The Touring Business Is Booming — But Problems Linger for Smaller Acts

Over just seven or eight months, touring has evolved from an emotional nightmare for small and mid-range touring acts to what many managers and agents say is a booming, healthy business. But the influx of artists hitting the road midway through 2023 continues to cause supply-and-demand challenges — specifically around vehicles and crew.

“Everybody seems to be out on the road and all the shows seem to be doing really, really well,” says Joady Harper, CEO and founder of Rocky Road Touring, the agency for Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke, Peter Murphy and others. “It’s almost like all the problems are because of how successful everything is. I feel like the clock struck 12 on Dec. 31, and I haven’t put the phone or the computer down ever since. It’s just been go, go, go.”

Late last year, club and theater acts were despondent as they returned to touring after the COVID-19 pandemic. Supply-chain issues meant they had to scramble for backline equipment, personnel shortages made it impossible to track down truck and bus drivers and inflation meant touring artists came home with less money. And while things have improved dramatically — especially in terms of obtaining equipment, which has become much easier this year — some of those problems linger.

For touring acts, the biggest issue remains difficulty in procuring buses, especially on short notice. During the pandemic, many drivers left the business, and bus companies’ fleets were designed for a much lower level of demand. Now, with more acts on the road, personnel and vehicle shortages have led to higher prices. Andy Vickery, tour manager for rockers Boys Like Girls, reserved vehicles and crew for a September club-and-theater tour six months ahead of time, compared to what might have taken a few days ahead of the group’s previous tour in 2016.

Vickery says prices also remain “astronomical” for vehicles and crew. Dave Chavarri, drummer for New Jersey metal band Ill Niño, says bus prices have increased by 40—50% since 2019 — from around $690 a week pre-pandemic to at least $1,200 per week now, not counting a $500-per-day driver and hundreds of dollars in daily fuel costs. And a semi-truck that cost $30,000 per month to haul production equipment pre-pandemic is often “almost double” today, says Vickery. That’s not to mention additional costs for things like maintenance and internet service. 

Liam Pesce, manager of shock-metal band GWAR, says some bands lease older buses and save as much as $1,000 per day — but those vehicles tend to break down more frequently, and “you get what you pay for,” he says. “With GWAR, we take what we can get, because there’s a shortage lately.” Inflation has decreased significantly over the past year, but gas prices remain high in much of the United States, particularly on the West Coast and in the Northeast, in addition to the higher costs of drivers and in-demand crew members — forcing small-to-mid-level acts to cut costs. Some have no choice but to set a grueling schedule on the road, often performing five or six nights straight. This can lead to fatigue for artists and crew — particularly singers, who often aren’t able to take needed breaks between shows to recuperate.

“They can’t afford to take days off. You’re still paying your staff weekly,” says Chavarri of Ill Niño, which begins a tour in October with Cradle of Filth and DevilDriver. “But a singer can only do so much with vocal chords. You have to rest.” 

Brian Schwartz, who manages Dinosaur Jr. and other touring acts, adds that many bands are reluctant to raise prices due to fans’ own financial hardships as a result of inflation, but the artists still have to pay the increasing prices for hotels, buses and crews. (Managers of international acts say it’s also costly and time-consuming to come up with U.S. visas for touring — and those costs could go up even further this year.) “It’s still very much a reality we’re all having to deal with. It just becomes harder to tour,” Schwartz says.

While megastar stadium and arena acts are able to absorb the higher costs, artists at the club and theater level have had to rethink their businesses — and even create new ones. In response to higher bus prices, Chavarri used his music-business connections to start a bus-rental company, TBA Bus Co., with a fleet of 10 vehicles, along with his wife and a friend, charging lower-than-average prices to customers like Mos Def, Coal Chamber and his own band and tourmates. 

Artists are finding a variety of other ways to make the tougher conditions work. Miles Sherman, who co-manages rock band Bad Omens with former Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden, says the band’s staff has simply worked harder to manufacture merch, find deals, ramp up production and adapt to adversity. When New Jersey’s Bamboozle festival, where Bad Omens was slated to perform, abruptly canceled in April, the band pivoted to setting up a last-minute local pop-up store and meet-and-greet.

“It’s been difficult but also rewarding,” Sherman says. “All the tours have been selling extremely well and we continue to level up.” 

Harper adds that agents and managers have become skilled at planning for tours farther in advance than ever before — unlike late 2021 and early 2022 when vaccines started to kick in and many artists rushed back to the road on short notice. She’s hopeful that “kids who came of age during COVID” are finally able to see the bands they discovered online, creating what she calls “a brand-new, gig-going audience.”

Schwartz, who also manages Dawes and Hiss Golden Messenger, is more cautiously optimistic about the economic future of touring at this level. “We’re in this hybrid space,” he says, “where it’s not as bad as it was six months ago, it’s not as good as it can be, but we’re getting there.”