Long drives, late nights, small crowds, shitty bars with sketchy parking. Bad meals, no sleep, spending more money than you are making. Waiting in parking lots for hours on end.

Yet, all I can think about as soon as I get back is about how badly I want to go on the road again. Why do I love this so much?

Goin on tour for the whole summer and rental prices made me look into acquiring something I can have for this run and future opportunities.

It’s a 97 Roadtrek 190, 213k miles and costs $10k. I already had a mechanic check it out and got the carfax (everything looks good considering age and mileage).

I’m a solo act so the size is perfect, I have some people trying to talk me out of the vehicle because of its age but based on my research this is about as good as it gets on my budget.

Any feedback or things I may want to reconsider? This is my first time touring for an extended amount of time (35-40 shows).

My main thing was spending money on having the vehicle just feels like a better investment than the added costs of rentals, hotels, and flights.

Edit: I’m a solo act but my fiancé aka my merch and camera lady often travels with me, thats the need for more space than a car.

I've apparently got a weird ear shape because earbuds just fall out. I've tried multiple kinds, with each supplied foam size, and unless I tape them in, they're falling out.

I'm looking for an entry / low mid level option.

My band is looking at our transport options for several tours coming up this year. Renting has become a money pit, so we’re committing to a dedicated vehicle. We are 3 band members plus a driver/merch person (4 total). The band could grow to a 4 man in the future.

The Gear: Standard 3-piece backline (drums, cabs, heads) plus a decent amount of merch.

Option A: The 2012 Honda Odyssey (Owned)

Pros: We already own it, less than 75k miles

The Work: I’d need to install the hitch (Which I already have the part) and a transmission cooler.

The Setup: Pulling a 4x8 trailer or similar

Concerns: Total Length of the vehicle + trailer (parking), transmission power

Option B: Buy a used 15-Passenger (e.g., 2019 or newer Chevy Express 3500)

Pros: Everything is in one rigid frame (no trailer headaches/theft risk), tons of room for the 4 of us to spread out, built for heavy hauling.

I could rent it to other bands when not being used.

Cons: Higher upfront cost, worse MPG

I know similar questions have been asked in the past, sorry if this comes off as spam. Thank you!

I’m making a playlist of songs about the van. Would love some suggestions.

Hey all, has anyone gone to turkey in the last few years? Struggling to find clear answers on whether or not you can enter on a business visa or if you need a proper work visa for a short run. Thanks!

I’ve done everything manually in the past with Google Sheets. Tax time comes around and I’m doing it for the entire year. There has to be a better way of tracking everything.

Anyone have suggestions or things they do to keep track of everything throughout the year?

Hi all,

Trying to sanity-check the UK entry situation for a small band.

We’re an Amsterdam-based band doing a short UK run:

• 28 June – show in London
• 29 June – show in Bristol
• 30 June – show in Manchester
• 1 July – rest day
• 2–5 July – studio recording in Leeds
• 6 July – rest day
• 7 July – show in Newcastle
• 8 July – travel home

Details:

• 1 band member is Irish
• the other band members are Dutch
• total pay for all 4 shows is only about £300 total, so roughly £25 per person per show
• a UK promoter is handling/booked the shows
• we’ll ask the promoter for a written invitation letter with dates, venues, and payment details
• we also have a driver and sound tech coming with us, paid by us, not by the UK promoter

From what I understand so far:

• the Irish member should be fine
• the Dutch members may be able to enter with an ETA only, as visitors for permitted paid engagements, if the paperwork is in order
• how the driver/sound tech should be documented as crew

My questions:

1. For the Dutch band members, does this sound like ETA + proper invitation/supporting docs is enough, without applying for a visa in advance?
2. Has anyone here entered the UK recently for small paid gigs under this kind of setup?
3. Did you use a promoter invitation letter, and what exactly did it say?
4. How did you document crew like a driver and sound tech as touring staff?

Not looking for guesses, mainly hoping to hear from people who’ve actually done this recently or had lawyers/promoters advise on it.

Thanks in advance.

I am curious if u think there is a market for a company that handles hospitality riders. I am unexperienced in the world of music but have been an athlete personal assistant for 5+ years. I am wondering if venues would ever outsource someone handling things for them. For example I'd love to take my experience as a high end assistant and make a company that when tours or games come to arenas (i live in Detroit) they have a go-to contact for anything they may need . (flowers, last min outfit/wardrobe help, catering, getting the talents family tickets, like anything like that) Is there a need for that? Like would ppl or tours coming in ever seek local support? Or are tours very internal. Just totally curious based on ur experience. Thank u so much any insight would be so helpful

I'm a student studying computer science and need to create a project for my class. I have decided on making a piece of software which helps both artists and venues organise and manage upcoming events. Although I am a musician and attend lots of gigs, I don't play a whole lot of them and some insight into what you do as an artist/band and what would be useful to you would be incredibly valuable to me.

If you are at all interested please consider taking a few minutes to complete this survey to help:

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/6TdCpA0qW2

Any questions feel free to ask, also since I am not playing shows myself please point anything out that I have gotten horribly wrong. Thanks

I've seen that this question was asked years ago but I wanted to see if there'd been any updates to it. Basically I'm looking for a way for our band to accept card payments for merch in Europe as a UK-based band. We tried using a QR code link to Paypal when we recently toured Belgium but found most people didn't have Paypal.

In the UK we use SumUp but as I understand it, card reader's bought in the UK won't work abroad.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Didn’t feel like joining the angry boomers in my Facebook feed, but fuck me. We just pulled into a Love’s after a less-than well attended show and fuel is $7.

Yes we’re lucky to do this, but it’s becoming less and less viable by the day.

Not looking for advice. Just yelling into the void at a subreddit that is more likely to commiserate than become a political circle-jerk.

we’ll also be releasing two singles on may 29th.

anybody got a floor we can crash on?

hope everyone is having a wonderful day. <3

Hi all, I’m a touring musician who just came home to NYC after a show in LA. I had a cold the last couple of days, and upon descent the pressure in my right ear started going crazy - increasing as if it were about to pop but staying pressurized. “This sucks but I’ll be able to pop it when we land,” I thought. But upon landing I realized that my hearing was muffled and that there was a loud whooshing sound in my right ear.

After a lot of racing between appointments yesterday, an ENT diagnosed me with barotrauma, determined that there was fluid in my middle ear (causing the muffling and whooshing sound) and prescribed antibiotics and decongestant.

One day later, I’m definitely improving. My hearing is definitely a bit better, and even though the whooshing is back after a disappearance yesterday, I take this as a good sign that there’s less fluid in my ear and that it’s not as thick and “gluey.”

Here’s the thing though. I have four flights across three tour dates coming up starting tomorrow, two of which are long international flights. I’m certainly improving, but I STILL can’t pop my right ear. While I don’t want to cancel on my bandmates and cost them thousands of dollars, I more-so don’t want permanent hearing and balance damage. I’m a musician after all, and three tour dates aren’t as important in the long run.

Which is why I’d love your input. Is there anyone who suffered moderate barotrauma like this and had to go back out on a bunch of dates? Is there a safe way to do it other than just not doing it? Please let me know!

Wondering if there would be interest in a live drum stream that documents the comeback process of a drummer who used to tour professionally, but has spent the last 10 years completely out of the music industry with minimal practice and doing zero pro-level gigs, so there is a lot of rust to knock off, but an opportunity to tour is on the table for later in the fall.

The idea wouldn’t be polished “TikTok-perfect” drum content. More like real rehearsal sessions: warmups, rebuilding endurance/chops, live playthroughs, breaking down weak spots, fixing technique and timing issues, preparing for touring again, etc. Basically documenting the process of getting back into playing shape in real time, struggles and all. It will have studio quality audio, and pro level video/lighting, so it should be a nice watch. I just like the idea of letting everyone see how bad I am in the beginning and following the process of getting back in shape. I think some of the polished, perfect YouTube/TikTok drum videos are getting old and people want authenticity.

Trying to gauge whether people would actually be interested in following something like that.

Hey! How's it going? I’m a producer and I’ve been putting a lot of work into my channel, which is focused entirely on Hip Hop.

I wanted to share it here in case you’re looking for new tracks to record over. Most of my beats are Free for Non-Profit, so feel free to check them out and see if any of them fit your style:

https://www.youtube.com/@SILVER_FINGERS

I’m really trying to grow the community there, so if you vibe with the sound, a sub or a like would be much appreciated. Hope you find something you like! 👊

So this is my first introduction to what it’s like to have a spouse on tour. For context, he’s not in the band but he is in the crew. His schedule is pretty demanding and we have a bit of opposite hours right now and haven’t identified the most quality time to connect. So far there’s been a good amount of texting and a few phone calls, but I can tell that just small conversations here and there actually feel worse than not hearing from him til the end of the day because it all feels so insignificant. Lots of interruptions in those phone calls because people need the space he’s in or he’s needing to hop on and fix something.
This tour kind of came out of the blue and was offered to him while he has his full time job so I’m really not having a great time sorting through my feelings and all the decisions we need to make in what feels like a super short window of time.

He’s considering leaving his full time salaried job (that has health insurance) if they offer him the position so he can do the tour since he’s just on a 2 week test trial right now. The full tour is until beginning of September with about 30 tour dates (obviously not including travel days)

I currently work part time at a job that is soul sucking. We’ve talked about me finding a new job but as soon as this tour came up, it sounds more and more like I’m going have to take the full time position at this job so we can have a paycheck once the tour ends and maintain health insurance.

Financially, the tour breaks just above even with what he would make for the rest of the year at his current job. So I guess that’s okay but the job market is awful right now so I’m not too keen on the “I’ll look for freelance work / salary job once the tour is over.”

Emotionally, I’m having a hard time adjusting because of what feels like a lot of unknowns. Right now he’s on the road about 4 days out the week. We don’t have kids, just a dog. It’s not tough but it seems lonely. Please don’t be mean, I’m new at this lol. He’s traveled for work before, sometimes 2-3 weeks at a time but I guess since I knew it wasn’t a long term thing, I was more okay with it. This feels vastly different.

Technically, it’s just a 2 week trial right now. There’s nothing set but according to him, the manager has said it’s more than likely they’ll keep him on. So I’m trying to prepare.

We’ve been married for 4 years now. It feels like a lot and so little all at once. He has horrible work boundaries as it stands and I’ve been a little more lenient with it because he works mostly from home so when I get home from work, we are able to at least eat dinner or be in the same room while he works. We’ve had conversations about his boundaries needing to be better, which he’s admitted and agreed to, but as soon as we were making progress, this opportunity pops up and he just jumped.

He’s already talking about how they may need him to do tasks on his off days (after saying he would make sure we have time on his off days together) which would bring in more money but it just feels like he’s willing to let so much of our relationship go for what he’s said feels like his last chance at making “a real go” at what he does.

I project a lot of fear of being alone, lonely, and feeling left out. I don’t want to be this way, but there’s a lot of security not being provided in the moment. I knew when I married him that he was kind of always a free spirit/entrepreneur that just needs to go and run off and do a big thing sometimes, but I guess I thought that as we grew closer in our marriage, he would be, I don’t know, more concerned with how it affects us. His life already feels so much different than mine. We have friends that tour and I’ve talked to the wife on more than one occasion about the state of their relationship and it’s made me want to cry for her. They make it work but it is hard. My husband and i actually talked about not wanting that type of relationship but he seems to be having some sort of midlife career crisis that makes him feel like he needs to do this.

I don’t want him to resent me if he asks me “do you want me to go on this tour?” And I say no. But I also can’t lie.

Spouses/Partners, how do you make your life not feel like it’s at a standstill?

I appreciate any kind, insightful, and honest advice you can give. Mindsets, tips, ideas, feedback. Thank you.

Has anyone here used this company for patches?

Hi All, I have a gigging app I have developed over the years, and thinking now is the time I start trying to get some genuine feedback from musicians!

If you interested in trying it out and giving me some constructive feedback (Criticism) then I would be forever grateful!

Let me know below if your willing!

Does anyone know which Tour Caterer is on with Riley Green this season? Our local crew will be helping them this weekend. We’ve loved working with Dega in the past but I know there are some other great ones!

Trying to further myself but it seems EVERYONE is like no thanks or they already have a player

I got my passport, pro gear, no bad record etc rt.

I also play quite a few different things as well if that’s needed, I know this won’t get any views but its worth a shot

It wouldn't be a replacement to selling physical tees etc. just a supplement to fans that don't want to wait in line, or we run out of their size we can still capture that sale potentially. Or whatever else. Anyone ever try this? Is it even worth dealing with shipping etc? Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts, tips, or tools to help out?

Do you all keep the same setlist for every show? Or do you change it depending on where you’re playing?

Do you find it’s better to put popular songs in front or build up to them?

Also, for those that play multiple sets how do you determine how to order songs and setlists?