How to Plan and Book a Tour

Touring is not just playing shows in different cities. It is a logistics operation that requires planning, coordination, and execution across dozens of variables: routing, venue selection, scheduling, budgeting, advancing, travel, lodging, load-in, soundcheck, performance, settlement, and teardown. The artists who profit from touring are not necessarily the ones with the largest audiences. They are the ones who plan well, manage costs, and treat every run as a learning cycle that improves the next one.

This guide covers the operational side: how to plan a tour, book the shows, prepare for each date, execute on the road, and evaluate the results. For the financial framework, deal types, and break-even economics, see How to Make Money From Live Music. For when to add a booking agent or tour manager to your team, see Building Your Artist Team.

Before You Book: Readiness Check

Not every artist is ready to tour. Booking shows before you are prepared wastes money and can damage your reputation in markets you want to build.

Can you draw locally? If you are not consistently drawing 50-100 people in your home market, focus on building that draw before expanding. Venues in other cities will ask about your draw, and "I haven't really played my home market much" is not a convincing answer.

Do you have released music? Venues and promoters will look you up before confirming. A catalog of released music, active streaming profiles, and some social proof (even modest) gives them confidence you are a real act worth booking.

Can you afford the trip? Your first tour will likely break even or lose money. Budget realistically for the worst case: every show is a door deal that pays less than expected, merch sales are modest, and expenses hit the high end of your estimates. If the financial loss from that scenario is unacceptable, wait until you have either saved enough or built enough draw to command guarantees.

Do you have a set that is road-ready? You need a polished, consistent 30-60 minute set that works in different room sizes and configurations. If you have not performed your current material in front of audiences enough times to know it is solid, play more local shows first.

Routing

Routing is the sequence of cities and dates that make up your tour. Good routing minimizes travel costs and dead days while maximizing the number of shows and the audiences you reach.

The Basics

Keep drives manageable. For club-level touring, aim for 3-5 hour drives between cities. Longer drives cost more in fuel, add fatigue, and eat into your day. A 10-hour drive between shows means arriving exhausted with no time for promotion, rest, or contingency.

Minimize dead days. A dead day is a day with no show and no travel purpose. You are still paying for food, lodging, and vehicle costs. Some dead days are unavoidable (routing gaps, day-off needs), but a tour with 10 shows and 6 dead days is financially worse than a tour with 8 shows and 2 dead days.

Route geographically. Plan your route as a loop or a line, not a zigzag. A Northeast run might go: New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Richmond, then back up through Pittsburgh, or continue south. Jumping from New York to Chicago to Nashville to Boston wastes time and fuel.

Day of the week matters. Thursday through Saturday are the strongest nights for most venues. Weeknight shows (Monday through Wednesday) draw smaller audiences and are harder to fill. If you have limited draw in a market, book it on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. Use weeknights for markets where you have stronger draw or as travel days.

Route Planning for Different Stages

Your first short run (3-5 dates). Stay within driving distance of home. Hit 2-3 nearby cities where you have some audience signal (social media followers, streaming data, email subscribers) plus your home market as anchor. This is a test: can you draw outside your city? What does it cost? What do you learn?

Regional runs (5-10 dates). Expand the radius. Connect cities into a logical loop. Anchor the run with 1-2 shows where you know you can draw and fill in dates between them. Include 1-2 new markets to test. Accept that new markets will have smaller turnout.

National touring (10+ dates). Route by region: a Northeast run, a Southeast run, a West Coast run. Multi-week national tours that cross the country in one shot are expensive and logistically demanding. Regional runs that you repeat and build on over time are more sustainable and more effective at growing market-by-market draw.

Finding and Contacting Venues

Identifying the Right Venues

Capacity match. Book rooms you can fill or nearly fill. A room that holds 100 people with 80 in attendance feels full and energetic. A room that holds 500 with 80 feels empty and kills the energy. Undershoot capacity rather than overshoot it, especially in new markets.

Genre fit. Venues have identities. A folk singer-songwriter does not belong in a metal club, even if the capacity is right. Research the venue's recent bookings to confirm your music fits their programming.

Where to find venues. Look at where similar artists have played in your target cities. Check their tour archives, Instagram posts, and setlist.fm profiles. Use Indie on the Move, which is a database of venues searchable by city, capacity, and genre. Ask other artists in your network where they have played and what their experience was.

The Booking Pitch

Whether you are booking yourself or your agent is booking for you, the pitch to a venue follows a consistent structure.

Who to contact. The talent buyer. This is the person who books the shows. Their contact information is usually on the venue's website, often on a "booking" or "contact" page. Some venues use a booking submission form. Others accept email. Some work exclusively through agents.

What to include in your pitch email:

A brief introduction: who you are, your genre, where you are based. One sentence, not a biography.

Proof of draw and activity: a link to your music (Spotify or a similar platform), your social media with follower counts, any relevant streaming numbers, and most importantly, evidence of live draw (photos of packed rooms, ticket sales numbers from previous shows, draw in comparable markets).

The ask: the specific date or date range you are looking for, whether you are looking to headline or support, and your expected draw in that market (be honest; inflating your draw and then underdelivering is worse than a modest but accurate estimate).

Links to live video: a high-quality live performance video is the single most effective booking tool. It shows the talent buyer what your show looks and sounds like in a room.

Your contact information or your agent's contact information.

Keep it short. Talent buyers receive dozens of booking inquiries per week. A pitch that takes more than 60 seconds to read will not be read. Lead with the most compelling information and save the detailed press kit for follow-up.

Follow up once. If you do not hear back in 7-10 days, send one polite follow-up. If you still do not hear back, move on. Aggressive follow-up damages your reputation.

Booking With an Agent

A booking agent handles the process of pitching venues, negotiating deals, and managing your performance calendar. They bring relationships with talent buyers that open doors you cannot open cold.

When an agent is worth it: When your schedule is busy enough that booking takes significant time away from creating, and when you want to expand into markets where an agent's relationships provide access. Most agents want to see consistent local and regional draw before they will take you on.

What changes with an agent: You are still involved in routing decisions, date approvals, and strategic priorities. The agent executes the bookings. You approve the offers. The agent takes 10-15% of gross booking income as commission. See Building Your Artist Team for the full breakdown.

Tour Budgeting

A tour budget is a financial plan built before you leave, not an expense report written after you get home. It tells you whether the tour is financially viable and sets the spending parameters for the road.

Building the Budget

Revenue projections. For each confirmed show, list: the guarantee or estimated door revenue (be conservative on door estimates), estimated merch revenue (use 10-15% of expected audience multiplied by your average merch transaction), and any other income (VIP packages, sponsorships).

Fixed expenses. Costs that do not change with audience size: vehicle costs (rental or fuel for your own vehicle, estimated by total miles), insurance, trailer rental if applicable, and any equipment rentals.

Variable expenses per day. Lodging (research rates in each market or plan which nights you can save by staying with contacts), food (per diem for each person, typically $20-$30/day), parking and tolls.

Per-show expenses. Sound engineer ($150-$300/show if you carry your own), commissions (agent 10-15%, manager 15-20% off gross), and any per-show costs like backline rental.

Total the expenses. Compare to conservative revenue projections. The difference is your projected profit or loss.

Budget Example: A 7-Date Regional Run

A solo artist with one additional band member. Driving their own vehicle.

Revenue: 5 shows with $500 average guarantee, 2 shows with door deal estimated at $300 each = $3,100. Merch estimated at $250/show average = $1,750. Total projected revenue: $4,850.

Expenses: Fuel ($400), lodging 6 nights at $100/night split ($600), food 8 days × 2 people × $25/day ($400), agent commission 10% on guarantees ($310). Total expenses: $1,710.

Projected net: $3,140. This is before manager commission (if applicable) and before taxes.

This is a profitable run because the artist is keeping costs low (own vehicle, splitting rooms, two people). Add a full band, a sound engineer, a van rental, and hotel rooms and the math changes dramatically. See How to Make Money From Live Music for the full-band break-even calculation.

Advancing Shows

Advancing is the process of confirming every logistical detail with the venue before the show. It happens 1-2 weeks before each date. Unadvanced shows lead to preventable problems: wrong load-in times, missing backline, payment surprises, and wasted time on show day.

The Advance Checklist

Timing. Load-in time (when you arrive and bring gear in). Soundcheck time. Doors time (when the audience is admitted). Set time and set length. Curfew (when the venue needs the show to end).

Technical. What backline does the venue provide (drum kit, amps, monitors)? What do you need to bring? Is there a house sound engineer or do you need to bring your own? What is the PA system? Do you need to send a stage plot and input list in advance? (Yes. Always.)

Hospitality. Does the venue provide a meal? Drinks? A green room or backstage area? Is parking available for a van or trailer?

Financial. Confirm the deal: guarantee amount, door split percentage, or whatever was agreed. How and when do you get paid? Cash at the end of the night, check, direct deposit? What is the ticket price? Is there a guest list and how many spots?

Promotion. Is the venue promoting the show? On what channels? Have they posted the event? Do they need assets from you (photos, bio, music links)? Are you listed on the venue's website and social media?

Contact. Get the day-of-show contact (this is often different from the talent buyer). Get their cell phone number. You will need to reach them on show day.

Stage Plot and Input List

A stage plot is a diagram showing where each performer stands on stage and what equipment goes where. An input list details every microphone and direct input the sound engineer needs to set up. Send both to the venue at least one week before the show. This lets the house engineer prepare before you arrive and shortens your soundcheck.

Day of Show

A smooth show day follows a predictable sequence. Knowing the sequence and communicating it to your team prevents chaos.

Load-in. Arrive at the scheduled time. Introduce yourself to the venue contact and the house engineer. Bring gear in and set up according to your stage plot. Be efficient and professional. Venues remember artists who are easy to work with.

Soundcheck. Work with the house engineer to set levels, monitors, and overall mix. Soundcheck is not a rehearsal. Play enough of each song to set levels, check monitors, and confirm everything works. Be respectful of the engineer's time.

Downtime. Between soundcheck and doors, eat (use the venue meal if provided, or eat nearby), set up your merch table, post on social media that you are in the city, rest. This is also when you confirm settlement details with the venue.

Performance. Play your set. Deliver the best show you can regardless of the crowd size. Every show is a chance to convert attendees into fans and to build your reputation in that market. Mention your merch table. Mention your email list (a verbal call-to-action from stage or a QR code on the merch table).

Settlement. After the show, settle with the venue. This means collecting your payment. For guarantee deals, confirm the amount and collect. For door deals, the venue should provide a ticket count and the revenue breakdown. Count the money. If the numbers do not match what you expected, ask questions respectfully. Get a receipt if possible.

Load-out. Pack your gear, clear the stage, and leave the venue clean. How you leave a venue determines whether they invite you back.

After the Tour: Evaluating Results

Every tour should generate data that informs the next one.

Financial review. Compare actual revenue and expenses to your budget. Where did you exceed projections? Where did you fall short? Which markets were profitable and which were not? What were your actual costs per day versus projected?

Market-by-market assessment. For each city: how many people attended? How does that compare to your expected draw? Did the audience engage (singing along, buying merch, signing up for your email list)? Would you play that venue again? Is there a better venue in that market?

Venue relationships. Note which venues were well-run, communicative, and fair. Note which were disorganized or had issues. These notes save time on future routing because you know which venues to prioritize and which to avoid.

What to improve. Every tour reveals operational weaknesses. Maybe your merch setup was too slow. Maybe your stage plot needed updating. Maybe you underestimated lodging costs. Document what to change before the next run while it is fresh.

The compounding effect. An artist who has run 5 intentional, well-planned tours has a fundamentally different level of operational knowledge, venue relationships, and market data than an artist who has played 50 scattered one-off shows. Each tour builds on the last. The improvements compound.

Common Mistakes

Booking too many dates without rest. Playing 10 consecutive nights without a day off leads to fatigue, vocal strain, and declining show quality. Build in at least one day off per 4-5 show days. Your performance quality is the product. Protect it.

Not advancing shows. Showing up to a venue without confirming load-in time, backline, set length, and payment terms creates avoidable problems. Advance every show.

Overestimating draw in new markets. Your first show in a city you have never played will be your smallest. Budget and plan for that reality. Growth in new markets takes 2-3 visits minimum.

Underpricing support slots. Support slots have strategic value (exposure to a larger artist's audience), but if you are paying more to get to the show than the show pays, evaluate whether the exposure justifies the cost. Not every support offer is worth taking.

No merch. Every tour date without a merch table is revenue left behind. Even a minimal setup (t-shirts, stickers, card reader) captures sales from fans who want to support you in the moment.

Not capturing contacts. A QR code on the merch table or a verbal call-to-action from stage turns a one-time attendee into someone you can reach for the next time you are in town. This is how market-by-market draw compounds.

Frequently Asked Questions

How far in advance should I book a tour?

For club-level touring, 2-4 months in advance is typical. Some larger venues and festivals book 6-12 months out. Start reaching out to venues at least 3 months before your target dates to leave time for negotiation, holds, and confirmations.

How many shows should my first tour be?

Start with 3-5 dates on your first run. Keep it regional (within driving distance). The goal is to test the process, learn the logistics, and evaluate which markets respond to you. Expand the length and distance on subsequent runs.

Should I book the tour myself or use an agent?

Most artists book their own first several tours. Direct booking is how you learn the process, build venue relationships, and develop the skills to evaluate whether an agent is adding value later. An agent becomes worthwhile when your schedule is busy enough that booking consumes significant time and when their relationships can open doors in markets you cannot access independently.

What if a show gets cancelled?

It happens. Confirm cancellation terms in your deal: are you owed a kill fee (a partial payment if the venue cancels within a certain window)? If not, adjust your routing or find a replacement date. Having relationships with multiple venues in each market helps because a cancellation at one venue can sometimes be replaced by a last-minute booking at another.

Read Next:

• How to Make Money From Live Music

• Building Your Artist Team

Coordinate Your Schedule:

Orphiq helps you plan tour dates alongside your release schedule so your live strategy and your marketing work together.