Music tours can be major attributes of musician career building. Music tours can develop fan bases, generate record sales, pad bank accounts, and establish musicians as cultural icons. Music tours can be exciting and fun, but they can also present any number of problems.

Music tours challenge musicians with variety and ever-changing factors. In the beginning of a career in the music industry, small club and bar stages present problems with feedback, with loudspeakers, and with other space-, place-, and sound-related issues. Moving on to larger venues presents other challenges that must be addressed by musicians, including shipping problems, lack or loss of equipment, running temporary patched-together setups, and gear breakdowns and repairs that interfere with presentation and stage presence.

It is advisable for musicians to start their music tours on the small side, having as little to deal with on the stage as possible. Exploring types of gear, being sure that gear is sturdy and portable, and allowing the collection of gear to build along with a good understanding of the purposes, uses, and capabilities of each new addition is wise. Inexpensive, portable gear of good quality is now quite available to enhance music tours. But, inexpensive may not always be the best avenue for all music tour equipment. Musicians are cautioned to be selective to make sure that sound quality is not compromised.

Replacement gear will be needed on occasion, as equipment will receive considerable wear and need repair while on tour. In some cases, it may be cheaper and more efficient to purchase new equipment.

Musicians themselves experience a good bit of wear and tear while on music tours. Carpal tunnel syndrome can be a huge problem, especially for percussionists. Carpal tunnel has been avoided by varying routines, using good techniques, varying equipment, and by minimizing repetitious styles, activities, or movements during music tours.

Music tour length and volume can tax professionalism, which is at least as important to success as individual or group talent. Professionalism and organization leads more artists and bands to success than do non-professionalism and disorganization. Club and concert managers expect both professionalism and strong organization represented by agents and managers while scheduling and arranging music tours. Talent agents and music managers can eliminate confusion and communication problems that can ruin deals by being attentive to all major and minor details of each gig well in advance of music tours and tour dates. Good talent agents can distinguish individual musicians and groups by making touring and scheduling of their clients’ music tours a pleasure for concert managers, which can ensure a solid slate of bookings.

Some things that need to be known in advance of performances and music tours are: venue address and mapped instructions for getting there; primary contact(s); the number of bands scheduled and band playing order; parking, loading zones, and times; stage time; load out times and related information; cover charges, all possible types of pay, and pay rates; age of audience; whether or not to bring a personal assistant, a sound person, a doorman, or other staff; whether there will be on-stage sound checks and backstage areas for bands; expected crowd size; guest lists and contacts for additions; band food and drink availability policies; whether or not recordings will be made from sound boards.

Good or bad, club dates and music tours are the life blood of musicians’ careers, and this article proposes to provide a mere simplified overview of touring and music tours. If you would like to submit an article about music tours, please feel free to do so here at Media Positive Radio.