How to Prepare for a Tour

Series Summary

Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll! That is the mantra and dream of every musician, whether they are a junior higher with their Peavey rig in a garage, or a band of thirty year olds walking into Capitol Records to sign a five album contract. In the back of almost every musician's mind is the hope that one day they might be rockstars. However, a lot of musicians don't understand the hard work that goes into becoming a rockstar. Nobody dreams about the tire blowouts in the middle of Kansas or sleeping in the van for the third night in a row. Nobody expects playing shows for nobody in a town you've never been in. But its all part of it. Touring is hardwork, so let the experts at Expert Village help guide you on the path to stardom!

In this free video series, watch as professional touring musician Jerimae Yoder teaches how to plan a tour with a band. Learn useful information like how to prepare for a tour, how to book shows with or without a booking agent, how to develop a business plan, how to put together a press kit and an EPK, how to map out a tour, how to promote your band, how to make a stage plot, how to write an appearance agreement and a tour rider, what equipment is needed for touring, pro's an con's of flying instead of driving, and how to sell merchandise. Touring can be hard, but its a necessary step for building a career in music. So watch these videos and get ready to hit the road and change the world with rock!

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Jerimae Yoder on behalf of Expert Village and today I'm going to talk a little bit about planning a successful tour. I toured around the United States from Portland, Oregon to New York from Florida to Texas in the past few years so I been around I've planned my own tour. I've been part of another tour that's been planned for me so I'm fairly versed and what it takes to plan a successful tour I've been on a successful tour, been on unsuccessful tours. So I hope I can give you guys a little knowledge on what you can do to best prepare for a tour. First of all you have to ask yourself as a band or as a solo artist I'm I ready to go or am I ready to get out on the road and go beyond a local shows or regional shows. One of the ways you can figure out is if something are you ready for are you full time are you making your money, buy playing in your band and to do that you know you've got to be playing 10 to 20 shows regionally to book for some money. And then getting out are you playing 20 to 50 shows every 6 months are you playing 100 shows a year regionally if you say yes to these things you are probably ready to get out and do some national touring. Regional touring is fine to and we'll talk a little bit about that but for the sake of this I'm going to be talking a little bit more about national touring and getting out on the road and doing this full time. Make sure your ready to go make sure you can get off of work if your not a full time band make sure you can take you know 3 to 6 months or 3 to 6 weeks depending on what you guys want to do to go out and do this thing. Take small steps at first and then take larger steps second so start with a small tour do 2 weeks and you know wrap it up the next year or maybe in 6 months do 4 weeks to 6 weeks something like that out on tour. Make sure all you guys in your band are on the same page ready to go ready to kick this thing, make sure you have some good merchandise, a demo CD, or regular CD that you produce, t-shirts and hats and things like that. I'll talk a little bit more about that in the future but make sure you guys are ready to go, make sure you guys are ready to get out on the road. Do you have a good references, you have a good following are you guys really rehearsed have you guys gotten your show together, are you guys ready to give your best out on the road. Some of the things to think about before you even start to plan a tour."