”Music is probably the only real magic I have encountered in my life. There's not some trick involved with it. It's pure and it's real. It moves, it heals, it communicates and does all these incredible things.” -Tom Petty
The second person in the series of showcasing live music professionals is my dear friend and roommate, Laura Murphy. She manages Art of Shock, the band I was supposed to be on tour with right now as their tour manager. We would be in Toronto, ON in Canada today if the tour wouldn't have been... Continue Reading →
I was supposed to start a 5-week North American tour with Art of Shock supporting Sepultura the day before yesterday. The Coronavirus pandemic postponed our tour, alongside so many other shows, tours, and festivals that have been canceled or postponed around the world. The music industry is currently in a devastating blackout and the situation... Continue Reading →
Cooperation with Other Bands and Crew The Flawless Smile Tour was my first tour that had more than one band or artist on the bill: two co-headliners (Flaw and Smile Empty Soul) that altered the headlining position and two support acts (Code Red Riot and Worldwide Panic). Obviously, your own band and crew work together... Continue Reading →
The question I’ve been asked the most after the tour has been: “Which venue was your favorite?”. There are different ways to value and evaluate a venue but to me it’s a combination of things. If I did the tour again, my opinion might be different. Also, if I was enjoying the show from the... Continue Reading →
https://www.indieonthemove.com “The concept behind the site began as a community based rolodex of music venues, booking agent contacts, venue reviews, and tour-related resources, but since its launch in late 2008 IndieOnTheMove.com has grown into one of the strongest musician communities on the web with a ton of features expediting and enhancing the show and... Continue Reading →
I saw someone sharing a merchandise stand bingo a while ago on Facebook and I got the idea of doing a bingo card for tour managers. I asked a bunch of tour managers I know to help me and added my own experiences to the card and boom, here it is! What do you think,... Continue Reading →
Artist Management on Tour Tour managers, especially on smaller tours, often take the role of a “tour mom” or “tour dad”. In addition to making sure that everyone on tour is on task and where they’re supposed to be, tour management is also about keeping people happy. The job includes dealing with personal issues and... Continue Reading →
https://www.tourlinkproconference.com I’ve been to Tour Link twice already and the upcoming conference in January 2019 will be my third consecutive one. I heard about Tour Link from my sound engineer/tour manager friend in Finland and decided to attend while I was visiting California two years ago (it was held in Palm Springs, CA at... Continue Reading →
Tour Itinerary and Daily Routine Tour managers move the touring party according to a tour itinerary, a detailed plan for each day of the tour. Depending on the size of the tour, the itinerary usually includes at least the tour routing, daily scheduling (incl. press obligations), accommodation info, venue and show details, and contact information.... Continue Reading →
Since I also want to share information beyond my own experiences (and keep my posts clean enough), I’ll post separately some resources related to my touring blog posts. These resource posts are directly linked to the equivalent touring posts so you can always revert back to them if you don’t remember what I’m talking about... Continue Reading →
Erika's Rock Universe 