The cost of touring

[Submarine]

This is a really cool article detailing touring expenses from an indie band.
https://medium.com/@jackconte/pomplamoose-2014-tour-profits-67435851ba37

[RAGER]

I can think of so many ways they could have made money. Sleep in the 42 foot van which isn't a van at all but a fucking bus. Lots of insurance?  For what?  The venues have insurance. Hotel rooms for everyone every night?  What the shit?  Any number of those adoring fans would have let you crash at their place. Lots of bullshit in this article. And besides your band has a stupid name.

[eyeprod]

agreed. the name is lame

[Corey Y]

I actually like Pomplamoose, though I haven't listened to anything from them in a year or two. That said, they wasted so much money and come off looking really bad in that article. I've seen quite a few people posting it around, to just get roasted by touring punk, rock and metal musicians. A lot of the criticisms are really silly and overblown, but the band could definitely have saved A LOT of money and some of their accounting is a little fishy. I wouldn't count buying a light show and new road cases "touring expenses", since they're things you'll keep for years afterward. Unless they rented them, which would just be wasteful and foolish. No one is going to see that band for coordinated light shows, they play twee indie covers of pop hits and fun little quirky original tunes with toy xylophones and that sort of thing. I also don't know what the hell they were paying a tour manager for if they wasted that much money. Just someone to talk to show promoters and staff so the band doesn't have to and tell them what time they go on? If I were hired as a tour manager I would review their budget and expenses and try to keep them on task and running efficiently. There's a lot of room for organization and thriftiness between "everyone should sleep on the floor and eat ramen" and "everyone gets their own hotel room, eats out a sit down restaurant for every meal and a per diem". I applaud them for actually hiring working musicians for their tour (since they're just a duo recording project, not a full band) and trying to treat them well, but they wasted a ton of money.

[Danny G]

Tour managers have the added responsibility of being the asshole on behalf of the band when a club/promoter tries to rip them off.

On a professional level, that buffer zone can be invaluable.

[Corey Y]

I'm not really advocating against hiring a tour manager, more if they're going to do that the person they hire should be managing the tour a bit more. It's great to have someone to make sure all the money is coming in, but someone also needs to keep an eye on the money that's going out. At any rate, all of that is not a reason to slag the band, just a reason for the band themselves to do another tour eventually and hopefully learn from their mistakes. A lot of what the blog post discuss amounts to what seems like "this feels like we're pros doing it like this!" and not actually thinking about it like running a small business that's trying to turn a profit. A lot of the online criticism I've seen amounts to "why did they pay musicians and have insurance?" which is way the wrong things to criticize about how they managed their resources.

[Submarine]

Proven crew and musicians cost money.
Tours buy insurance which is separate than what venues have.
I don't think those #s were outrageous by any stretch. 

[Mr. Foxen]

Calling themselves an indie band with corporate sponsorship and hired musicians is BS for a start.

Food costs and per diems for food is counting same thing twice. Also fucking hotels. 70 year old dude from Hawkwind still takes sofas.

https://medium.com/@spencerlee/this-story-could-be-told-in-a-much-more-concise-way-that-leaves-the-band-looking-much-less-like-a-ce267daf11b7

[spookstrickland]

They say they make 5 grand a month on downloads!

[jibberish]

I've been thinking about this.   they overall did a cool thing with their vision, but they were noobs putting it together.

Also, this was a showcase adventure vacation dream tour thing of passion which means they opted to go the bigger money route. which really makes this article seem pompous. "thanks for paying more than you needed to for tickets and merch to fund our overbloated dream tour"

they seem like Honda civic drivers overall = really irritating.   I have a couple relatives like that. I wouldn't mind walking the 2 of them behind the barn and bashing their heads together until they both stop moving.

[Danny G]

The musicians they hired to play their music made a profit at least. Because they are pros.

[RAGER]

^^that is about the only thing I can agree with.

[neighbor664]

A great reply to this from Ross of Ludicra and Impaled.
http://doktorsewage.com/5-practical-pieces-of-financial-advice-for-pomplamoose/

[Mr. Foxen]

Don't forget Ghoul.

[spookstrickland]

A great reply to this from Ross of Ludicra and Impaled.
http://doktorsewage.com/5-practical-pieces-of-financial-advice-for-pomplamoose/

Spot on!

[Jake]

I wasn't personally offended by the original article. The response ones are pretty funny, but kind of dicky for the sake of being dicky. It's not my bag, but things like nice hotels and over & above what the house can do light shows matter to some people. Like I said, not to me, but I'm hardly a representation of a professional band and their touring decisions.

My kneejerk reaction is along the lines of the response pieces...I mean, how can you not turn a profit from selling that many tickets? But taking offense to that article is like taking offense to every luxury car (or other impractical item) you see. Of course those drivers could get from A to B in a Hyndai off of Craigslist, but what they drive matters to them for a lot of reasons.

[Danny G]

Yeah, I enjoyed some of the snark to a point. But he also said that music isn't a real job/career and going on tour is like a vacation.

Wrong.

Yes a hobby for many (including the author), but a real career for others. Going on tour is a business trip rather than a vacation for the latter. I've been on some lengthy trips where compared to those runs, being home bedridden with the flu would have been a vacation.

And holy shit, paying your players $1000 per week is pretty goddamn generous. I've never been salaried more that $500 per week, and I was happy to get that.

But yes, this guy -- had he been their tour manager -- would have saved them 10's of thousands of dollars. And probably would have been fired in the first couple of days hahaha

[fallen]

I am a pro at what I do and if I got sent on a business trip and was told to eat at 711 and find a fan of our company and sleep on their floor I think I'd be pretty pissed off.

Totally fine with sharing hotel rooms and having coffee and croissant for breakfast or grabbing a meal from a good truck.

Totally fine if people want to rough it of that's their preference too.

[Danny G]

Yeah, having their entourage of 8? people crashing at someone's house is kind of out of the question.

Guess I've been lucky to have slept on some damn comfy couches hahaha.

In the right circumstances, staying at people's houses has been a really good way to build personal relationships. Some of the hospitality afforded by people who were damn near complete strangers will never be forgotten.

As for sleeping in the van at a truck stop... Buying a case of beer beforehand can make it almost tolerable... But, no.

[Mr. Foxen]

I am a pro at what I do and if I got sent on a business trip and was told to eat at 711 and find a fan of our company and sleep on their floor I think I'd be pretty pissed off.

After you'd larged it up on expenses, would you post on the internet about how your company turned in a loss that quarter?

[neighbor664]

http://www.aux.tv/2014/12/sob-story-from-band-that-lost-11000-was-actually-a-marketing-stunt/

[RacerX]

Pimplemouse should now be forced to tour for one year as a 2-piece, doing all the driving and roadie work, as well.

[Danny G]

^ And sleeping on couches, at truckstops, or at Motel 6.

And advancing all of their own shows, and getting into it with promoters as to why their posters aren't up, and getting into it with club owners who try to stiff them, and having all of their dates be in cities 12 hours apart.

But they can eat at Waffle House, as the Universe should throw them the occasional bone.

[RacerX]

Right.

And to be fair, they even can take Thanksgiving & Xmas off, or 2 other holidays of their choice.

[Danny G]

No. They have to play both Memorial Day and 4th of July.

Because people rarely go to shows on those dates. They usually stay home, get drunk, bbq, and blow shit up.


And no, they can't play New Years Eve. They have to take that off, even if it's a weekend. #keepitreal