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Possible tour strategy?


sabriel9v

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What do you think of this tour strategy? For a year or two, play a tri city area and slowly increase that parameter. Afterwards, skip any kind of a national tour, and just go international. You could pick a particular country or region and do a two week tour there. Has anybody tried this?

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What do you think of this tour strategy? For a year or two, play a tri city area and slowly increase that parameter. Afterwards, skip any kind of a national tour, and just go international. You could pick a particular country or region and do a two week tour there. Has anybody tried this?

 

 

It's been done, but not without some strong support.

 

There was a band from Denver called The Gamits that were always a pretty big deal locally, but never did any serious touring outside of the region.

 

Well, they also had a distro deal in Japan, which was just pretty cool at first, but after a couple of years garnered quite a fan base. So, they ended up touring over there a couple of times a year playing four or five packed shows at a time for a bunch of money.

 

But they also had a Japanese label, you know? People that had a vested interest in their success and took it upon themselves to book and promote the shows, rent equipment, acquire work visas, and bus these guys around. I'm not sure it's technically possible as an independent band...

 

http://www.myspace.com/thegamits

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chances are(pending an int'l deal such as a jap label) if you haven't done a national tour, you don't have the fanbase internationally to tour, so i doubt this would work out well. With that being said, I do however know a band that has toured the UK for a week without a record deal there or in the states and it seemed to have been successful for them

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International?

 

There's really only two practical ways to do this:

 

1. Secure a record deal overseas and subsidize a tour. (already mentioned)

 

2. Get a bandmember with rich parents.

 

As a matter of fact, just having a mate with rich parents is recommended overall. Makes things much easier, I would think...

 

Seriously though, it can be done, but if you're looking to do it entirely independently...:idk: Something tells me it can't end well.

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First get your local fanbase up which means people within a 150 mile radius and once you have a large following with that do a regional tour. Once this is done you can do whatever you want but unless you have a huge following it is not going to translate over into international markets. You could go on an "international" tour day one if you focused marketing efforts into the area that you are wanting to tour in to get your fanbase up there. The internet has helped a lot with this in using new media aspects to really get a following in any country in the world.

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To tour internationally, you should have either a record label which is releasing your material over there (and people buying said material), or be on a record label which has a big following wherever you are planning on touring (ie: a lot of people buying import material over there from your label), or be part of a genre that in general has an enthusiastic following over there.

 

Other than that, I think it is pretty much common sense... you start small and then go bigger. I would tend to think naturally the progression would be to do at least a few larger regional or multiregional tours (ie: east coast, southern, and midwest) before you go on to doing an overseas tour.

 

However, usually these kind of things can't be planned exactly. Usually touring overseas, if it you don't want it to be a money pit of a disaster, should be something that you come across as an opportunity, not as a plan - ie: someone is psyched enough about your band to INVITE you to their country/region, and help organize things for you there, and you take advantage of that opportunity. This is more likely to happen if you already have yourself established here first.

 

If it arises on its own, it is more likely that the conditions are right for it to occur (and there are people overseas who are eager to see your band). If you try to make it happen without the support of "the fates," it could just be a really expensive vacation!

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It can be done and has been done. (Perimeter, not parameter, though)
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Generally, after you have your local stuff together, the best approach is to get a label deal in another country and have the label subsidize a tour over there.

 

Do you know anyone who has secured distribution on an international scale? If so, how did they accomplish that task?

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Do you know anyone who has secured distribution on an international scale? If so, how did they accomplish that task?

 

 

One thing that's very common is a U.S. label exchanging the rights to one of their bands with the rights to a band on an international label. Just a bunch of mutual back scratching that's generally in the best interests of everyone involved.

 

European and Japanese labels will also pay licensing fees to U.S. labels for bands they feel will sell well in their country.

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Do you know anyone who has secured distribution on an international scale? If so, how did they accomplish that task?

 

 

Yes. It was prevalent for punk and metal acts in the 70s and 80s. Sometimes, it was a master purchase deal, other times a P&D (pressing and distribution). I know a few blues and jazz guys who recently got deals like that -- I'm not much into the alt/indie scene, but I imagine there are more opportunities in that genre.

 

Like any other record deal, expect to get porked on the royalties, and grab whatever advance you can get up front. If it's a tour support deal, get the advance before you leave.

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All of this really fascinates me. I've had a couple friends tour Europe before, but I have no clue as to how they did it, who booked it, etc. Honestly, their tours weren't too successful. Essentially, they were expensive vacations. Nonetheless, I would love to play my music on an international scale just to be exposed to different cultures and lifestyles...I wouldn't even need to perform in front of 200 people.

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