SHR5E018P~002 01234567 Tour Plan & Commentary Template
Tour Schedule/Planner
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Tour Schedule/Planner Commentary
The Tour Plan and Rationale
This essay will outline the planning and reasoning behind the UK and EU tour for the band The Mallards, an unsigned indie four piece rock band from Leeds, it covers the tour plan, logistics, licensing and issues related with the tour. All supporting documents are attached.
The Mallards are a four piece indie rock band from Leeds who have built up a following through local self promoted gigs in West Yorkshire. They have two songs on Spotify and other streaming platforms sitting at around 9,000 streams in total and a combined social media following of around 5,000 across TikTok and Instagram. This will be their first multi-city tour but they have a lot of experience playing venues in and around Leeds, which means they understand how to put on a good show and handle the pressure of performing live. The point of this tour is not to turn a massive profit, it is to get known in new cities and make connections. Waddell et al. (2007) backs this up by saying touring at this level is about audience growth not profit. The cash flow also shows this, the band only breaks even when merch is included, which is normal and expected at this level.
October was chosen because it is after the festival season so there is less competition for audiences at small venues, and it is a cheaper month for booking transport and accommodation. Passman (2019) states that autumn is one of the better times for independent touring at this level. October also works well because students are back at university in all five cities, which means there are more young people around who are likely to come to indie gigs. The venues confirmed availability when contacted directly (Appendices A–E).
The venues were chosen to suit the band’s musical style and give them a strong opportunity to reach new audiences. Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds has a 120 person cap and as the home city this gives the best chance of a strong start and good momentum going into the tour. It is also a venue the band already knows well so there is no risk of a bad first show on unfamiliar ground. Hare and Hounds in Birmingham has a 150 person cap and a good indie reputation in Kings Heath, with a 70/30 deal confirmed in the email reply (Appendix B). The Grace in London has a 200 person capacity which makes sense given it is a bigger city, and London is the centre of the music industry in the UK so people from record labels or promoters could be there looking for new talent. Paradiso Upstairs in Amsterdam is smaller but has real respect within the industry and is a realistic venue for a band without an existing following there. YES Basement in Manchester closes the tour at 150 capacity, Manchester has a strong indie scene and is close to Leeds so some fans may travel, and the momentum built across the earlier dates could carry into the final show.
Ticket prices are £6 in Leeds, £7 in Birmingham and Manchester, and £8 in London and Amsterdam. These reflect what people in each city normally pay at this venue level (LIVE, 2023). The 30% venue cut applies everywhere and was confirmed in the venue emails. Net ticket income after cuts is £2,807, shown in the cash flow spreadsheet. Rutter (2016) identifies the 100–300 capacity tier as the right entry point for unsigned acts building a national profile, and all five venues sit in that range.
Transport across the UK runs on a hired Ford Transit van for 8 days at £600, with £300 for fuel and £70 for tolls. The route goes Leeds to Birmingham to London, then four easyJet tickets to Amsterdam at £240 total. Flying was chosen as it is more time efficient and cost effective than driving, and the time saved means the band arrive in Amsterdam with more energy ahead of the show. Local transport in Amsterdam costs around £60, bringing total transport to around £1,300.
As the band is travelling to Europe there are requirements that must be sorted at least four weeks before the tour. They need an ATA Carnet to take equipment into the EU without paying customs charges, which costs £85 applied through the London Chamber of Commerce. They also need a Netherlands work permit, which UK artists have legally required since Brexit, arranged through the promoter for around £50. The Featured Artists Coalition (2021) says these are the most commonly missed things by UK acts going into Europe. Paradiso confirmed in their email reply (Appendix D) that the carnet must be shown to production on arrival. Both costs are in the cash flow spreadsheet.
Accommodation totals £460 across the four non-Leeds nights: £100 in Birmingham, £140 in London, £120 in Amsterdam and £100 in Manchester (see Appendices F–I). Leeds requires nothing as the band stay at home. Keeping accommodation costs low was a priority because it is one of the areas where touring bands at this level tend to overspend (Music Venue Trust, 2023).
Cash Flow
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Financial Commentary
Financial Commentary
The money coming in across the five dates splits into three areas; ticket sales, merchandise and sponsorship.The breakdown is in the cash flow spreadsheet. Merch profit across the three product lines totals £1,350 against a production cost of £600 paid before the tour begins. The sponsorship deal with the streetwear brand contributes a further £200 pre-tour. Combined, total projected income is approximately £4,357.
Total projected costs across the tour come to approximately £3,195.Transport is the biggest cost at £1300, covering van hire for eight days at £600, fuel at £300, parking and tolls at £70, four easyJet tickets to Amsterdam at £240 and local Amsterdam transport at £60. Accommodation across the four non-Leeds nights totals £460, shown in the airbnb screen shots in appendices F to I. Marketing spend totals £230 across paid Meta ads, physical poster printing and content creation. The merch production cost of £600 is treated as a pre-tour outgoing rather than an income deduction. Post-Brexit requirements for the Amsterdam date add £135 to the pre-tour costs £85 for the ATA Carnet and £50 for the Netherlands work permit. A £150 emergency fund is held in reserve. Food for four people across the full eleven days is budgeted at £320.
On these projections the tour returns a net profit of approximately £1,162, though this figure is only positive because merch income is included. Ticket income alone does not cover costs, which Waddell et al. (2007) say is normal for an emerging act at this stage of their career. The tour was never meant to make big money, it is about getting the band known in new places.
One thing worth flagging in the cash flow is when the money goes out versus when it comes in. The majority of costs van hire, flights, merch production, the ATA Carnet, marketing and venue deposits are paid out in the weeks before the tour begins, before any ticket or merch income is received. Most of the spending happens before the tour even starts, which means the band need either savings or the £200 sponsorship income in place before departure to avoid a cash deficit at the start of the route, which is why securing the sponsorship contract at least six weeks before the first date which is why it comes up as a risk in the pitfalls section.
Technical & Logistics
Stage Plot
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Channel List
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Logistics
Technical Requirements and Logistics
The Mallards are a four piece indie rock band made up of drums, bass, lead guitar and rhythm guitar with lead vocals. The band travel with their own guitars, bass and pedal boards to every show, which keeps the load light and means there is less risk of anything getting damaged on the road. All other backline is requested from the venue at each date, including a full acoustic drum kit, two guitar combo amps and a bass amp with 4×10 cabinet, as detailed in the rider document (Appendix K).Most bands at this level hire backline from venues as it’s cheaper and far less hassle than loading a drum kit into a van every night.
The Amsterdam date is the exception. Because the band is flying rather than driving,taking a full backline is not an option. Local backline hire has been arranged in advance through Paradiso’s production team, with the cost of amp hire budgeted at £50 in the cash flow spreadsheet. This was confirmed in the venue’s email reply (Appendix D), which noted that local hire can be arranged through them at additional cost. Paradiso also requires the ATA Carnet to be presented to production on arrival, covering the band’s own instruments and personal equipment entering the EU.
The stage plot (Appendix L) shows the standard layout used across all five dates. Drums sit back centre on a riser, bass player back left, lead guitar back right, and the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist front centre. This puts the drummer at the back where they need to be, separates the two guitarists to avoid monitor bleed, and keeps the vocalist front and centre. The channel list (Appendix M) runs to 18 inputs, covering the full drum kit across nine channels, bass DI and amp mic, two channels per guitarist and a lead vocal plus backing vocal channel, with two FX returns patched at front of house.
All five venues confirmed in-house PA systems and FOH engineers in their email replies (Appendices A to E), meaning the band does not need to hire or transport additional sound equipment. This keeps costs down and means there is one less thing to sort before each show. The Grace in London had the best setup of the five venues, with a full lighting rig confirmed. While Paradiso Upstairs offers full in-house production. Rutter (2016) notes that clear technical communication between touring acts and venue production teams is one of the best ways to stop things going wrong on the day, which is why the channel list and stage plot are sent to each venue in advance of the date.
Projections
Pitfalls and Tour Manager Action Points
The biggest financial risk is tickets not selling well enough. If average sell-through drops to 60% across all shows, ticket income falls from £2,807 to roughly £1,684 and the tour makes a loss before merch is counted. Two weeks before each show the tour manager should push reduced price tickets to the email list, boost Meta ads and reach out to student unions in the city. The second financial risk is the sponsorship falling through, the £200 only counts as income once a signed contract exists, so a contract must be in place no later than six weeks before the first date.
There are logistical risks too. If the van breaks down, AA or RAC cover is included in the hire and the tour manager keeps the number of the nearest van hire depot in each city saved in case a replacement is needed quickly. If flights are cancelled for the Amsterdam leg, Eurostar from London St Pancras to Amsterdam Centraal is the backup plan, with Eurotunnel as another option if the van needs to cross. Spare parts will be brought for the trip and music shops in each city are looked up before the tour starts in case anything needs fixing on the day. The ATA carnet is probably the most serious risk on the whole tour, if paperwork is wrong at the Dutch border , equipment could be held at customs and the Amsterdam show cancelled entirely, which means losing £448 and likely burning the relationship with Paradiso. This is why the carnet must be applied for at least four weeks before departure and all paperwork checked by the tour manager before the band flies. Venue cancellation is another risk; all five venues have signed contracts with a 50% cancellation fee clause, and the tour manager has a list of backup venues for each city in case a last minute replacement is needed. Merch getting lost or stolen is also something to think about, stock is locked in the van overnight at every date and a full count is done before and after each show so if anything goes missing it gets noticed straight away.
Gross and Musgrave (2020) researched musician mental health specifically and found touring fatigue is one of the biggest things that gets overlooked for artists at grassroots level. To combat this, rest mornings are built into every show day and there are no back to back overnight drives on the route. The tour manager will do a daily check-in with the band to make sure everyone is okay, and hotel accommodation is booked for all non-Leeds nights so the band are not sleeping in the van. Keeping the band in good shape mentally and physically is just as important as the logistics because a tired or unhappy band will not put on a good show.
Bibliography
BPI (2024) BPI Annual Report 2024. London: BPI. Available at: bpi.co.uk
BUMA/STEMRA (2023) Live performance royalties. Available at: bumastemra.nl (Accessed: March 2026).
Featured Artists Coalition (2021) Brexit and Touring: A Guide for UK Musicians. London: FAC. Available at: featured-artists.org
Gross, S.A. and Musgrave, G. (2020) Can Music Make You Sick? Measuring the Price of Musical Ambition. London: University of Westminster Press.
HMRC (2021) Taking goods out of the UK temporarily. London: HM Revenue and Customs. Available at: gov.uk (Accessed: March 2026).
HMRC (2023) VAT registration thresholds. London: HM Revenue and Customs. Available at: gov.uk (Accessed: March 2026).
LIVE (2023) UK Live Music Census Data. London: LIVE. Available at: livemusic.biz
London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2024) ATA Carnet applications. London: LCCI. Available at: londonchamber.co.uk (Accessed: March 2026).
Music Venue Trust (2023) Venues at Risk: Annual Review. London: MVT. Available at: musicvenuetrust.com
Passman, D.S. (2019) All You Need to Know About the Music Business. 10th edn. New York: Simon and Schuster.
PPL (2024) Performer membership. London: PPL. Available at: ppluk.com (Accessed: March 2026).
PRS for Music (2024) Live music licensing. London: PRS. Available at: prsformusic.com (Accessed: March 2026).
Rutter, P. (2016) The Music Industry Handbook. 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.
SDVH (2024) Ford Transit van hire UK. Available at: sdvh.co.uk (Accessed: March 2026).
Stayokay (2024) Amsterdam Centrum hostel. Available at: stayokay.com (Accessed: March 2026).
Waddell, R., Barnet, R. and Berry, J. (2007) This Business of Concert Promotion and Touring. New York: Billboard Books.
Supporting Documents
