Andy Reynolds's Live Music Business - BETA
My name is Andy Reynolds, I am a freelance concert tour manager and live audio engineeer who has been working in the concert touring industry for nearly 25 years.I also lecture in Live Sound Production at Buckinghamshire New University and have written several books about the live music business.
This is a BETA site – I am still adding functionality and design elements. The posts and tweets are real and will be continuing.Thanks!
Eventric, the people behind Master Tour tour management software, have produced an all-new website with lots of product information. They are also offering a 30-day free trial of Master Tour. Check it out here:
http://www.eventric.com/master-tour/master-tour-pricing-signup
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(Image courtesy of NiteTrain Coach)
It is festival season again which means bands and their crews are clambering aboard sleeper buses in order to travel around Europe and sit in muddy fields for hours on end.
Of course, touring by sleeper coach goes on throughout the year on both sides of the pond; it is by far the most convenient and cost-effective way to move large numbers of people around whichever continent you are touring. However, as any touring artist or crew person will tell you, life on a sleeper bus can be hard. Louise Weiner, the former singer of UK band Sleeper, wrote about her experiences of sleeper bus tours. “There is nowhere to wash on the bus. Nowhere to hide. No escape,” she says.
Even after 20 odd years of touring, I still love sleeper bus tours. Everything is so easy for a concert tour manager on a sleeper bus tour. All your people, your home, your belongings, your office and your beer are all in one great big box on wheels, which is (hopefully) parked right outside the gig. Touring personnel are less likely to go missing or be late for departures if ‘living’ on the bus – that box on wheels is also their home with all their belongings in it; if they are not on it when they should be then there is a good chance it is going to rumble off into the night without them.
It is true though that touring on a sleeper bus does present its own unique set of logistical and emotional challenges. You need to be aware of these issues, whether you are a touring veteran or are picking your bunk for the first time.
Therefore, here is my guide to the rules and conventions of sleeper bus touring.
A new report, “Moving arts: Managing the carbon impacts of our touring – Volume 1: Bands”,
and set of online tools will help you to evaluate the impact your live music has upon the environment.
The information is produced by Julie’s Bicycle, “a broad coalition of music, theatre and scientific experts committed to making [the live music] industry green.”
There is some fascinating information here. For instance it is obvious that flying around the world to play gigs is going to have an impact on the environment. However the report also explains how the t-shirts and CD’s you sell at shows are having an equally negative effect on our planet.
You can download a copy of the report here (registration required).
