Financing Indie Artists.
Indie artists and indie bands might have difficulty finding financiers in the initial years of their career. So, if you are a beginner and want to plan a music tour, you have to finance it yourself. When you are the financer, you obviously want to make it successful. You need to plan and advertise your tour well.
The first step towards achieving this is to get a website for yourself or your band. If you have no idea about creating and maintaining a website, there are companies like Hyper Effects that can help you connect with your target audience efficiently. Hyper Effects is one stop for your website, marketing and cyber development requirements. It helps you to create a website to display your talent or sell your indie music or indie art. Their websites are easy to navigate.
Advertising
Once you have the website, make sure your website is in sync with your profiles on other platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram etc. Try to stay connected with other bands in town. Make a list of venues that you want to cover during the trip and contact them for bookings. As I have mentioned in my blog More Tips and Tricks, while sending out an email to potential bookers to book a shows in advance, remember, it is very important for not-so-famous indie artists to prepare a good pitch for the email. The pitch should typically include your genre and style, link to your website and other social media accounts, preferably the ones that have reviews, likes and followers. Make sure that the information of your performance is been displayed by them on their social media page. You may also contact local music stations to advertise the event. The venues would be more than happy to share contacts and the list of local station with you. They benefit from the footfall of the bunch of audience that comes because of you. Publication houses should be contacted well in advance, there are many available in every town and city. Print your business card with your web address, keep your phone number optional.
Lodging
Finding a good and affordable place to stay at during your music tour is also an important part of tour planning. Be open to choose options that save money. For the period of your performance at house shows, you will, most likely, be hosted by them. Problem solved! But this does not mean you will do only house shows in the entire tour. You need to be creative in your choice of venues as every place has different kind of audience. There are various websites that can help you in getting a good place to stay. If you are lucky there is also a possibility to find a fan who may be willing to host you for a night or two. Don’t hesitate. Accept the offer; return the favour by inviting him to your show. There is an option of staying in a hostel as well, but how comfortable it would be is a big question. Be careful if you decide to book a room at a hotel. It may not always be affordable. If the weather is pleasant, camping is also a good and money saving option.
Commuting
Another important expenditure in a tour is commuting. For a budding indie artist, planning a tour is a difficult job and they have to keep many things in mind to make a trip successful. As we are talking about commuting here, let me tell you that there are some great automobiles available in the market that suit the requirements of indie artists and bands. They are cost effective and have an engine that can carry extra weight of instruments. These vehicles have good storage capacity and are comfortable for long tours as their seats can be converted to a bed for sleeping when required. You can search for these vehicles on the internet and choose according to your requirement. Buy you snacks and fluids from a wholesale store to save money during the tour keep a check of the stock and refill it in advance. Keep your vehicle loaded.
Fans always want to see their favourite artists perform, but the effort and money involved in arranging such shows and tours is not easy. Keep these points in mind to make your tour easy and memorable.
Please share your experiences. They are my inspiration.
