What Does a Concert Tour Manager Do?

The idea of using a concert (music) tour manager is to make sure the tour is running smoothly, all band and crew are happy, performance revenue is being collected, and tour-related bills are being paid.

(I use the term ‘concert tour manager’ so as not to confuse the subject with travel tour managers – people who help tourists when they travel.)

The following is a guide to the work you should expect from every concert tour manager you work with.

The Role of the Concert Tour Manager (CTM)

A concert tour manager (CTM) is the person who takes care of booking and organising the accommodation, transport, equipment, and crew, involved with the tour. The tour manager will then travel with the artist on-the-road, dealing with the day-to-day activities, issues, and challenges. The concert tour manager also acts as an accountant; producing budgets, picking up cash for performances, and paying suppliers and other expenses as the tour progresses.

On concert tour tours of large-capacity venues (>10,000 – capacity), the role of a band’s CTM may be split between three or four different people – CTM, production manager, production assistant, and tour accountant (s).
The artist employs the CTM on a contract basis and pays them from tour funds. CTMs work at a daily or weekly rate. The tour also usually pays for the CTM’s accommodation, travel, communication costs, and other expenses.

As a general rule, CTMs do not book or arrange the shows. This is the job of the booking agent working with promoters.

The CTM’s job really begins once the booking agent books the dates. The artist’s management will source and hire a tour manager; at this point they might check with the tour manager about the proposed routing before it is confirmed. In any case, the CTM will work off the list of proposed concert dates – the ‘date sheet’ to organise and budget for the tour.

The CTM’s work then falls into four areas of activity1:

Caution:

There are no regulations for CTMs. Concert tour managers do not need to sit exams or hold related qualifications. Anybody can call themselves a concert tour manager.
I am not aware of specific courses that deal with concert/band tour management, although there are related academic and vocational courses such as theatre stage management and event management courses.
I mention this as a concert tour manager is supposed to relieve you of the stress of organising and administrating your concert tour. It is therefore important to know that the concert tour manager you are retaining has some experience in the role or can offer you a good, non-conditional guarantee. Or both.

Budgeting the Tour or Festival

the tour budget and the concert tour manager from live music business

The artist’s management should review the costs before agreeing to the tour by studying a tour budget. Due to their experience, this budgeting is usually best done by the concert tour manager.


The manager should have received a list of the music artist’s tour performance fees from the booking agent. The CTM creates a list of predicted expenses; the total of the income, minus the expenses, will give the profit (or loss) for the tour.


I use the following categories when I am producing a budget or list of predicted expenses:

  • WAGES
  • PER DIEMS*
  • ACCOMMODATION
  • TRANSPORT
  • PRODUCTION – SOUND, LIGHTING, BACK LINE, VIDEO, STAGING & SET
  • REHEARSALS
  • OTHER EXPENSES**

The responsibility of the CTM is to present the costs as she perceives them and to offer solutions if the costs are too great.

The income minus the expenses will give either the profit or loss (shortfall) for the tour.

*Per Diems is a daily amount paid to touring crew to cover living expenses, food etc. From the Latin ‘for the day’. Apparently.
** Other expenses would include any foreign artist taxation, management commission and agents commission.

Advancing the Concert Dates

Once the concert tour manager and everyone involved agree on the budget or list of predicted expenses, the manager will begin to advance the shows.


There is a saying, ‘the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.’


Or, ‘hope for the best, plan for the worst.’

Advancing is the way CTMs’ ‘sweat in peace’. Concert tour managers contact each promoter and venue to ensure the entire artist’s technical and hospitality needs are met. They also anticipate and resolve any potential problems the promoters or venues might have.
The concert tour manager will also ask about contact names and addresses, arrival times, equipment load in times, sound check, and performance times, any supporting/opening acts and finally what time all live music has to be finished by.

Common problems are incorrect venue addresses, limited physical access to venues (i.e. lots of stairs to hump gear up!), clashing sporting or other musical events, sound level limits, and insufficient or inappropriate technical equipment.

Good concert tour managers will have an encyclopedic knowledge of these problems and be able to expect them and/or advise the touring party well ahead of time.


By anticipating these problems, the CTM will save the tour both time and money.

Going On-The- Road

the responsibilities of the concert tour manager on the road from live music business

Once the advancing has been done and the concert tour manager has all the venue information, contact details, and schedule information, they can produce the tour itinerary (AKA ‘the tour book’ or ‘book of lies’).

This itinerary, which details all the information for the tour in a day-by-day format, is given to all touring personnel, as well as to related offices, friends, and family.

The CTM will then travel with the act on the tour. Depending on the type and success level of the act, the job on the road varies enormously.

The following items are definitely part of a band CTM’s day-to-day workload:

  • Overseeing hotel departures on time
  • Settling accommodation bills
  • Overseeing travel arrangements, i.e. band and crew onto the bus or to the airport in good time
  • Paying per diems to band & crew
  • Overseeing venue arrival – double checking hospitality and technical arrangements
  • Arranging up to date running order with venue and promoter
  • Overseeing promotional activities, i.e. TV, radio, and press interviews at the venue or at other locations
  • Supervising any support or opening acts
  • Ensuring the venue is ready to open on time by supervising sound check times
  • Liaising with the transport department regarding the next days’ travel
  • Ensuring all acts perform on time and for the allotted time
  • Settling performance fee with promoter and collecting any due cash
  • Ensuring all touring equipment is re-packed and loaded back onto tour transport
  • Preparing band and crew schedule sheets for the next day
  • Overseeing band and crew onto overnight transport, or to the next hotel
  • Reporting this show’s attendance figures to the artist’s management and the booking agent

Post-Tour Administration

The last date of a concert tour is not the last day of work for the concert tour manager. And some of this work is complex and time consuming; the CTM should make sure they are paid for this extra, post-tour, work.

This work includes, but is not limited to:

  • Making sure rented transport is returned to its base
  • Getting the touring personnel get home quickly and safely
  • Making sure rented equipment gets back to the suppliers, or into storage.
  • Making sure the merch is safely stored and the accounts are settled
  • Finalising the accounts for the tour
  • Working with the artist’s financial team to get invoices generated for remaining tour support
  • Ensuring the crew, session musicians, and dancers are paid in full

The last two processes can take weeks to complete and, although the tour manager can’t invoice for her time during this period, is still expected to be on call to answer queries.

End

Thanks for reading. This is my take on the work of the concert tour manager. I have included none of the concert tour managers’ responsibilities regarding the selling of merchandise (‘merch’) – t-shirts, hoodies, vinyl, posters, etc in this article.

Please let me know in the comments if you would like this information.

You can also read my book about the live music business and concert production industry – The Live Music Business – Management and Production of Concerts and Festivals 

1I used to detail three areas of activity. However the work expected of the concert tour manager after the end of the tour has increased in recent years. The post-tour admin is almost a role in itself these days!