| 17 | Tour Support and Promotional Touring |
Among the tools the label’s marketing department uses to promote a recorded music project is tour support for the artist. Most labels view radio airplay as the most important promotional outlet for new music, but right behind radio are live performances through touring.
Often, tour support comes in the form of money advanced to the artist to cover the losses incurred from being on the road. But it can also be time and energy spent by the label to promote the artist while they are touring, performing, and promoting their new album. This chapter will look at what tour support is, and how it figures into the marketing mix as a component of the marketing plan.
The decision to support a tour
Label support for a tour is based entirely on doing “anything it takes to get the artist to perform live on the road”i to help promote a new album. A decision by a record label to support a tour with either money or services depends a lot on the strength of the proposed tour, whether the tour can be expected to result in significant added sales, and on the caliber of the team that supports the artist.
A good agent who is planning the tour will work with the label to ensure everyone agrees that the markets/cities in the plan are prime locations to sell tickets (to pay for the tour) and benefit from the performances, which will drive sales of the album. Market considerations will include the following:
Has the artist done well in this market before?
Are radio stations supporting the single and the album with airplay?
Does the local print media write about and support entertainment?
Does the tour sponsor have a presence in the market?
Is there a possibility for a media partner in this market for the tour?
Is this a good retail market for the genre and the artist?
Having a strong artist manager is helpful in the label’s decision to provide tour support for the new artist. An experienced manager is an assurance to the label that the tour will be organized and well directed on behalf of everyone.
And finally, the decision to support a tour for an artist may depend on whether the artist’s recording contract includes a provision for the label to earn a percentage of ticket and merchandise sales. If a label has access to these income streams of an artist, there is an incentive for the label to be more forthcoming with support and reduce the risk that the recording project will not recoup.
Direct financial support for a tour
Tour support can be in the form of financial aid paid to an artist to support their own tour, or to be part of the tour of others. New artists especially have a difficult time being able to fund all of the costs associated with touring, and it becomes necessary to go to the label and ask for a subsidy to cover the losses they will face on the road. Among the touring costs that cash from a label helps to support include:
The purchase or lease of a van or bus
Hotel costs for the artist and support personnel
Per diem (daily food costs) for the artist and band members
Rental or purchase of equipment for performances
A tour manager
When a label offers financial support for a tour, it usually requires a proposed budget for the entire tour with an explanation of anticipated losses from touring. Up to reasonable limits (typically less than $100,000) (Passman, D., 2004), the label will advance the money with the expectation that there will be an accounting for the use of the money for the tour, and that any excess will be returned to the label when the tour is complete. Since the money is provided to support the tour, which is helping to promote the new and active single and album, tour support in this form is generally recoupable, meaning that the artist must repay the advance as a deduction from royalties earned from the sale of recordings. Also, it is not unusual for an artist who has purchased equipment or a vehicle for the tour from advance money, to give the items purchased to the record label when the tour is over.
Most advances in the recording industry are immediately commissionable to the artist manager, meaning the manager takes part of it right away. The artist-manager contract usually requires that a percentage of the artist’s earnings—including advances—be paid to the manager. However, in most instances, advances from labels for tour support are offered to an artist with the requirement that it is not commissionable by the artist-manager. The logic behind this is that the tour is trying to find a break-even point with the label’s support, and the manager should be paid when the artist is actually making money from the tour.
Major labels have considerably more financial ability to support new artists with tour support in both cash and services. Labels are willing to support recorded music projects in this way because of the large numbers of unit sales the company is expecting from the marketing plan.
Tours that help promote a major release of a new artist require considerable coordination and cooperation by the stakeholders in the project. The label is often willing to provide publicity support for the tour when it is initially announced, and then will continue the media blitz with each stop of the tour. This means setting up each performance in the press in advance, and following up tour stops with post-event press. The artist must be willing to accommodate the local media at each stop with press interviews, visit the local radio stations that play (or should be playing) the single from the album, and they must be willing to appear in local record stores to help promote the new album. The artist manager must be willing to travel with the artist or have someone support the artist on the road in the role of a surrogate for the manager, meaning a tour manager or road manager.
Tour support is also provided for new artists who open concerts for established major headliners. For appearances such as these, the artist typically is not paid by the major act. The value to the artist and the label is the opportunity to appear in front of their target audience to promote a hit single on the new album. The headliners themselves make the decisions on who opens for them. To a major act, that decision is partially political, meaning business relationships can help get the act on the bill. But the bottom line to that decision is the bottom line: Does the act have appeal to the audience and can the artist help sell tickets? New artists usually do not have the resources for travel to open for headliners, so there is heavy reliance on label tour support for this kind of performance.
There are times when a release by a major label requires a high degree of tour support because radio is not playing a single from the project. Such was the case with the soundtrack from O Brother, Where Art Thou? Mercury Records released the soundtrack in December 2000, three weeks before the movie went into national distribution. It became one of the most successful soundtracks in history, selling seven million units with virtually no airplay on commercial radio. John Grady was vice-president of marketing for Mercury when the project was released. Among the things he credits for its success is the commitment to a tour featuring the numerous artists on the album, coupled with tour support by the label. Grady says,
Touring and tour support were major parts of the marketing of the O Brother project. After the first performance [on the initial tour], the next was at Carnegie Hall where it sold out in three hours at $115 per ticket. That’s when you can tell there’s an appetite. We took the tour out 65 times, and it became a major event when it came to town.
Figure 17.1 Touring and the O Brother” project (Source: Interview, March 2005)
Independent label tour support
Artists signed to independent labels find that tour support in the form of cash is very limited, often non-existent. The economics of independent labels prevents them from having enough resources to financially support touring artists with anything but the smallest amounts of cash. Independent labels rely on grassroots elements to support tours of their artists.
Touring for the independent label is especially critical because very few receive airplay on commercial radio, which limits the exposure of their artist’s music to the public. On a nationwide basis in the United States, major labels can expect as high as 76 million weekly exposures of a hit record to individual listeners to commercial radio (Airplay Monitor, 2004). Independents can’t compete at that level, so they must rely on live performance and touring as the best—and sometimes the only way—to present the music of their artists.
The position of the independent label is expressed best by David Haley of Compass Records. He says, “If you’re not touring and not present in the market,there’s no interest … there’s no retail interest, there’s no consumer interest, there’s no radio interest, no print interest, no nothing.” He says that without an artist continually going back to perform in markets that work, it becomes difficult for independent labels to stimulate interest in the record company’s recordings.ii Touring keeps retail record stores energized, because without the label’s projects available at retail, the label cannot thrive.
Tour support for many independent labels comes in the form of mobilizing street teams and e-teams, through the media via the label’s publicity specialist, and by using many of the tools outlined in the Grassroots Marketing chapter in this book. Haley says dealing with gatekeepers causes his label’s staff to become more and more creative. “Unfortunately, the way the system is setup, there are a ton of gatekeepers and our job is to deal with those people while we figure other ways around them.” In some ways this is not much different from the music business in general.
Sometimes labels can assist with indirect tour support by working with artist management to find compatible sponsors for tours. Sponsors pay money to the tour in exchange for having a presence at live performances. Products and service companies often link themselves to specific tours because they can connect with the similar target markets delivered by certain touring acts.
An example is the decision of Boost Mobile and Motorola’s agreement for a label-wide deal with BMG to sponsor tours. Boost Mobile was launching service in 30 of the markets of Mario’s 2004–2005 tour, and with Motorola, sponsored album-release parties for Mario and had company logos imprinted on music CD samplers (Kipnis, J., 2004).
Another example was the decision of Coors to sponsor Brooks & Dunn’s Neon Circus Tour in 2002. The Coors logo was integrated into the Brooks & Dunn logo for the tour, and was featured in all promotional materials much like a title sponsor. For their sponsorship, they provided 1,230 cases of Coors beer (tba Entertainment, 2002) plus $2 million in sponsor support. The sponsorship helped fund the 41-date tour that required 140 people working with the tour on the road.
Touring can contribute to record sales, especially in the absence of any mass media presence. Indie artists who lack airplay and television exposure depend on touring for income, and their labels depend on touring to sell records. But major acts who tour can also reap the benefits in record sales. The following chart in Figure 17.2 shows how sales in local markets tended to rise just before and after each local performance date for artist U2 and their Elevation 2001 tour.
Figure 17.2 U2 Elevation 2001 tour and local sales (Source: SoundScan)
Ben Berkman, in an article for StarPolish, describes a promotional tour as “the process of taking an artist across the country to push their music to radio stations” (Berkman, B., 2002). Add to that the potential to visit press and retail accounts, which are other industry gatekeepers. The main distinctions of a promotional tour, compared to a concert tour, are: (1) it is not designed for or funded by public performances, and (2) it is intended to promote the product to the industry before promoting it to the consumer.
Obviously, in the marketing plan, the radio promotional tour would occur long before the album release and shortly before the release of the first single to radio. Promotional tours are commonly set up for new artists to introduce them to radio. Promotional touring for radio can take on two different forms: (1) the artist travels to radio stations, meeting with program directors and doing on-air interviews; (2) regional showcases are setup and area program directors are treated to a private concert. Berkman states that bringing an artist to the radio station demonstrates the label’s commitment to marketing the artist and it helps radio personnel put a face with a name and song.
“Touring is one of the most important ways that an independent artist can spread the word about their music within both the industry and the general public. It can serve as an excellent catalyst for radio airplay; articles, stories and reviews; retail placement, on-air performances; in-store performances and other promotional opportunities. Touring is also expensive and exhausting for most independent artists”.
Figure 17.3 INDIEgo on promotional touring
Promotional touring aimed at retail, called in-stores, are usually targeted at launch date, often to boost first-week sales at SoundScan to create buzz and reorders. So a record’s debut on the album charts can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, creating awareness and demand at both retail buying offices and end consumers.
Promo tours to retail are very similar to radio, and can be the very same event. If a label goes through the expense to create an event showcasing an act, it makes sense for as many decision-makers as possible to be there, taking in the same event. Labels have artists visit retail at their buying offices prior to the initial order date. Meeting key personnel and playing music for the office staff creates good will and connectivity with the artist and his release.
Advances – Cash given to the artist in the form of an interest-free loan that will be repaid as a recoupable expense, meaning it will be deducted from royalties.
Agent – Someone who negotiates agreements for live concert performances with promoters on behalf of an artist.
Media partner – A local newspaper, radio station, or television station that helps promote a concert in exchange for a promotional presence in advertising and at the event.
Recoupable expense – An item of cost paid by the record label that the artist agrees to pay back to the label in the form of a deduction from earned royalties.
Tour manager … An individual who coordinates an artist’s live performances while on the road, and works directly for the artist manager.
Tour support – Money or services provided by a record company to offset the costs of touring.
Bibliography
Airplay Monitor (March 5, 2004). Airplay Monitor, pp. 22.
Berkman, B. (2002). http://www.starpolish.com./advice/print.asp?id=73. Promotional Tours StarPolish.com.
Kipnis, J. (Oct 2, 2004). Labels, Marketers Mix at Roadshow, Billboard, pp. 6.
Passman, D. (2003). All You Need to Know About the Music Business, New York: Simon and Schuster, pp. 144.
tba Entertainment (2002). Neon Circus Program Book, tba Entertainment.
iInterview with John Grady, March 14, 2005.
iiInterview with David Haley, March 17, 2005.