What bands really make on tour.

[jp58]

I've been shown an article that a friend of a friend of a friend had written about when his band was on tour. It was a pretty good read.

Hey Everyone,

For the past 5 years my brothers in Oh, Sleeper and myself have sacrificed our lives, our time, relationships, birthdays, holidays, health(haha) to travel around and play shows for our fans. Not to say that isn't been a fun ride!

I would just like to bring a few things to our fans attention:

I would like to show you guys an average day in finances for a "mid-level" band like us. Im going to breakdown the average monetary in and outs of a day on tour.

On tour bands have two ways to make money. Guaranties, and Merchandise.

On tour bands have big bills. The biggest are: Managers, Booking agent, Merch Rates, Merch bills, Food, and of course.. the Gas bill.

Our last headliner tour was an east coast run with 3 other bands. The average guaranty per band was 300$ per band, and around 300$ in merch. This was the average for all 4 bands, for the entire tour.

So we have a 600$ gross income per night. Now lets break this down.

Merchandise is bough, printed, and shipped on the bands dollar. We print most our shirts on American Apparel. They obviously offer the best fitting shirts, and kids are smart about looking good now days. They wont sell unless you have slim fitting, soft shirts. The demand for better quality shirts from bands is higher in last few years.

American Apparel shirts are very pricey to print. usually $7.50 a shirt. More for v-necks, 3/4 sleeve shirts, etc.

We sell our shirts for 15$ at our shows, UNLESS we are on tour with a headliner that demands we price match them.

SO $15 - $7.50 = $7.50. So half is profit. So out of the 300$ the band made in merch, they owe 150$ to the printer.

BUT HOLD ON! Merch rates!

Most nice venues have merch rates, we have seen them be as high 32% gross. Usually they are 25%.

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So out of the initial $300 in merch the band made. 25% goes to venue. Thats $75.

$300(gross) - $150(merch cost) - $75(merch venue rate) = $75 (Net profit for the band.)

BUT the breakdown doesnt stop there. If the band has a manager, he takes 15% of Net profit of merch.

SO MERCH TOTAL PER NIGHT:

$75 X .15 = $11.25

$75 - $11.15 = $63.75( TOTAL Net profit in merch for the band.)

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Guaranties:

The breakdown in deductions from this money is: 15% to Manager, 10% to booking agent.

$300(gross guaranty) - $45(managers cut 15%) - $30(booking agents cut 10%) = $225

Average Gas bill is around $150. some days way better some days way worse. We have done 17 hour drives..leaveing show and showing up to next one right before we play...many times. Those are a bit more expensive. Most west coast tours we do the average gas bill is around 200-250...but ill use 150 for this example.

$225(guaranty after manage and agent deductions) - $150(gas bill) = $75

We have 6 people on tour, our 5 Guys, and our merch guy "The maze". We give everyone $10 bucks a day to eat on. (This isnt enough when your 6 4 and 200lbs like micah and i by the way)

6 people x $10 = $60

$75 - $60 = $15

$15 Total net profit in Guaranties.

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$63.75(Net merch) + $15(Net guaranty) =

$78.75 for the band for the night. out of $600 gross.

if you divide that 6 ways its $13.12 a day per band member.

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This doesnt include hotel costs. which are usually 50-60 bucks. Most bands dont get hotels or shower to save money to pay for phone bills.

This does not include Tires/Van payment/Oil changes/Van upkeep registration bla bla/Trailer tires/Gear/etc.

This doesnt include taxes. This doesnt include ROAD TOLLS. Which in the northeast can add up to 20-40bucks a day.

Thanks for reading.

MERCH RATES HAVE TO GO.
STOP STEALING OUR CDs PLEASE.
WE DONT MAKE MONEY WHEN YOU BUY IT FROM STORES, COME TO SHOWS.
WE DONT MAKE MONEY FROM LABELS.
BUY MERCH FROM US AT SHOWS IF YOU LIKE WHAT WERE DOING.


thanks for reading.

[jmattbassplaya]

I'll believe it.

[jp58]

It's a real eye opener to say the least. When I was out playing, we were making less than that without worrying about gas or a van or merch.

[onosson]

wow, and I thought things were bad when we were touring throughout the 90s... compared with the guys who toured in the 70s, and made the same money as we did. but it seems like it's actually gotten worse!!

[jive1]

Originally Posted by onosson

wow, and I thought things were bad when we were touring throughout the 90s... compared with the guys who toured in the 70s, and made the same money as we did. but it seems like it's actually gotten worse!!

It's just a matter of numbers. The number of bands have increased while the number of nights for live music have decreased.

[onionpuzzle]

you really have to do it because you love it ! touring is not the glamour train that it is sometimes made up to be. very few "make it big" in this business these days anyway.

[Phalex]

My drummer made $20.00 per diem when he was touring. They were into the record company for big bucks for producing their record as well as the MTV video. They opened for Dream Theater for a tour, and all he got paid was $20.00 a day.

He said when Pioneer Music Group went belly up it was the happiest day of his life. (The band got stranded somewhere in the heartland and they had to find their own way home, but they didn't owe a million dollars to anyone anymore.)

[mophead]

Cannot imagine why anyone would sign up for that. Simple addition and subtraction says don't do it.
Flip burgers and play locally for much more money.

[Vincent P]

Originally Posted by mophead

Cannot imagine why anyone would sign up for that. Simple addition and subtraction says don't do it.
Flip burgers and play locally for much more money.

It takes a special dedicated breed to do this no doubt. You hear many a superstar living the dream who started out along this same path.

[mr.hughes]

In my old band, together for seven lonnnnnnnngggggggg years, used to joke that if we put the same time and effort into running a chip/burger van as we did into the band, we would all be wealthy guys. But then who grows up dreaming of flipping burgers?

[nealw]

I did it in the '90's. That's about exactly the experience I remember. Six guys in one hotel room. A van that leaked when it rained. Miserable.

[dirtcity]

Reading this thread just confirms what I already know that I'm in for. I'm in a band that will be playing similar situations soon. Right now we're local, but we're starting to tour and get our name out. We're trying to get ourselves off the ground and into high gear so we can get to the level, or close to, that Oh, Sleep is at. At least we don't have any unrealistic expectations!

[TJ55]

I would love to see a similar breakdown of a "Major" touring band that plays on a National scale year after year like Widespread Panic, Phish, etc...

[jmac]

Anyone other than the band getting a cut of the merch was an eye opener for me. I thought the band received all of the merch money.

I would never agree to give anyone a piece of the merch so I guess I'll never be on tour.

[derridiandrift]

That's pretty much been the same as my experiences.

[bassbully]

Originally Posted by mophead

Cannot imagine why anyone would sign up for that. Simple addition and subtraction says don't do it.
Flip burgers and play locally for much more money.

Trust me I understand the dream. I had it years ago and to tell the truth I would love to try this even today ..if i could even thou I know its a total waste money wise. I would do it for the life experience and as a bucket list thing

No local or regional bad can survive touring like this without support money from a label or another sorce. Its foolish to see that bands think they will be the next big thing and starve to find it and go broke when they could play locally and make way more money. I used to work behind the scenes and seen these bands eating beans and stinking from no showers for days etc

I do understand the dream thou but question the gain. I know one band in my area who has traveled as far as LA and said most times they only have enough money to get to the next town ..sometimes not enough.

I also used to play with a guy who had a band for years and never traveled more than a state away and most times an hour's drive to play. He made good money and payed for all his equipment including the bands ,van and his personal truck all from having a good band..locally. He never was famous but he made more money from his time than most who had a had a little buzz in the region for sure.

[Yerf Dog]

That's it. I quit.

[TheVoiceless]

Trust me it does not get much better for the bigger bands. They're bills are bigger. Until the business readjusts its pay scaling, you will either be poor or rich as a touring band. Its happening everywhere, the death of the middle class.

[aborgman]

I would like to show you guys an average day in finances for a "mid-level" band like us.

Problem is, they aren't mid-level.

The "headliners" they occasionally open for probably don't even reach "mid-level".

Bands with their own reasonable bus and able to sell out 1,000+ seat venues as the headliner are "mid-level".

Guys like Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident, Umphrey's McGee, Ani DiFranco, Widespread Panic... that size of crowd generation I'd call "mid-level".

Oh, Sleeper? Not even close.

[BagelBruin]

We're planing our first tour.

Dear god.