Tour Schedule/Planner
Tour Schedule/Planner Commentary
This tour plan and the following commentary covers pop-soul artist Tom Coghlan and a five-date debut ‘Spring’ tour taking place in April 2027, following and celebrating the release of his single ‘Spring’. This tour will take place during the Leeds Conservatoire Easter Holidays, where Tom’s study is based (Appendix 1). Tom started making and releasing music with his band during his first year of university. Now going into his third year, he has gained success following frequent releases of songs such as his hit debut ‘Impulse’, leading to him growing in popularity around the country which makes this the perfect time for a debut tour. This tour has been designed to bring in core audiences of Tom and the group but also venture out and increase presence in the live world of pop-soul music.
The capacity of the venues ranges from 120-250, creating an intimate feel in venues such as Whelan’s (120 cap) and Hare & Hounds (150 cap). Higher capacity venues have been chosen in hometowns of some of the band members; Tom with Hertford’s Corn Exchange (250 cap), and drummer Sam with The jam jar in Bristol (240 cap). Finally, although the whole group have a strong audience in Leeds, the smaller, 150 capacity Hyde Park Book Club was chosen. This was due to the feeling that if it gets sold out then it can become one of the best venues in Leeds in terms of atmosphere, being a great way to round off the tour. With the dates being in Leeds Conservatoire holiday time, the tour may still catch a good student audience from each city, with a good mix of locals as well, getting a wide audience in to engage with the music. The support acts chosen are also chosen from that city, with the idea that it brings new audiences to Tom’s music but also brings the band to similar music from around the country. This is in the hope that new connections will be formed with artists and audiences alike.
The route was chosen partially as previously mentioned, but also in an uncomplicated plan in terms of travel distance, going in a rough loop in the order of: Hertford, Bristol, Birmingham, Dublin, Leeds (Appendix 2 and 3).
Having five show nights for a nine-day tour, and a structured loop, potential fatigue related issues are hoped to be minimised. Furthermore, nights sleeping in some of the band members family homes, (nights one, two, three, five, eight and nine), gives some assured relaxation instead of having to worry about accommodation issues. This was also done to limit accommodation costs along the road, while giving a chance to eat food provided by the families, utilise facilities such as washing machines, enabling everyone to carry light. Hostels are being used in Birmingham and Dublin with no other choice (Appendix 4 and 5), partly as there is no other choice, especially in Dublin, but it is good to get some hostel experience for potential future tours, with tighter schedules.
This tour plan accounts for the five band members, drummer Sam acting as a tour manager, with a hired driver becoming a sixth permanent member of the team. This was deemed an important asset, relieving any of the band members having to take up driving responsibilities (appendix 6 and 7). Furthermore, the driver has no other responsibilities, so they can relax when necessary, at any point away from the driving.
There will be external sound engineers hired at Hertford and Dublin with separate costs from any venue related ones, which does leave some unknown in terms of pricing, so I have decided on a fee of £250 based on a commonly decided fee (Last Minute Musicians, 2026), and that they may be in demand, so a reasonable fee should be able to get them on board.
Finally, with a border crossing taking place on this tour, a ferry from Holyhead to Dublin will be used (Appendix 8), (Although the dates shown aren’t exact, there was no travel available for the planned tour dates). To go successfully to Dublin while on tour, from the UK, you must apply for a Carnet, which is used to temporarily use goods for commercial reasons outside the UK (Gov.uk, 2022). This will cover some of our goods such as the instruments as seen in the channel list below.
Cash Flow
Marketing and Promotion
“A polished promotional package will help you stand out from the crowd”, (Musicians Union, 2024).
Tom Coghlan’s ‘Spring’ tour will take on a marketing scheme that has become popular with him and the band but will take it up another level in order to make this debut tour a success.
It has been the case that to promote Tom and his work, he does lots of work on social media such as Instagram and TikTok, posting regular videos of covers, or hints of new songs that are coming out (Tom Coghlan, 2026). This gets consistent interactions and does catch new audiences every now and then.
For this tour, a scheme to create mass posters initially, as well as social media adverts, will be a ploy prior to the tour (Appendix 9 – 9.5). Using the Leeds Conservatoire Library, printings can be made for just £0.09, therefore the choice of printing one thousand of these was taken. Many will be stuck up around university campuses in Leeds, to gain student attention, as well as using the artwork on the posters for the cover when selling online tickets, which will come out early, to try and create a hype for it. Furthermore, with the support acts bringing their audiences, that would likely bring more attention to it.
What will take the promotion the extra mile is getting involved with venues months prior to the shows and asking promoters involved with the venues to promote it or put up posters around venues across the country.
Also, mailing lists are seen as a valuable way to promote (Musicians Union, 2024), getting close friends and family involved with the show, but also closely contacting anyone who has previously purchased a ticket to a Tom Coghlan gig.
Furthermore, there are set media slots as seen on the cashflow, in which there will be PR opportunities, as well as meets with audiences, and potential media formalities, all will hopefully contribute to Tom’s profile as a musician.
Overall, these many techniques in order successfully promote the tour will hopefully do as desired, but there are likely to be things to learn before further tours and shows regarding improving promotion.
Merchandising & Licensing
The upcoming ‘Spring’ tour will be Tom Coghlan’s first time creating and selling merchandise related to his music, it therefore being an important part of the tour. Hare & Hounds and Hyde Park Book Club explicitly stated they had areas to sell merchandise, as well as no fees for it (appendix 10 and 11). This means that the full earnings from the merchandise will go straight to Tom and the band. For this tour we have proposed selling t-shirts and beer mats.
T-shirts were chosen to be sold, as it was thought amongst us, that those who buy a t-shirt, hopefully are fans of Tom, given they may buy it to wear around in daily life. This could be an easier way of gaining publicity, even though t-shirts are a very common merchandise among musicians, with an article from BandZoogle in 2025 ranking them as “number one best merch product to sell” as a musician.
The t-shirts come at a cost of only £2.25 per T-shirt, from Clothes2order, (appendix 12) making them a fairly low risk sale, so we will initially pitch them at £10 per item. If all 250 t-shirts sell, that’s £2500 back, however, with merchandise being an unknown to the band, we have allocated an expected £1750 back from t-shirts being sold at £10, leaving some to spare, which may go on sale for cheaper later on.
Another item that was decided to up on sale were beer mats. A daily use, small, cheap item that anyone can buy, it seems like they could be a good market opportunity. They’re not something that needs to be looked after a lot, and if designed well things like these can become “fan favourites”, (BandZoogle, 2025). Printing 100 of these for £21.22 is very cheap, and we are anticipating that all of them will be sold for £2.50 each come the end of the tour, giving us £250 in revenue (Appendix 13).
Overall, with merchandising being completely new to Tom and the rest of us, finding cheap products to sell to a growing audience across different regions should be a good source of revenue.
Technical & Logistics
Stage Plot
Add your Stage plot in the block below. Please see the exemplar stage plot for reference.
Channel List
Add your PDF in the file block below. Please see the exemplar channel list for reference.
Projections
Music tours are fun, but can be very often challenging and hard, as perfectly summed up by Music Matters Productions (no date), as a “beautiful mess”. There are various difficulties the group can face while on the road.
Firstly, you may encounter problems the venues. For example, disagreements with staff can sour your time at a venue, especially with tours being stressful anyway. Things like broken PA, miscommunications over backline etc which you only find out about on the day. Sometimes, it’s the performance that can be difficult, such as if the sound engineer is late, it can lead to rushed sound checks and loading, (DIY Musician CD Baby, 2022). This could be combined with poorer acoustics than expected, generally leading the performance to be unenjoyable, and if you only have a few shows on the tour, it can be a mood dampener and put on more stress to ensure following shows are better.
Tours can also be carried out on financial tightropes, where lots of money must go into tours, and on the road, money must be looked after extremely carefully. In a 2025 article from DJ Mag, it was stated that from a survey conducted early that year, that 84% of independent artists can’t afford the costs of touring. This shows that setting up tours are hugely risky for smaller artists especially who are trying to compete in an already saturated industry, and they may opt out of tours. In an article from the Guardian in 2024, artist manager Dan Potts said “artists pay for everything on tour – crew, travel, accommodation, food etc.”
Also, last minute cancellations could happen, and sometimes you could be forced to pay a hefty cancellation fee, but luckily none of these venues display obvious cancellation fees. They would be a huge loss for the artist and could sink the whole show into further loss.
Another huge challenge while on tour is mental health issues. This can be a general challenge caused by other factors mentioned previously and things like long hours and poor diets. In an article from AWAL (2026), it mentions in a study of over five hundred artists from the UK, US and Canada that “a far higher risk of stress, suicide and depression than the non-touring population”. When they weren’t on the road, it was reported that 67.9% used alcohol weekly or daily, and over half not seeking help from mental health services.
Overall, there are many challenges that can be faced while on tour, with mental health struggles being the overarching challenge. However, good habits can be used to combat stress while on tour such as light exercise, limiting screen time, and staying hydrated even if diets may not be great (Symphonic Blog, 2026).
Appendix
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Appendix 5
Appendix 6
Appendix 7
Appendix 8
Appendix 9, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5
Appendix 10
Appendix 11
Appendix 12
Appendix 13
Bibliography
AWAL (2026) 11 Artists On Safeguarding Their Headspace During Tour. Available Online: https://www.awal.com/blog/safeguarding-headspace-during-tour/ [Accessed 27/04/2026]
Bandzoogle (2026) 5 best merch products to sell as a musician. Available Online: https://bandzoogle.com/blog/5-best-merch-products-to-sell-as-a-musician [Accessed 30/04/2026]
DIY Musician CD baby (2022) The 8 issues you’ll deal with on tour. Available Online: https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/music-career/tour-problems/ [Accessed 26/04/2026]
DJ Mag (2025) 84% of independent artists in UK can’t afford to tour, survey finds. Available Online: https://djmag.com/news/84-of-independent-artists-uk-cant-afford-tour-survey-finds [Accessed 26/04/2026]
Gov.uk (2022) Apply for an ATA Carnet. Available Online: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-an-ata-carnet [Accessed 30/04/2026]
Guardian (2024) ‘The working class can’t afford it’: the shocking truth about the money bands make on tour. Available Online: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/oct/28/youre-doing-it-purely-for-the-exposure-why-many-musicians-can-no-longer-afford-to-tour [Accessed 26/06/2026]
Coghlan, T (2026) tomcoghlanmusic. [Instagram] [Accessed from 25/05/2026] Available Online: https://www.instagram.com/tomcoghlanmusic/
Last Minute Musicians (2026) Sound Engineer. Available Online: https://www.lastminutemusicians.com/search/sound_engineers.html#:~:text=Most%20professional%20sound%20engineers%20will,companies%20may%20also%20charge%20VAT. [Accessed Online 30/04/2026]
Music Matters Productions (n.d.) Why touring’s hard and why we make it easier. Available Online: https://musicmattersproductions.com/why-tourings-hard-and-why-we-make-it-easier/ [Accessed 26/04/2026]
Musicians Union (2024) Showcasing your music. Available Online: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/career-development/career-guides/marketing-and-promotion/showcasing-your-music [Accessed 30/04/2026]
Symphonic Blog (2026) Managing mental health on tour: practical tips for artists on the road. Available Online: https://blog.symphonic.com/2026/03/04/mental-health-on-tour/ [Accessed 27/04/2026]
