Job duties of tour managers include “confirming reservations; managing tour finances; getting everyone where they need to be on time; dealing with promoters, venue managers, ticket agents, etc.; and confirming show times” (McDonald, 2010). While running the route of a tour, a TM's best friend is the Tour Book. A tour book contains the itinerary, outlining the address of the venue, the promoter’s contact information, the distance to the destination, bands on the bill, door time, show time, admission, percentage of merchandise sales to be split, capacity of the venue, load-in, sound check, and other engagements (Crowe, 2008). Also included are copies of the contracts. The tour book basically gives a day-to-day overview of the whole tour.
While on tour, the TM will need to advance the show. Advancing basically means, “to call the venue and set up the show” (Crowe, 2008). Crowe (2008), in his article Tour Management, discussed his procedure for advancing, which was to call the venue a week ahead of time and ask questions. The questions he chose to ask were the date of the show, the city, the venue, load-in time, sound check time, door time, set time for openers, set time for headliners, length of set changes, guest list, merchandise location within the venue, the venue’s cut of merchandise sales, who was selling the merchandise, and directions to the venue (Crowe, 2008). Another part of advancing is confirming the rider. The rider contains information on technical and production requirements and hospitality/catering (Crowe, 2008). Crowe (2008) recalls that during advancement, he would relay information on the band size, number of inputs, and technical needs. Crowe (2008) would also verify the front of house manager, the monitors’ engineer, and the lighting director. Jimmy Boswell, tour manager for Texas In July and With Life In Mind, added “I also ask about the guarantee for the band, green room accommodations, and parking” (personal communication, October 24, 2010). Advancing helps ensure that all areas are covered before the tour reaches their destination.
A final aspect of TM'ing is handling the financials.. Crowe (2008) discusses the different financial situations during the night of the show that a TM might encounter: “The most important figures were attendance, gross box office receipts, split point, and overage. Other addenda may include expense reports, audits (ticket sales reports), and proof of advertising.” Guarantees, or the contracted money to be paid to the band, can come in three forms: a flat guarantee, where set amount is paid; GBOR percentage, where a set percentage is paid; and guarantee + points, which provides a set amount, plus additional payment after a specified amount is made (Crowe, 2008). The final type of financial a TM will encounter is a Per Diem or “per day” expense money (McDonald, 2010). As a tour manager he/she must divide the money between the band members in order for them to cover daily expenditures. As far as payment for a tour manager, he/she typically gets paid “a base salary + expenses + a p.d. [per diem] (for incidental expenses)” (McDonald, 2010).
After reading these basics, you get an idea of the job of a TM. If you feel like you can handle all of these tasks as well as keep your emotions and those of others in check, then you may be cut out to be a TM. But, the best way to find out is just to get out there and do it!
Resources:
Crowe, S. (2008). Tour management. Retrieved from http://www.starpolish.com/advice/article.asp?id=92&segment=1
Howell, J. (2010). Band tour manager job description. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_6516266_band-tour-manager-job-description.html
McDonald, H. (2010). Tour manager career profile. Retrieved from http://musicians.about.com/od/musiccareerprofiles/p/tourmanagerprofile.htm
McDonald, H. (2010). Tour manager. Retrieved from http://musicians.about.com/od/qz/g/tourmanager.htm
McDonald, H. (2010). P.D. – per diem. Retrieved from http://musicians.about.com/od/ip/g/perdiem.htm
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