Six ways to earn extra money on tour
If you’re having trouble making the numbers work as you’re planning to hit the road with your band, think creatively about ways to earn more money on tour. Read the post.
touring musician
Calculating a tour budget
Hitting the road can be a wonderful way to share your music, expand your fanbase, and have amazing experiences. But when you add up all the costs, it can be pretty expensive, so you’d better make a tour budget before you book those gigs. Read the post.
Selling your music on USB drives: Tips from I Fight Dragons’ Brian Mazzaferri
I Fight Dragons has been selling music on custom USB drives for years with notable success. Here are some tips from Brian Mazzaferri on how to make the most of the venture. Read the post.
Is it time to sell your music on USB drives?
While CDs and vinyl records are a major revenue source for indie musicians, custom USB drives are the latest merch table draw when it comes to physical product music sales. Read the post.
Alexander Technique for musicians: Putting theory into practice
In our second post on Alexander Technique for musicians, we use practical examples to demonstrate how subtle postural changes can make a big difference. Read More.
#TourLife hacks: CDs, merch, and fan appreciation with The Accidentals
From playing shows to selling CDs and merch to finding time for self care, life on the road requires a balance between your personal, public, and business life. The Accidentals share some #TourLife hacks with us. Read More.
Alexander Technique for musicians
Does it hurt to make music? There are plenty of health and maintenance modalities that can help, including the Alexander Technique, which strives to rid your body of tension. Read More.
Increase musical creativity by changing your nighttime routine
While the life of a musician often depends on nighttime activity, you can increase creativity, stamina, and your general health by getting the sleep your body needs. Read More.
Don’t wait ’til the day after to get music instrument insurance
Sasha Brown of Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds had set an appointment to get music instrument insurance. Two days before the call, $11K worth of instruments were stolen out of the band’s van. Talk about bad timing. We talk about the break-in, theft, and almost having music instrument insurance in time. Read more.
Rehearsing with a purpose
Most bands, when they rehearse, even for a big show, will rehearse for a couple of days, run through the songs to make sure they’re “tight,” work out the musical parts, and then go out onstage and hope something good will happen. They have no idea what they’re trying to accomplish. Read more.
Another awful music gig
In “Tales of the worst music gigs ever,” we shared a handful of on-the-gig horror stories and lessons learned from them. While those stories were all wrenching in their own rights, here is one from New York bassist Dmitry Ishenko that stands in a category of its own. Read more.
Tales of the worst music gigs ever
Every musician has stories of the best gig ever, that performances where the music, the crowd, and the stars aligned. Then there’s those other times when nothing goes right. Gear explodes, drunks attack, people vanish… But even the worst gigs can be valuable learning experiences. Read more.
The case of the lost bass
Bassist Malcolm Gold’s story about the benefits of MusicPro instrument insurance doesn’t involve theft or damage. It was just a momentary lapse of focus on a long commute. “It was a very stressful time in my life. I was traveling on a train with a beautiful 1966 ice-blue metallic Fender Jazz bass. It’s a custom color, and worth a considerable amount of money, to say the least.” Read more.
Saving Money While Touring
Traveling to play music gigs is expensive. Being on the road also takes a lot of planning, time, energy, and day-of alertness for travel plans to be flawlessly executed. Whether touring around your favorite regions of the globe or traveling to a far off city for a music conference, there are a few tricks and tips that can help make your travels go smoothly, and keep your bank account afloat at the same time. Read more.
Gig Etiquette – Set-Up and Breakdown Habits To Live By
Nearly every touring musician has at least one story about load-in or breakdown gone awry — that emotionally scarring gig where the venue promised a full drum kit but only delivered a broken snare drum, the festival slot when you expected fifteen minutes to set up but only got fifteen seconds, or that sickening post-gig moment when you realized your vintage Les Paul had grown legs and walked out of the club, all by itself. Read more.