The live music industry relies on many different roles to deliver high calibre performances to audiences.  In this essay I will explore two essential positions: the promoter and tour manager, and why they are necessary for the live music industry. This essay examines the responsibilities and legal obligations of both roles as well as how they contribute to delivering live music events. I will also be creating a hypothetical event and will use this to compare and contextualise the need for both a promoter and tour manager in modern live music. 

PROMOTER

A promoter’s role is to connect artists, venues and audiences with one another. They do this by planning and executing live performances in a way that is financially beneficial for the artist and venue, as well as entertaining for the audience attending the performance. This is achieved through planning and organisation, including choosing a suitable venue, booking artists, sorting out dates, and creating contracts with performers and venues. As well as arranging the artist and venue, the promoter must collaborate with the tour manager on logistics such as travel, accommodation for artists, and technical production like sound and lighting. Once these elements are sorted, the promoter must market the event. 

First of all, a promoter must find an artist to promote. Promoters can find artists by searching online and contacting them via social media or email. They could also use websites such as GigPig to find artists that tailor specifically to their interest (GigPig 2025). Alternatively, artists can find promoters for themselves through similar methods by explaining their genre and sending their EPK (Booking-Agent.io 2024).

Once the promoter has an artist, they must do extensive market research. The promoter must understand the band’s genre, target audience and branding in order to find a suitable venue and create an event that aligns with the artist’s brand. The choice of venue has a huge impact on the success of the event as, for example, incorrect capacity can lead to under or overcrowding. The venue must also attract the correct demographic which matches that of the artist.

Once a promoter has both an artist and an ideal venue, they must contact the venue manager. The promoter usually sends an email including the artist’s genre, expected audience size and preferred date along with the artist’s EPK and any technical requirements.

If the venue is interested, the promoter and venue will begin negotiating. They will discuss financial arrangements such as hire fees, bar splits or percentage deals. I conducted an interview with Tony, the General Manager at the Howard Assembly Rooms where Tony explained that usually the artist would have to sell a certain number of tickets to receive a percentage of ticket revenue, and in some cases if a certain figure was raised from the bar the artist would get a percentage of the bar tab. This gave insight into the deals that promoters negotiate and the entrepreneurial aspect of the role.

As well as financial agreements, technical specifications and logistical considerations such as staffing, security and load-in times would be negotiated. Once both parties agree on the terms, the venue will issue a contract or hire agreement which the promoter will sign on behalf of the event.

Once the contract is signed and the venue is confirmed, the promoter will work with the artist’s tour manager to formalise the artist’s performance through an artist contract, which includes payment terms and technical needs. Promoters must consider every possible source of income and expense surrounding the event to calculate profitability. Berklee College of Music states, “Promotion is at heart a numbers game, and since promoters assume all of the financial risk for the shows they put on, they have to be sure that the event will be profitable” (Berklee College of Music, 2025).

The promoter must then work on marketing the event. A key strategy is posting promotional content on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook such as posters, behind-the-scenes videos and interviews. Promoters could also use paid ad campaigns aimed at the target audience (M. Bagwell, Oct 2025). As well as this, traditional methods such as posters and flyers can reach a local audience (A. Fatima, July 2024). Promoters could also contact radio stations or local newspapers to publish articles about the event (B. Jacklin, Feb 2019).

After marketing, the promoter will focus on the execution of the event. This consists of managing logistical and technical operations alongside the tour manager. This could include securing any staff or technical requirements. The promoter will also create a schedule for the day consisting of the essential processes such as load-in, sound check, performance times etc… allowing coordination between all parties (Berklee 2025). The promoter is also responsible for ensuring public liability insurance is in place, safeguarding audience welfare, and complying with licensing conditions under the Licensing Act 2003 (UK Government, 2003).

Finally, once the event is complete, the promoter will complete the settlement sheet and evaluate statistics from the event such as attendance, revenue and costs. The settlement sheet documents the final financial outcome in order to settle all payments and calculate the profit or loss.

TOUR MANAGER

While the promoter focuses on the business risk and creation of an event, the tour manager is responsible for the logistical execution of a tour or show. Once an artist’s tour is confirmed by a promoter, the tour manager makes the event happen logistically—from travel and accommodation to the production detail and technicalities of the event to final settlements (LiveMusicBusiness, 2024). Overall, the tour manager’s job is to take all responsibilities off of the artist so that they can focus solely on the performance.

The first thing a tour manager will do is create a comprehensive tour itinerary and budget. This would include all costs and timings of everything such as travel arrangements, accommodation, equipment, meals etc. This budget is created after calculating an expected income from ticket sales to ensure financial stability (LiveMusicBusiness, 2024).

As well as this, the tour manager will be in communication with promoters in order to confirm dates, arrival times, any technical requirements, schedules etc. (Music Gateway, 2024). It is important that the tour manager figures any potential issues such as equipment, capacity or curfews which must be resolved before the tour begins. This is so that the artist can stay focused solely on performance, so that the gig runs smoothly and ends up profitable for all parties involved. Tour managers play a key role in ensuring contracts, hospitality riders, and technical riders are all suitable for the artist. They converse with promoters to confirm that agreed sound systems, lighting, staffing, and payments are all clarified and can be met. If promoters breach these agreements, the tour manager must negotiate solutions that protect the artist’s interests (Passman, 2023).

Tour managers also must ensure that all parties involved with the tour/event are in compliance with employment laws and working times (Musicians’ Union, 2022). This involves monitoring crew working hours in order to prevent breaches of the UK Working Time Regulations. This can include tracking rest periods, driving limits, and excessive shift lengths because touring schedules are often intense and irregular. The tour manager must ensure safe working conditions and address any health or travel risks that could affect the artists or crew. They are also responsible for ensuring that all freelance and contracted staff are paid fairly and work within legal guidelines. When touring internationally, these responsibilities are extended to making sure visa requirements, customs rules, and local labour laws are met by all staff and crew. All of these requirements need to be extremely calculated prior to the tour/event to prevent delays or cancelled performances.

On the night of an event the tour manager must coordinate with the promoter to ensure that everything, logistically, runs smoothly. They will ensure the load-in and setup happens on track with the schedule as well as making sure the technical aspects of the event and sound check are in line with the artist’s requirements. They will also have to deal with and correct any errors or challenges that the venue/band may face such as technical failures or delays. The tour manager will basically be a communicator and is in charge of relaying information between artist, promoter, and venue and ensuring that all parties are coordinated with one another and aligned with the tour manager’s schedule. After speaking with Grace Stubbings, member of VENUS GRRRLS, she explained how in her experiences, having a tour manager makes the touring process much less stressful for the band leading to better performances. Not only this, having someone specifically qualified to handle the financial, technical, and logistical aspects of tour leads to higher quality planning and production of events.

After the tour/event is over, the tour manager will finalise all financial responsibilities such as settlement payments and ensure all crew and musicians receive the agreed fees. They will then review the tour/event and make note of any issues that occurred during the tour for future improvements. This post-tour evaluation is essential for refining planning, budgeting, logistics etc. for future tours (Pohlmann, 2020)

HYPOTHETICAL EVENT

The hypothetical event is a grassroots, jazz jam night held at Casa Leeds. Casa is a restaurant in the city centre of Leeds which has upstairs venue, with a capacity of approximately 250. A promoter would research the area for different venues such as Casa, Hyde Park Book Club, the Howard assembly rooms etc… They would then get in contact with venues to gain further information such as capacity, logistics and discuss the financial aspects of the proposed event. I thought that Casa would be perfect for hosting a jazz jam as after interviewing some of my peers at Leeds Conservatoire, I discovered that the owners of Casa are known for supporting small artists and have previously hosted jazz jams.

Following an interview with the venue managers David and Marta, they assured me that they would not charge any hire costs for the venue as long as a bar spend of £500 is achieved. David stated, “We don’t charge hire as long as the night is properly marketed brings people in and the bar does well. That’s our business model.” As well as this, they stated that I (the promoter) would be able to keep all profit from the ticket sales. This is an example of the negotiations between promoters and venues to create a plan and contractual agreement for an event. 

Equipment wise, Casa only has a stand-up piano so the promoter would have to provide a drumkit, amps and mics. They would find a source to hire this equipment, calculate the cost, and add the costs into a budget sheet.

To establish an identity for the night and to drive ticket sales, the event would have a jazz band playing at the start of the night before the jam session. This sets a professional tone for the event and would attract audience members who are willing to pay just for the atmosphere and experience of the event. The promoter would be responsible for sourcing the band, negotiating their fee and working out the logistics such as transportation costs. For payment, I will be agreeing a percentage break contract with the artist as opposed to a flat fee as it reduces the financial risk if the ticket sales are not as anticipated.

The promoter’s marketing strategy for the jazz jam at Casa would be a mixture of digital and physical approaches. Social media posts would target the community from Leeds Conservatoire and local music fans. As well as this, posters can be placed around the city centre as well as the Conservatoire and University of Leeds. This would reach allow the event to reach a larger audience and maximise ticket sales. Because Casa already has an audience base, David and Marta expressed that promotion through the venue’s own channels would also significantly increase visibility. This reinforces how the promoter plays a central role in ticket sales and financial viability.

On the logistical side of the event, a tour manager would be essential, even for a small-scale event like this. Their responsibilities would begin before the show such as coordinating arrival times for the starting band and ensuring the stage layout is suitable for both the performance and jam session. Because this event will be using hired equipment, the tour manager must ensure that it is all tested before doors open. This is to prevent any risks or challenges the event may face. The tour manager would also oversee all of the technical requirements and working conditions, ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations.

The promoter and tour manager roles overlap slightly but the promoter focuses primarily on planning the event and assuming all of the financial risk of the event. The tour manager ensures that on the night, everything runs safely and according to the plan the promoter established. This hypothetical event shows how both roles are highly significant to one another: the promoter creates the conditions for a successful show, while the tour manager delivers the show itself. Together, they would ensure that the jazz jam at Casa is enjoyable for the audience, financially viable and professionally executed.

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