Concerts and Touring
Will Swan – Promoter
The live music industry is a key element of an artist’s career, forming most of their income, it undoubtedly climbs to the top of the list of priorities (Musicians Union, 2025). Being an artist is a challenge, with creativity often being limited due to the need of completing administration tasks, such as booking gigs, organising transport to different venues, arranging rehearsal periods. This is where a tour manager and promoter may come in to minimise the workload for an artist whilst ensuring events run smoothly and are well planned ahead of time. This case study will identify the key responsibilities of both a tour manager and a promoter, as well as analysing and comparing the difference between the two. Specific research was conducted with Alex Balding, the tour manager of Hybrid Minds, Pendulum and Idris Elba, and Will Swan, promoter of Leeds based DJ collective and events company.
A music promoter put simply is explained to be ‘people in the market who hire you for the evening and are responsible for marketing your show and maximising your ticket sales’ (Passman, 2023:395). Under this definition, it can be deduced that a promoter will work closely with an artist to ensure the success of a musical event, pushing it to relevant audiences and maximising ticket sales. The size and expertise of these promoters can vary from local promoters, such as Will Swan as previously mentioned (see Appendix 1), DJ LUBI, who is a local ‘music of black origin’ promoter in Leeds, all the way up to Live Nation and AEG who are large scale businesses that host entire tours (Passman, 2023). Despite differing in size, their core roles remain the same.
A key aspect for a promoter to consider is the type of venue to book in relation to the artist they will be hosting. DJ LUBI detailed in his guest lecture on Tuesday 25th November 2025, that he is particularly selective on venues based upon a variation of factors, including time of year, audience demographics, genre of act and location. Vocalists or brass acts tend to be booked for Brudenell, in contrast to Belgrave where their ‘bass heavy’ sound system is less preferential for these acts. Due to the larger capacity of 400 standing tickets, larger acts such as Nubiyan Twist and Ezra Collective typically play in these venues, in comparison to the smaller more intimate venues of Hyde Park Book Club, where their capacities vary from 45 seated in the Snug, to 150 standing in the main basement room, as per their guidelines listed in the venue pack (HPBC, n.d). Something worthy of consideration is the location of a venue. It is important to note that the Brudenell is incomparable to The Attic, as Brudenell is in central Hyde Park with a large student population, whereas the latter is in Hunslet, where public transport is limited and the lack of public parking spaces makes it increasingly less accessible. With all these variables acknowledged, it is important for a promoter to research all these factors on a regular basis to ensure the most profitable outcome when hosting an event.
A further crucial role of a music promoter is creating a stable budget plan, as noted in Berklee (2019) “every job begins with budgeting.” Being a music promoter comes with risks, the largest arguably being that the show doesn’t sell as well as anticipated, but the expenses remain the same. As detailed by LUBI, advanced ticket sales are not performing as well as they used to on a grassroots level, with him having to make the unfortunate decision of cancelling an upcoming gig due to selling a total of three tickets with ten days until the event. In contrast, larger scale tours, such as the upcoming ‘Good Dye Young Presents: Hayley Williams At A Bachelorette Party, advanced tickets are desired, whereby the entire 43 date tour entirely sold out the day of ticket release (The Scene, 2025).
Alex Balding – Tour Manager
According to Rutter (2010:72), “The primary role of a tour manager is to control logistical operations on the road and to ensure the smooth running of the tour”. Essentially in control of operations from start to finish, after the promoter has sent the contract over detailing advance payments, dates, times and so forth. After speaking with tour manager Alex Balding, it can be concluded that the main roles of a tour manager are logistics planning, creating rigid schedules for the artists and their teams, and accounting for any potential cancellations or disruptions, and budgeting (see Appendix 2). Though they don’t act as the booker of a tour, they are the next significant individual when it comes to execution of the tour.
To further understand this job role, one must identify the non-negotiable aspects when it comes to acting as a tour manager. Firstly, Alex identified the importance of logistics planning prior to touring, as well as during and post tour. Atkins (2007:38) goes further to explain that there are multiple factors to consider when touring, including weather patterns, expenditure, other touring shows that are on in the same period, competitor venues and audience demographics. As an example, a tour manager may decide not to tour their band at the same time and area as Glastonbury, as there is a likely chance ticket sales won’t go as planned, resulting in a loss in profit or the cancellation of a show. It is also important to note that a tour manager must be planning months in advance to execute an event successfully. This may include, but is not limited to, enquiring about hotel prices and transportation, booking flights before the price rises, and ensuring musicians have a free schedule for the intended dates.
An additional quality that a tour manager should possess is precise time management skills. Due to the nature of the job, there is little to no room for error when it comes to transfers or stage timings. So, it is essential that someone embarking on a career in this field is “highly flexible with good organisation skills” (Rutter 2010). Often, on a larger scale tour, the team is extended to include dancers, backing vocalists, truck drivers, crew managers, lighting and sound technicians, catering and physical therapists, and these people need to be supervised. Alex explained that ‘touring with bands is so difficult because suddenly you have 40 crew members and you have to keep them all happy’ (see Appendix 2), and this is true in most cases that a tour manager must ensure everyone on the road is content.
Financial implications must be considered as a tour manager. Tour managers often get a day rate of around £100-£200, as explained in a guest lecture from Grace Stubbings, Synth player in The Venus Grrrls on November 18th, 2025, however this can be an unreliable source of income if there are inconsistencies. Some tour managers will be on a salary, like Alex explained, so there will be the security of a regular income, but then the added stress of going on tour outside of working hours which may be quite exhausting for some.
A tour manager is also responsible for all finances on the road, including “collecting the money after each show, reviewing the promoter’s accounting on the night of the show (settlement), and depositing the dough in the right place” (Passman, 2023:394). Arguably, the financial handling of a tour is most important, as crew and artists need to be paid to make a living.
To conclude, both promoters and tour managers are essential for the success of an event, but their core responsibilities differ significantly. The promoter will begin the event, planning a venue, lineup and pushing ticket sales and advertisement right up until the event date. A tour manager, however, is responsible for the logistics on the ground, and are largely responsible for the execution of an event. Though they do not work together, their organisation and communication skills as a team are crucial for live music events to go as planned and even exceed sales and expectations to progress as an industry.
Role Comparison
To contextualise the roles mentioned above, I have planned a theoretical event utilising a budget and settlement sheet, as provided below. My hypothetical event is ‘The North,’ at Hyde Park Book Club in the basement, on February 6th, 2025. The event is a showcase of the finest alternative acts across Leeds, with ‘The North’ being headliner, and ‘Imaginary Husband’ as the support act.
I will act as the role of the promoter, fulfilling my role of booking the venue, curating the artist lineup and promoting the event to potential audiences. As this is a standalone event, there will be no tour manager for this show, but could be considered in the future if this were to be part of a tour. I have a hypothetical budget of £1,200, which will cover all payments including venue hire, band payments and other expenses.
The basement has a maximum capacity of 150 standing, of which this space will be offered on 140, with 10 tickets as holds for journalists, photographers & videographers, and label representatives or A&Rs. This venue seemed best suited for the genre of all acts being indie/rock, and the audience size, as The North have previously sold-out Oporto at a capacity of 125, so the larger capacity of 150 is doable. Tickets will be fairly priced at £10 for advanced sales, and £15 on the door, which is appropriate for the venue and gig pricing for other shows around a similar time. I aim to sell 80 tickets in advance, and a further 60 on the door (aspiring for the event to sell out). If there are tickets left on the door before the main act starts, I will price these down to £5, in the hopes it incentivises people to come and achieving the sell-out gig.
As per the Hyde Park Book Club venue pack, the venue hire for the basement is £175 + VAT, which includes the hire of a sound engineer for the evening, and PRS fees. As an estimate, we can budget around £210 for this, as the standard VAT rate is 20%. PA systems will be provided with this, as well as various amps, monitors, speakers, lighting equipment and microphones (HPBC n.d). Backline is not provided, but this can be sourced from performance resources at Leeds Conservatoire free of charge, with an average transportation cost of £25 for an Uber ExecXXL there and back, with excess added for extra leeway. This will leave £965 in my budget.
Due to the calibre of the headline act, they will receive a fixed guarantee of £300, and the support receiving a fixed guarantee of £150 each. I have opted for a flat fee rather than percentage deal as this is a guaranteed payment for all acts regardless of ticket sales, which is preferable and morally correct for a gig of this size. This will leave £515 in my budget.
As for marketing, local advertisement will be used in the form of posters distributed around Leeds. National marketing is not necessary as the audience demographic is largely exclusive to Leeds. The posters will be designed by myself, utilising a Canva+ subscription costing £14 for one month. I will print out 50 posters at 9p each, using the printing facilities at the Conservatoire, totalling £4.50, and then distributing them myself around all the Universities in Leeds to further diversify the audience and reach. For targeted social media advertisement, I have budgeted £5 daily for 5 days before the gig to reach between 9000-11000, 18–35-year-olds across the region. As a precautionary measure, I have allowed an extra 20% of this to account for any unexpected fees for this distribution. The total of the advertisement will come to £48.50, taking my budget down to £466.50.
The remaining costs to consider are £140 for a photographer, an extra £50 to cover any unexpected fees, and £30 to provide a rider in the dressing room. Costs such as security, venue staff and box office were kept at £0 as friends will be available to help free of charge, helping keep my costs minimal. These may be incurred for events of a bigger scale in the future. This takes my total costs to £953.50 and remaining budget of £246.50. To break even on these costs, ticket sales must exceed 95.
As observed from my settlement sheet, I sold 94 tickets in advance, 43 door one sales, and the remaining 3 tickets were sold at the reduced rate of £5, resulting in a sell out event. The total gross was £1600, which if I deduct the fixed costs mentioned above of £953.50, I have a net profit of £646.50 which will be recouped by myself as the promoter. To conclude, the research conducted on both tour managers and promoters has enabled the creation of a successful budget, resulting in a sell out hypothetical gig.
Show Budget
Final Settlement Sheet
Bibliography
Atkins, M. (2007) Tour:Smart: and break the band. Chicago, Smart books.
Berklee (2019). Concert Promoter / Berklee College of Music. [online]. Available at: https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/concert-promoter
Janovic, L. (2025) Informal conversation with the promoter, [Leeds Conservatoire], 25 November.
Musicians Union (2025) Live Musicians’ Representation / Musicians’ Union. [online] Available at: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/about-the-mu/how-the-mu-works/music-industry- sections/live-performance-section [Accessed 27 November 2025].
Oporto (2021) Venue Pack [online] Available at: https://www.oportobar.co.uk [Accessed 28 November 2025].
Passman, D. (2023) All you need to know about the music business 11th edition. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Rutter, P. (2010) The Music Industry Handbook, 2nd edition. London, Routledge.
Stubbings, G. (2025) Informal conversation with the instrumentalist, [Leeds Conservatoire], 18 November.
The Scene. (2025) Hayley Williams sells out – in the best possible way [Blog post]. The Scene / SceneMusicMedia. 17 November. Available at: https://www.scenemusicmedia.com/news/hayley-williams-sells-out?srsltid=AfmBOoqgNYvqPrXt_HAjq5bp-XI0oCagcIjH58LOAkKvU5Wlw7ZmjPYK [Accessed 27 November 2025].
HPBC (n.d) Hyde Park Book Club Venue Pack [online] Available at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55b75d7ce4b03ad201aaf970/t/66df16217ccb5e7bf46f005f/1725896239215/HPBC+Venu+pack+summer+2024.pdf [Accessed 28 November 2025].
Appendices
