Promoter
The music industry is a longstanding artistic and economic cornerstone which, since the turn of the 20th century, has played an increasingly integral role in the makeup of British cultural identity. So much so that, after an exponential 2% growth in employment, the industry now employs 220,000 people as of 2025 (Kiehl, 2025).
There are myriad roles vital to this sector’s functionality, but two roles in particular that will be examined in this case study are promoters and tour managers. In this body of work, the various duties, responsibilities and challenges posed to those in these positions shall be explored, with reference made to interviews conducted with two West Yorkshire-based professionals, promoter Lubomir Jovanovic (Appendix 1) and tour manager Sadie O’Donoghue (Appendix 2).
In a figurative sense, Jovanovic explains that a promoter is a professional who “makes live music happen anywhere and everywhere” (2025, see Appendix 1). More literally however, a promoter has four main responsibilities: booking the talent, booking the venue, advertising the event and selling tickets for it. The task of promoting gigs can vary from in-house promoters who work for venues themselves, to independent promoters like Lubomir Jovanovic, to bands promoting their gigs themselves. But artists and bands, as Jovanovic says “are too busy… making the music so putting their own shows on or tours just adds to their workload” (2025, see Appendix 1); thus in-steps the work of the promoter. Regardless of who undertakes the role, the duties expected of the position remain the same and, critically, the importance of the role itself remains unchanged. Promoters are ultimately responsible for finding fresh artists and giving them a momentary launchpad from which to propel their careers.
A key aspect of the role of a promoter is that of budgeting for a show. Independent promoters, like Lubomir Jovanovic, bear the brunt of the fickle nature of the live music industry. Crucially, “promoters assume all of the financial risk for the shows they put on” (Berklee, n.d.), and especially after major socio-economic disruptions like the Covid pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war of 2022, this aspect is more important than ever when promoting gigs. As Jovanovic explains, “the Russian invasion of Ukraine hit the world economy hard”, further detailing that “things never went back to pre-covid times” (see Appendix 1). With fewer people coming out to gigs in 2025, working within one’s available means is a trick of the trade any successful promoter must master to ensure a fruitful career in the industry.
Promoters need to strike a fine balance between the venues they consider and the bands they book in order to decide between a split deal or flat fee when paying the act(s). Whilst a split deal may shift the financial risk away from the promoter, the general modus operandi of the industry (particularly the Leeds circuit) operates on flat fees, offering promoters a simpler task when budgeting whilst also not being entirely self-serving; goodwill being an important aspect of the job. Small venues have limited capacities, ergo smaller gross profit margins, so are better suited for up-and-coming acts. Working in a more centralised industry than was prevalent pre-1990s, promoters need to communicate clearly in the case that an artist is “not an informed negotiator” so as to avoid “confusion or uncertainty” (White, J., Preston, P. 2014), in turn avoid damaging their own reputations through shaky deals.
A final key element in the role of a promoter is the management of legal obligations and contracts in relation to artists. Being a role that facilitates logistical and financial services within a professional community, it is paramount that once promoters “book an artist and confirm a show in writing… you have to stick to that agreement fully” Jovanovic expresses (2025, see Appendix 1). Ergo, promoters need to be confident in their selection of artists in order to deliver on guarantees of turning a profit from their events. Due to the shifting nature of the modern music industry, artists themselves rely on promoters heavily to help generate income since musicians are now “forced to think of live music… rather than record sales as their primary source of income” through means of “concert fees”, “merchandise” and “performing rights” (Brennan, M., Webster, E. 2011:16). Fundamentally, “the value of music… remains centred in its live experience” (Frith, 2007:4) meaning that a successful live performance entails the right band, in the right place, at the right time; the onus is on the promoter to accommodate all three.
Tour Manager
The role of a tour manager varies depending on the artists they work with and their wider management team. As Sadie O’Donoghue explains, tour management “has two faces, the hard skills of planning and documenting and the soft skills of people management” (2025, see Appendix 2). While the precise duties of a tour manager can change depending on circumstance, the overarching responsibilities revolve around collaborating with “booking agents, managers, artists, venue staff, festival staff, sound and tech professionals, label personnel” (2025, see Appendix 2) etc. A people-centred role, the tasks tour managers face demand excellent interpersonal skills as well as “meticulous day to day, hour to hour planning for weeks straight” (2025, see Appendix 2).
More plainly, the key aspects of what a tour manager does is “providing organizational, administrative, and boots-on-the-ground support for the duration of a concert tour” (Berklee, n.d.), meaning they are in charge of booking accommodation for artists, liaising with venue management, organising load-ins and riders, as well as ensuring sound technicians have received information needed to facilitate adequate-sounding performances. The live music industry “relies on the tech crew to make the show actually happen”, but ultimately “tour managers also run the technician crew” (Pastukhov, D. 2019) by the fact a tour manager has organised for them to be involved both logistically and financially.
A responsibility that befalls tour managers is managing a band’s budget while on the road. Fundamentally, tours are planned with “availability, profitability and travel time” (Zendel, A. 2020:190) in mind, making the job of planning a tour a frugal affair. The hallmark of a successful tour manager is one who manages to budget with “disciplined financial asceticism” (Zendel, A. 2020:190) in order to ensure that all members of the tour party survive comfortably, yet within often limited means. This task can sometimes be relegated to the tour manager alone as “numbers aren’t their (a band’s) thing” (2025, see Appendix 2), yet as highlighted earlier not one tour is exactly the same as the next. Depending on the touring outfit, some tour managers like O’Donoghue “find this stage quite collaborative” (2025, see Appendix 2) and will need to employ their powers of negotiation to make sure “it’s communicated and understood that the cheapest option is the only viable one” (2025, see Appendix 2). Further on this note, it should be stated that tour managers are responsible for collecting payment from venues for shows, and distributing budgeted ‘pocket money’ among band members. By asking upfront how much an artists’ fee is per show and ascertaining if an artist “wants a specific level of comfort” (2025, see Appendix 2), a tour manager’s role is to compare the budget against the desired level of comfort and deciding if it’s feasible, but ultimately how an artist wants to experience the tour is up to them; “at the end of the day it is their money” (2025, see Appendix 2).
Furthermore, tour managers are the first line of defence against crises as and when they occur on tour. Touring can be a volatile time for artists, not to mention the myriad other things that could happen to an individual or the tour party altogether. Therefore, the tour manager’s role is to “compartmentalise the issue to be dealt with” and still have “a functional tour” (2025, see Appendix 2). Intensive touring can cause unforeseen issues to arise at inopportune moments in various ways, but a tour manager’s routine strongly involves “dealing with unexpected and solving a dozen of new problems each day” (Pastukhov, D. 2019).
The roles of tour managers and promoters aren’t mutually exclusive, in fact they are both foundational to the operation of the live music industry. While a promoter focuses largely on helping an act set sail on their careers by discovering them and placing them on a stage, it is very much the role of a tour manager to keep them afloat and to ensure any holes that appear along the way – be they financial, legal, or personal – don’t impede on them “cracking on with the reason they’re out doing it” (2025, see Appendix 2).
Hypothetical Event Plan
In order to put the roles of both tour managers and promoters into context, I have planned the hypothetical single-launch show for my own band ‘Slick Cage’ to take place at Mabgate Bleach, a DIY space that has cemented its importance to the Leeds underground music scene by providing recording, rehearsal and function spaces for hire. Alongside this, I have provided a budget breakdown spreadsheet, as well as a settlement spreadsheet (see Appendices 3 and 4 respectively).
My intention is to create an intimate and low-key event and with Mabgate Bleach having a 100 person standing capacity and an ‘off the beaten track’ reputation, it serves as an ideal venue choice. The venue hire fee was offered at £150 (excluding VAT and PRS) and included in that rate was a sound engineer for the night, as well as access to all equipment on-site, including a full PA system, cables, mixing desks, etc. Calculating the VAT rate at 20% would result in a fee of £30, and combined with a small venue PRS fee of £25.20 the total costs for the venue hire would be £205.20.
The pricing of tickets has been researched and, based on events at similar-sized venues with a similar number of bands of equal popularity playing, a price of £8 per ticket in advance and a £10 on-the-door fee was deemed fair and representative of the market. The intention behind offering 75 tickets at the advance price is that customers should hopefully go for the lower price and sell more tickets. However, should fewer people be buying tickets in advance as has been the trend after Covid, then 25 tickets on-the-door at £10 each should hopefully draw in some extra profit, with any remaining advance tickets being sold at this price on-the-door, too.
Slick Cage are a post-punk outfit based in Leeds that are involved in the Mabgate Bleach DIY circle, and would reliably bring a healthy proportion of the crowd. These, alongside 2 other Leeds-based acts Private Reg and Kiosk, would give good assurances of a sell-out show. No ticket holds would be offered to the acts in an effort to maximise on the potential profit, but in return a free bar would be offered for band members only. The agreed flat-fee for the headliner is £150, and £50 for each support act.
Since I am already familiar with both the management team and space itself, I will take on the roles of promoter, representative (or ‘rep’) and box office for my event due to both ease and also to save as much budget as possible due to the limited venue capacity. With this show being a one-off, a tour manager would not be necessary. However, if this event was to be a part of a larger scale string of shows then the services of a tour manager would be critical.
As a promoter, I am responsible for booking the venue and carrying out all necessary correspondence, identifying and booking suitable acts, as well as promoting the event. By repping the event, I will be in charge of liaising with the artists involved and between them and the sound engineer, organising the rider and payment for each band, and ensuring their needs are met.
To market the gig, I have budgeted £50 to commission a graphic designer to design a gig poster, followed by a £20 budget to then facilitate the printing of said poster which I will distribute. These would be supplemented with social media advertisements.
Also, by taking on box office duties myself when the event begins I will also be able to save on hiring for this position externally. I have however set aside a budget of £50 for a 4-hour bar shift (from 7-11pm) to be hired externally, with a wage based on the national living wage for 2025 at £12.21, rounded up from £48.84 to £50.
The intended target for the gig would be to achieve 100% ticket sales, a sell-out show, which I aim to achieve by the aesthetic means stated above, but also by recruiting local bands, advertising in places with heavy student footfall, and then booking the gig to take place on a Friday at the start of February 2026 half-term to maximise attendance. In order to break even with my total costs of £625.20 I will need to sell 63 tickets, or 74%, but should I sell 100% of tickets then my gross potential income will be £850, turning a profit of £224.50 after having the total costs deducted.
References
- Berklee (n.d.) What does a concert promoter do? https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/concert-promoter [Accessed 12/12/2025].
- Berklee (n.d.) What does a tour manager do? https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/tour-manager [Accessed 12/12/2025].
- Brennan, M., Webster, E. (2011) Why concert promoters matter. The University of Edinburgh. https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/12535434/Why_Concert_Promoters_Matter.pdf [Accessed 12/12/2025].
- Frith, S. (2007) Live Music Matters. Scottish Music Review. https://scottishmusicreview.org/Articles/1.1/Frith%3A%20Live%20Music%20Matters.pdf [Accessed 12/12/2025].
- Kiehl, T. (2025) This is Music 2025. UK Music. https://www.ukmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/This-Is-Music-2025-Low-Res.pdf [Accessed 10/12/2025].
- Musicians’ Union (2021) Risk assessment guide for employed musicians. https://musiciansunion.org.uk/health-safety-wellbeing/health-and-safety/risk-assessment-guide-for-musicians/risk-assessment-for-employed-musicians [Accessed 12/12/2025].
- Musicians’ Union (2021) Risk assessment guide for self-employed musicians. https://musiciansunion.org.uk/health-safety-wellbeing/health-and-safety/risk-assessment-guide-for-musicians/risk-assessment-for-self-employed-musicians [Accessed 12/12/2025].
- Pastukhov, D. (2019) The Mechanics of Touring: How the Live Music Industry Works [Blog post]. Soundcharts. 28 April. https://soundcharts.com/blog/mechanics-of-touring#tour-managers-and-technicians [Accessed 05/01/2026].
- White, J., Preston, P. (2014) Concert promotion centralization and the artist management response: 1990s-2010s. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA396769032&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=15597334&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E13f9d1db&aty=open-web-entry#:~:text=Two%20of%20the%20first%20concert,played%20in%20the%20promoter’s%20city. [Accessed 04/10/2026].
- Zendel, A. (2020) There are no days off, just days without shows: precarious mobilities in the touring music industry.Applied Mobilities, 6(2), page 184-201, https://doi.org/10.1080/23800127.2020.1827516 [Accessed 05/01/2026]
