News: The Actual, Hard Costs of Touring

There is one lesson that seems so basic I can’t believe we ever really needed to learn it the hard way, but we have: when planning a tour, make sure you understand ahead of time where every expense is going to come from, and be sure that your pre-determined income is at least helping you break even before you leave for the tour. Either that, or truly understand how much money you’re going to lose at the end of the day and be okay with it.

When you’re traveling, you have to figure out ahead of time how much food is going to cost, per day, per person. How much hotels are going to cost, per day. How much the airline flights, van rental, gas, and gear rental will cost, per day. If you have additional expenses like crew members or management/booking agent commissions, you’ll want to factor those expenses in, too.

It’s incredible how fast things add up. http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2012/04/count-it-all-the-actual-hard-costs-of-touring/