What is "tour support"?!

[Dance123]

Hi,

 

What exactly is "tour support"?! Is this money a record label gives to an artist and is this being determined in the recording contract of the artist?!

 

Acutally I thought that things like performances and tours where being handled by a bookings agency with which you sign a seperate contract, and that record labels would only pay for peformances when they are for promotional purposes?! Since I am a European dance artist/producer who will most likely sign with an independent dance label, I would also like to know if tour support is different between a dance act signed to an independent dance label versus let's say a boysband signed to a major label?!

 

Thanks in advance for all good feedback!

 

Mike.

[joestanman]

Tour support can range from booking, helping with merchandise, to sending out posters, press releases, helping with food and lodging, transportation, setting up promo stuff via radio etc... It could mean just money advanced to a band to pay for some merch and gas. Usually if they are advancing you money they are helping you book, or you are booking shows [or an agent it] that have gurantee's so the label can recoupe.

[BlueStrat]

I always understood the term "tour support" to be record company jargon meaning that you're going to go out and travel a lot and play everywhere you can to support sales of the CD. Generally, it's up to you to have management, transportation, and a solid booking schedule. They usually want to see that you have a means of selling the CD at a regional or national level before they commit to paying for your recording, distribution and promotion/advertising, since an ad in just one national magazine can cost upwards of two or three thousand dollars a month. In short, they want to know that before they put an ad in Rolling Stone that goes out nationwide, and ship your CD out to national distributors (unless they have their own), they want to be assured that the band is going to provide tour support for the CD nationwide.

[joestanman]

Uh, no... Thats not what it is. Unless there is one term for two different things. Many small labels dont offer tour support and leave that too bands. At least this has been my experience.

[LittleBastard]

Tour support is money!

You're a local hit, you sign a record deal but everyone only has $100 to their name, the record company puts up "tour support" which like the record contract, most artists have to pay back.

So what's the money used for? (remember you just got signed and only have a couple of hundred $ in the bank)

Rehersal space, gear, building a stage, moving a stage, lights, sound equipment, a soundman on payroll, one or 2 roadies on payroll, strings, cables, trucks to move your gear, drivers to drive the trucks, motels, food, clothes, 1000 shirts to sell at the shows, and on and on, of course bigger acts have money left over from tour to tour, but when you are starting out and especially as an opening act most times you don't make enough at each gig to cover your expenses and that's when tour support is very important.

I've been on a few Canadian tours with HUGE Canadian acts that only paid us opening acts $250-$500 per night. It was tour support from the record company that let us keep eating and gave us a place to sleep each night as well as keeping our gear opperational.

 

So why do the record companies do it???

Exposure, exposure, exposure.

 

And out of every 100 bands the record company signs, loans the money to make an album and then loans them tour support to tour, after spending all that money only 1 in a hundred earn ANY money for the company. Then consider that 1 act making money is being ripped off on Kazaa and you can see why the record companies want to kill Kazaa.