💡✍️ ADN #030: 4 Ways To Land Your 1st Tour

adn030 artist development artist development newsletter support tour touring Jun 18, 2023

Hey Friends -

Welcome to the Artist Development Newsletter.

Every Sunday, I send an email providing actionable tips for artists and industry on one area of the music business.

Last week we talked about how to find your target fan profile.

You can re-read last week’s newsletter here if you want to refresh.

Today let’s talk about the 4 ways to land your 1st tour.

Here we go!

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So, you’re an independent artist.

You’ve got songs.

You’ve been playing out in your hometown, and there’s a buzz about your show.

You’re ready to hit the road.

Now what?

To learn how to land your first tour, let’s talk about the 4 most common reasons a headlining artist takes someone on tour.

1. You are worth tickets.

2. You or your team work with someone on the headlining artist's team.

3. The headlining artist is a fan of your music.

4. The headlining artist is your friend.

The order of these 4 can change from artist to artist and team to team, but one of these 4 reasons is almost always how and why you will land a tour.

So, as an artist who has never toured, let’s look at your best path to landing your first tour.

Are you worth any significant amount of tickets outside of your hometown?

Probably not.

So go ahead and cross off #1.

Do you have a manager or booking agent?

If not, cross off #2.

If so, does your manager or agent have relationships with an artist you would like to tour with?

If the answer is yes, you and your team should invite the headlining artist’s team to your next local show.

The artist’s team will need to get excited enough about what they see at your show to move your name up a list of other artists vying for the one or two tour support slots available on their headlining artist’s next tour.

As you have new releases and any other highlights such as press, syncs, viral moments, videos, etc., you’ll want to make sure to always share the latest and greatest with the headlining artist’s team to keep the conversation going and hopefully give yourself a better chance at landing a spot on their next tour.

Is the headlining artist a fan of your music?

Getting your music directly onto a headlining artist’s ears is arguably the best way to land your first tour.

An opening act represents the headliner's taste in music.

If they are a fan of what you do, your chances of doing shows together will go WAY up.

Focus on getting your music in front of the artists you want to tour with.

How do you do that?

Have a buzz about your band that the artist hears about
Get to know their team
Get them out to a show
Make friends with them

Make friends with headlining artists.

Headlining artists are people just like you.

They may have a few more dollars in their bank account, but it wasn’t always this way.

At one point, they were trying to catch their first break like you are today.

If you can become friends with the artists you want to tour with, your odds of landing an opportunity to tour together increase exponentially.

Once an artist is your friend, they’re much more likely to want to check out the music you are making.

If they dig what you do, it’s just a matter of time before the stars align for you to do some shows together.

To Recap:

The most direct path to your first tour is developing relationships with the artists and the artist teams you want to tour with while building the buzz around you and your show.

Always:

→ Be a good hang.

→ Make good music.

→ Keep building your audience.

→ Keep building your story.

→ Make sure the artists and their teams know everything you are up to.