Galactatour: The “True” Costs of Going on a DIY Tour
by Alyx
Over the last year there has been a slew of recent articles about independent, and DIY musicians going on tour. Most of the articles focus around the economics and opportunity cost of taking on the open road as a “middle class”/”working class”/“creative class”/"insert-buzzword-here” musician. While some people brought good dialog and introspection to the table, like Spoonboy, other people were trying to launch some marketing stunts and promote their internet start up.
At a level even smaller than those two respective artists, sits local bands who are active in their local music scene and dream of hitting the road to play in new towns every night. Almost every local band dreams of touring but it is not something every local band should do. Small DIY tours are a huge financial risk and are not easy to predict, unlike tours for bands who flirt with popular genres and non-alternative venues like bars. Most DIY bands, and bands with people who are under 21, don’t or can’t play bars. If you want your music to be enjoyed by everyone, you should probably play where people of all ages can see you anyway..
Bearing in mind the risks, expenses, time, wear and tear it would take to put together a tour, it’s hard to know the true cost of touring as a DIY/independent musician. Lots of people talk about the money musicians make on the internet but not a lot of people are detailing their revenue or losses. It’s tough to paint a picture of a musician or band’s income/expenses, especially when having multiple sources, some untaxed or under the table, as well as freebies, communal property, and borrowed gear/borrowed time.
All of that in mind, my purpose here is to present an example, albeit an outlier example, of the “true cost of touring as a DIY musician”. This feature will be in three parts and feature stats, mileage, expenses, income, merch sales, manufacturing costs and, surprisingly, profit. I will explain why this isn’t very good data for other people to use when gauging their interest in touring, nor is it applicable to the typical cultural assumption of a “band going on tour” in the punk/rock’n’roll sense. We weren’t a four-piece band and a manager/roadie packed in a cargo van- the typical DIY/punk/low-level-indie-band touring format. We were a nine-piece touring squadron, spread out across two vehicles. Way-too-over-the-top-detailed-posts to follow. It’s in three parts: Tour Prep & Merch, Car Stats & Calculations, and On the Road. Full coverage will be over at @diy4lyfe over the course of the week!