a Monday-Wednesday, or in a situation where you are unsure of projected ticket sales.

Versus Deal

This is a Guarantee VS Door Deal, whichever one is higher in favor of the artist. This deal is used in situations where the band needs a guaranteed amount of money to cover expenses and secure their tour budget, but in the event that the ticket sales are high, the band will make more money. Versus Deals are common deals in Clubs and small venues where the expenses (bartenders, security, production, etc) are low. In this deal, artists are offered a lower guarantee than a normal “Guarantee Deal” because of the incentive for the artist to make more money off the door. This deal is favorable for both the artist and the venue.

Split Point?Deal

Which is a deal whereby the artist has a Guarantee but also has the opportunity to make more money based on venue expenses and ticket revenue. Split-Point Deals are common in Small and Large Theatres, Large Clubs, Amphitheatres, and any venue where the expenses (security, parking, bartenders, production, hourly & salary employees, etc) are high. Split-Point deals are a way of sharing the cost responsibility related to the show between the venue and the artist. Artists only begin to add profit to their guarantee after all of the venue expenses are paid, and then the total profit from the show is shared between venue and artist. The idea here is that at a certain point, large venues need artists just as much as large artists need venues. For both parties, expenses are high and income is volatile from show to show, so they work to keep each other in business.

How to Calculate a Split-Point Deal

Split-Point deals are fairly complicated to figure out, so let’s break one down together: Let’s say you are signing a Performance Contract for an 80% Split Point Deal after $500. The first thing to do is to calculate the dollar amount of the Split Point itself.

The Split Point =(Box Office Revenue)-(Expenses)-(Tax)-(Artist Guarantee). You sell 100 tickets at $10 each, so the Box Office revenue is $1,000. The venue expenses, including audio engineers, security for your show, marketing expenses and overhead, total $250. The sales tax on tickets sold is 5%, or $50.

The Split Point = ($1,000)-($250)-($50)-($500) = $200

When you reach the Split Point, that is called “Going into Points”. Any overage past the Split point is then split per the previously negotiated Percentage. (which in this scenario, is 80%). You will be walking out of Settlement with $160 from going into points plus your guarantee of $500 for a total of $660.?

Above is a hypothetical example of a 2-week tour that uses each type of deal I’ve listed above.?You can see how in some situations, we would have been better off taking a Versus or a Door Deal instead of a guarantee, while in others our Guarantee was more than the venue earned in ticket sales.?It is important to keep track of all of this data so that you know in which markets you can negotiate for a better deal. For example, the next time this artist plays at Aisle 5 in Atlanta, GA, they know to ask for a more favorable deal that better reflects their ticket sales in that market.

Settlement

Settlement is when the Promoter of the show/Venue Owner goes through an itemized list of income and expenses with the Artist and then pays out the remaining balance to the artist. Let’s break down a settlement sheet together:

This is a hypothetical settlement sheet, re-created using data from an actual performance. This is a 90% of Door Deal, with a $300 Guarantee for the supporting artist. This settlement sheet is broken into 3 sections: Ticket Sales, Expenses, and Split of Total Net.?

For this show, tickets were priced at 3 tiers: Advance ($12), Day of Show ($15), and VIP ($50). Note that the Sales Tax (8.9%) is taken directly out of the Ticket Sales Gross before any expenses are factored in.

Expenses generally include Overhead and Production fees (included here in Room Rental), as well as marketing, hospitality, and police expenses. In this hypothetical example, the Direct Support has been chosen by the venue. If the Headlining Artist brings their own support, the $300 guarantee would be taken out of the Artist’s 90% Net instead of listed as a venue expense.

For the Total Net, the deal is divided up 90% to the Headliner and 10% to the Promoter. If this show did not sell any tickets, the Promoter would be on the hook for covering all venue expenses, including the Direct Support Guarantee and Room Rental. Luckily for this show, everyone walked away with a little bit of money!

How to Interact with the?Promoter

How often do you follow up with a Promoter if they don’t respond to your?email?

“For a cold lead, You can start reaching out to promoters as early as 6 months in advance of the show or hold requested. When sending cold emails, you should email a ton of venues all at once, like throwing darts at a dartboard. Most will be misses, but some will stick. And you can lock those in to build your route. Focus on regional batches. For Example, ask for holds during a 2 week period in Northern California/West Coast, and then the following 2 week period in Southern California/SouthWest.”

“After about a month of tricking emails and correspondence, you can send you follow ups to all the cold leads who did not respond (which will be most of them). Make sure before you follow up that you check the event calendars for these venues. Do your due diligence to make sure that date is publicly available on their end. Once you are in the 2-month time frame, you can begin sending follow ups once a week until a route is locked in.”

“90% of the time, promoters are appreciative that the booking agent is staying on top of the show with weekly follow up. They may have read you initial email, made a mental note of the show, but forgotten to write back. You never know if your emails are going into a spam folder or how busy the promoters are. Most likely, you will receive curt emails like “not available”, “no”, or “OK”, from promoters when trying to book a show. These people are very busy! But or the most part, a promoter will not be annoyed with follow ups about a show, as long as the show is publicly available, because that’s how the business works.” (Erwin Schemankewitz)

Keep your emails short and?sweet

When emailing a promoter or venue, keep your emails short and sweet: Include pertinent information only! They don’t need your bio or a persuasive argument about why your band should receive priority on the show. Do not send any attachments to the email. Instead, format the body of the email with hyperlinks, such as to the band’s website, social media, or a spreadsheet of their history in that market. Lastly, do not inflate your numbers! If you can only draw 50 people, that’s fine. There is room for you in the market to grow and promoters understand this. The deal structure will reflect those numbers, of course. But at the end of the day, the market decides. And if you tell the promoter you can bring 200 people and sell 40 tickets… you won’t be invited back.

The Deal is The?Deal

You can assume that the venue is lowballing on their first offer, but generally, there is very little room for negotiation on a Performance Contract. Especially in the areas of hospitality, the venue will offer what they are capable of upfront. In the case of a larger food buyout or a paid-for hotel room, this isn’t something that can be leveraged against the promoter. If the venue has a runner, they will be upfront about it. If the venue has a loft for the band to sleep in, they will be upfront about it.

For negotiating the Artist’s Performance Fee, the market will decide. If you can sell 50 tickets vs 500, your payment will accurately reflect that. Some venues have successful weekday show series, like a Monday Funk Night that will generate more revenue than normal. However, you should consider Sunday through Tuesday to be off days or bad deals. For example, a door deal at a bar in an unfamiliar market might not even be worth the trip out there, unless it routes you to a better market later in the week.

Routing Your?Tour

It’s time to meet your new best friend: Google Maps. Google Maps has options for showing estimated traffic times, anticipated delays, time zone changes, toll roads, and so much more. You can route your entire tour in one fell swoop and know exactly how long it is going to take you to get from venue to venue. Ideally, you want to route your shows so that you don’t have to drive more than 8 hours at a time, preferably 4 hours if it’s the same day as a show. Always give yourself a 2-hour grace period! The region that you are touring in will affect this:?The NorthEast region has markets less than an hour apart, while the SouthEast has comparable markets 3 to 4 hours apart. The MidWest, however, has markets spread much further away from each other, with some routes consistently hitting 6 or 7 hours. Time zones will also affect your DOS (Day Of Show) arrival, so keep them in mind when driving East or West. Crossing a border can also add considerable travel time, especially if you have many items to declare. Never assume what time your load-in/soundcheck will be, always double check. In some cases, the load in times may be absurdly early?—?For example a 3 pm Soundcheck for an 11 pm show, which will affect your routing. Lastly, always assume that there is going to be traffic, so give yourself a generous grace period when driving through any major city.

“When sending out holds to promoters, group them together by region as to avoid backtracking. Sometimes it’s too early to have an idea of your competition, but do your best to avoid markets that would be big competition unless you can leverage your way into that competition. For example, I wouldn’t book a show in Atlanta during the weekend of Sweetwater’s 420 Festival unless you are able to secure an Official After Party or Pre-Party show.” (Erwin Schemankewitz)

What is a “Market”?

In the Live Concert & Touring industry, cities are often referred to as “markets” and can be classified into three different sizes: Tertiary (smallest), Secondary (middle), and Primary (largest).?

Tertiary Market:

the smallest of the three markets. This is a small city or town, somewhere with a population of fewer than 50,000 people. Doing well in these markets can be attributed to a limited nightlife and music scene. Or it’s the hometown of one of your band members and you pack the club out with your homies. These markets typically do not have theaters, but small clubs or large bars. This market sells 50-1,000 tickets.

Secondary Markets:

The middle classification of market size. These are small - large cities with populations between 50k and 1 million. These markets have large theaters, developed arts communities, and an active nightlife. This market sells 200 - 5,000 tickets.?Artists typically grow a dedicated fanbase in these markets. Because of the size of these markets, you may find yourself being co-opted into existing communities that exist in these cities within your genre. You will be limited by the size of those communities but will find strong and consistent support from them. The majority of your touring will be spent in Secondary markets.

Primary Markets:

These are really big cities: LA, Atlanta, Dallas, New York City, Toronto, Seattle, Nashville, Boston, Chicago, etc. Success in Primary markets is crucial to a booking agent because these markets are the most scalable. An artist can grow from 500 tickets sold to 50,000 in the same city. Routing a tour through Primary markets is the most lucrative for all parties involved. If you do well in one Primary market, it is safe to assume that you have the capacity to do well in others. Therefore, building an audience in a Primary market is an essential step in landing an agent.

Lets breakdown an example of some Bad?Routing

This is a real tour route that I saw a musical contemporary of mine post on their social media. Without lambasting anyone, I would like to break down the good and bad qualities of this route.

First of all, this routing is not all bad. If you were touring in a bus or had a dedicated driver, this route makes a lot of sense. All of these 5+ hour drives can be done at night while the artist is asleep in the bus. But if you are driving a van (which you definitely are if you are reading this), this cramped route will leave you exhausted and defeated in the end.?

My biggest complaint is that with only a single day-off sandwiched inside 16 gigs, the feasibility of this route is ambitious. Adding driving times into the mix, and it becomes absurd. If these markets were closer together, or you played multiple nights in the same city, that would be different. But there is little breathing room in this tour to break the monotony of driving, loading in, performing, and loading out (which can drive you insane after a while). A more reasonable tour schedule would grant the artist 2 days off for every 5 shows on (typically on Sunday & Monday since it’s difficult to book shows on those days anyway). So a 16-show run like this would have 3 or 4 days off sprinkled in between, or to help connect a long drive.?

Other than missing a few days off, this route fails to account for travel delays in a few major areas: Big Cities (+ 1 hour), Border crossings (+ 1 hour), and Traffic. These 3 hours drives turn into 4, and the 5 hour drives turn into 7. Even if everything went 100% according to plan, and you are the most timely band in the world, there is so much uncertainty on the road that this routing would make me anxious about arriving at our venues on-time. Not to mention that the long drives would absolutely take a toll on the quality of the performances, night after night.?

Professionalism in the Live Concert in Live Concert Industry

Prepare a Stage?Plot

A Stage Plot is a list of Inputs, Outputs, and Stage directions for the venue production staff. Your stage plot should include your stage placement, instruments, amp type, power needed, microphone placement, and a complete and accurate I/O list (Input/Output). Check out this link for an example of a Stage Plot, courtesy of the Disc Makers Blog

Pay Attention to the Radius?Clause

A Radius Clause is a time frame or geographic restriction that prevents an artist from playing a competing show. Standard radius Clause is 60 Days and 60 Miles and can be found in the performance Contract. It gives the promoter a form of territorial exclusivity over the performance. If get caught breaking a radius clause, that is legal justification for the promoter to remove you from the show. Radius Clauses are almost always found in contracts for soft-ticket events, so an event where you are not the main attraction such as a music festival. Make sure you or your manager is reviewing every performance contracts just in case. Failing to uphold your Radius Clause looks really bad on the artist and the management.

Consider the Underplay

It is easy to get caught up in the numbers game. And that’s because the most important component of social marketing is non-quantifiable. You can’t turn it into numbers. You can’t measure it, you can only measure the results. That thing, is HYPE. An Underplay, is a show that is guaranteed to sell-out because the venue capacity is so much smaller than the expected attendance.

While this strategy might not work for you financially, a close-to-home and stripped down version of your set can be great for building a community.

Pay Attention to Local?Support

Paying attention to which local band is going to support your headlining bill is a hidden gem that many club level bands completely ignore. You can essentially co-opt the entire fanbase of a well picked local support act. This is not only a good strategy for long-term market growth, but is also a healthy tit-for-tat in the concert industry. You provide an event just out of reach of the local act to do by themselves, and in turn they offer you the chance to impress their audience.

If you are a small local band looking to be booked onto a larger show this way, you need to starve your home market and build as much hype as you can. I know that this sounds paradoxical, but it’s simple Supply and Demand. The goal here is to create as much demand as possible (creating and distributing high quality content, gathering press) while limiting the opportunity for people to pay to see you play at a venue. Doing this correctly will give you leverage over other bands that the Promoter may be considering.

If you are a Touring band, do some research into the scene as to what bands have hype in that city and reach out to them directly. Be prepared to sacrifice some of the financial security of the show in exchange for them pulling a large crowd. You can offer to split a % of the back end or even a % of the door. If you have a band in mind, reach out to the Promoter about what kind of deal can be offered.

Leverage Social Media accounts as Digital Credibility

Social Media is the first place a promoter will look first to discover information about the band. You should have amazing socials, with high-quality content that lets the promoter know you are a responsible business, and that you have the capacity to promote the show well and make the Promoter some money.

A small, organic and engaged audience is more valuable than a large, non-engaging audience. The questions that the Promoter needs answered is: Will this band sell tickets? Show promotion is a risk, and aside from seeing you in concert, social media is the medium for measuring an Artist’s success. If a promoter can see that you have a devoted, organic, and engaged audience, you’re more likely to be placed on the bill.

Certainly, on your Social Media, you should have high-quality examples of your music and of your live show. How you choose to build your digital community is up to you, but know that every promoter considering adding you to a show, whether it’s a soft-ticket festival or a headlining spot at a club, will investigate your social media as digital credibility to your market history.

Prepare a Day Of Show Itinerary

The Tour manager should make a DOS Itinerary for each show. This is the time to double-check concerns like parking and any last minute hospitality needs. A Day Of Show Itinerary will keep your ship sailing as smoothly as possible and keep everyone on the same page about things like: load-in times & location, parking, doors & soundcheck, set time & length, hospitality such as wi-fi & dinner options, and venue contacts.?

Inventory List

An Inventory List may also be helpful so that you don’t accidentally leave your gear or merchandise at the venue. This is especially helpful at soft-ticket events, like music festivals with quick changeovers and stage hands potentially misplacing your gear. It’s no one’s fault in particular, and it happens all the time.

• Drums (Hardware, cymbals)
• Merchandise Boxes
• Guitar cases, pedal boards, and amps
• Cables and accessories
• Personal belongings

Know the?Lingo

Hard Ticket

Is an event where the main attraction is a specific artist. People in attendance are only paying to see a specific artist(s). Example: Headlining or Support artist in a club or theater.

Soft Ticket

An event where the event itself is the main attraction and ticket seller and the artists are apart of the event. Example: City Music and Arts Festival

The Advance

Confirming in advance the details surrounding your show with the venue or promoter. Most of the details about the show will be confirmed when the performance contract is signed, but it is courteous to reach out the venue a few days before your show to confirm any last minute details, such as back line availability, parking, and hospitality.

Back line

Musical gear, such as drum hardware, guitar amps, or a bass guitar cabinet, that is provided by the venue for the band. This is common on Festival sets, when there are multiple bands performing with tight changeovers. This is also common when touring internationally, as it is both expensive and very difficult to bring gear with you into other countries.

Buy Out

Is when, in lieu of providing a meal to the band, the venue will just pay a flat sum to the band to purchase food.

Buy On

Is when a smaller artist pays to be the supporting act for a larger artist

Hall Fee

The hall fee is a percentage (20–25%) of the total merch sales taken by the venue in exchange for allowing merchandise to be sold. Generally, only larger rooms will ask for a Hall Fee, like Theaters or Outdoor Festivals. A Hall Fee may sometimes be negotiated out of a contract in exchange for a smaller Guarantee.

Load In/Soundcheck

Load In is the time where the venue will be open and your band is expected to arrive. Soundcheck means the stage is built, all technical processes are ready, and all band and crew members are on site. The reason I bring this up is to pay special attention to your routing. If your band has a 6 hour drive to the venue, it’s unlikely you will make a 3pm soundcheck.

As an audio engineer, I don’t mind line-checking a group 30 minutes before doors open. But I do mind showing up to the venue to work and waiting around for 3 hours for the band to show up because they have poor communication skills.

Performance Contract

When the show is confirmed, the band will be asked by the promoter to send and sign a performance contract that finalizes details about the show, such as details regarding settlement, set times, load in and load out times, the radius clause, and more.

Rider

This is a document attached to the performance contract that address the artist’s hospitality or technical needs. This document “rides” on top of the performance contract.

Comp

abbreviation of complimentary. Such as: “Comped tickets” or a “meal comp”.

The Nut

Expenses on the Venue side. This includes things like Production, Security, Taxes, Cleaning Staff, Marketing Expenses, Insurance, and other overhead costs.

Deadwood

Unsold Tickets

Papering the House

Is when a venue gives away tickets, or let’s people into the venue for free to put more bodies in the room.

Don’t take anything personally

Whatever happens, and only as long as you have done your due diligence, problems with routing and getting shows probably has nothing to do with you. The Music Business is a whirlwind of chaos, email threads, lost communication, and alcoholism. Sometimes things that seemed perfect on paper don’t work out. Sometimes responsible people make mistakes. Sometimes the show gets double booked, or the headliner gets stuck in traffic. Bands are a business, and business should never be taken personally. You just have to roll with the punches.

What If you want to hire a Booking Agent to take care of all of this for me?

Then check out my article: How To Attract a Booking Agent, where we break down everything you will need to do to be prepared to work with your first Booking Agent! This article is an extension of my interview with Erwin Schemankewitz, so you can be sure that you are getting advice straight from a pro.