If you want to head out on the road, here are some things to keep in mind.
Playing regional shows can be a fantastic opportunity to build relationships with your fans, find new audiences, be part of local music communities and connect with other artists. To get the most out of regional touring, though, there are some important things to consider. Here are just a few from a recent Sound Advice session on approaches to regional touring featuring Bridie Tanner (ABC North Coast), Sam Buckingham (touring artist) and Jimmy Kleiner (Select Music).
1. Go where there's demand
Where are people already connecting with you, listening to your music or buying tickets to your shows? You don’t need to slog it out on the road to find out. Places you can look to find your audience include your social media analytics, Spotify and Apple’s “For Artists” platforms or past ticketing data.
2. There's more than one way to tour
There are a bunch of different ways to structure a tour - think about what might work best for you, whether that’s weekends of headline shows, co-headliners with another band or getting on board with an existing tour. The best approach might change depending where you’re at in your career.
3. Book well in advance
Piecing together a tour route that works for you and getting gigs at venues you want to play is easier if you book early. Make sure you add in extra planning time when you’re including regional gigs in your tour (booking agents suggest a 6-month lead time).
4. Be mindful of your schedule
Be careful not to book too many shows over too short a time and over too far a distance. Be aware of the impact of long travel and demanding schedules on your physical and mental health.
5. Build your community
Building a community around you and your music via social media or email in an ongoing way will mean you have an existing group of people who might be keen to see you live when you come to town. This can make it much easier when it comes to marketing your tour.
6. Be prepared to promo
For early career artists in particular, it’s important that you’re ready to market the tour yourself. That means looking after artwork, promoting to local radio and gig guides, and understanding how to effectively target social media advertising to your gig locations.
7. Make it easy for venues to help
Venues may be helpful in promoting your gig to their local audiences. Make sure you share your plans for promoting the show with them, and ask them how they’re able to support. Make it simple for them to help by sending them things like artwork, posters, your write up about the show, and short form video content for social media at least 6 weeks out from the show date.
8. Connect with your fans at shows
Once you’re on tour, take the time to connect with people who come to your shows. Spend time chatting to them and provide them with a way to stay in touch (such as having a QR code to sign up to your email list). Then, you can let them know when you’ll be back and keep them updated on your new music.
If you want to learn more about regional touring, don't miss our sessions coming up on 7 August, 14 August and 21 August with an incredible lineup of speakers including: Ricky Simandjuntak (artist manager & brand strategist), Johanna Morrison AKA FLUXA (multidisciplinary artist), Bailey Pickles (artist and producer), Lindsay McDougall (ABC Illawarra), Melody Forghani (twnty three), Andrew Khedoori (Amrap, CBAA), Louise 'Lulu' Thompson (Bay FM), Ben Tillman (Yours & Owls + Farmer & The Owl + FO PAS), Rhoda Roberts AO (Festival Founder and Artistic Director), Donna Ballard (Wingham Music Festival) and hosted by Nino Haggath (Dustyesky choir, Invisible Friend).
Photo: Yazmindi performing at the Pacific Palms Rec Club as part of the 2023 MusicNSW Regional Touring Program (Sister Cities Tours). Photo by Lens Head.
