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Question for Bands and Management

#41
tomydacat said:
yes these would be tour buses for bands that have not made it yet.. and that can not afford hotel rooms every night .. and if you can buy a van that gets 10 miles to the gallon for 5000 why not buy a tour bus for the same that has beds in it?
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Again, the van can be used every day.

A $5,000 tour bus?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Do you actually own said bus currently? I gotta see this.
 
#43
JohnMCA72 said:
It's one thing to sell a used bus, modified or not, as-is to a private party from a private party. Once you form a business specifically to modify busses for resale, you've put yourself into a whole new liability category.

I'm not referring to liability for what happens operating the vehicle, but for its roadworthiness, safety, equipment & standards of construction, etc. There's a reason that you frequently hear about recalls of vehicles. It's because their manufacturers are on the hook for certain safety & roadworthiness issues. Once you become a "manufacturer", you're on the hook, too. For that matter, your state may have certification requirements just to allow you to do that sort of work (think ambulances, fire trucks, handicap vehicles, etc.).
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Excellent information.
 
#45
I have been in bands that toured regionally, and I can tell you, if done right, this could be a great idea. Of course, you'd be competing with other RV/bus rental businesses, but if can come up with significant and specific ways to market this to the musician community it could fly.

Groupie ejection seat. Auto-puke cleaning system. DIY bail bond kit. Sex toy and contraception locker. Extra cables for the guitarist. Stuff like that.
 
#48
Ok, what you're basically talking about is junker buses cheaply modified and sold to musicians who usually have no money. How many musicians do you know in your immediate area who would buy such a thing? My guess is it's a pretty limited market. If you start selling them outside your immediate area, how do you deliver them?

You're also not accounting for ANY profit in your business model!

Bus: $2,000
Modifications: $1,000
Sale price: $5,000 (assuming you can find a buyer)

So now you have $2,000 in your pocket to buy another $2000 bus.

Profit: $0
 
#52
valus said:
There's just not much of a market for what you're suggesting. And creating a market, in any business, is always challenging, and your journey will be made more difficult by the fact that your target market has no money.
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Hah! You'll have to make the music-performing market high-demand in order to make your transporting-musicians market exist at all! Ban DJ's, recorded music and radio!
 
#53
MattZilla said:
Hah! You'll have to make the music-performing market high-demand in order to make your transporting-musicians market exist at all! Ban DJ's, recorded music and radio!
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well no t sure if you have been on any indie labels or not but the smaller labels want you to tour to be on their label which we have done so we bought a school bus and converted it.. again this is just an idea right now .. thanks for all the info so far still more things to look into for sure..
 
#54
There is a company in town where I live, and they rent these types of buses to bands, usually a modified bus, chopped in half with bunk beds and stuff.
Problem is, that when bands can afford these, they will usually have a small crew that also needs room, which requires a larger bus, more beds, etc.
At that point, I've seen some of these acts scale down to 2 separate passenger vans with one towing a trailer, because it's still cheaper than renting a bus with all the gas and stuff.
 
#55
How about an alternative idea. What's viable for a band-as-a-business is different than for a band-as-a-hobby. Lots of people spend unlimited amounts of money on hobbies.

I can see a band of day jobbers being able to take a week of vacation for a brief, low profile tour. Maybe 3 venues in 7 days. You could arrange bookings, provide the PA, serve as the roadie, gear tech, and sound guy, create a tour video, and be the designated driver. It would be a sort of tourism thing. You get the money for everything up front.

From a business standpoint, I'd be shocked if the operating cost of a bus were less than cheap lodging.
 
#57
Slough Feg Bass said:
There is a company in town where I live, and they rent these types of buses to bands, usually a modified bus, chopped in half with bunk beds and stuff.
Problem is, that when bands can afford these, they will usually have a small crew that also needs room, which requires a larger bus, more beds, etc.
At that point, I've seen some of these acts scale down to 2 separate passenger vans with one towing a trailer, because it's still cheaper than renting a bus with all the gas and stuff.
Click to expand...

I see your point here.. we were just a 3 piece and did all the work ourselves but i really see where that could be bad for bigger bands needing more space. I guess that is why the larger bus companies sleep 8 to 12
 

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