The Toll Of The Road
Costs are mounting up quickly as I get into full on prep-mode for my upcoming summer tour. I could really use your help.
Yesterday, I shared a look at some of the work that goes into mounting a national tour for an unknown artist. In that essay, I went through the promotion, booking, driving, and planning that a tour like this requires. The exercise was not an example of me venting about dirty work, rather sharing with you the work required to make this thing happen, and to remind myself to get it all done and to do it well.
Today, we’re gonna take a look at the dollars and cents of the tour. It takes quite a bit of money to book, promote, and play all of these shows across the country. I’ll have costs for the usual food, gas and lodging but I will also have to contend with up front costs for merchandise and advertising. There will be tolls to pay of both literal and metaphorical sorts. There is an opportunity to make a decent living touring like this, but it requires up front cash, and a huge leap of faith.
By the time I drive a huge loop through the eastern half of the US, I will amass more than 6,000 miles behind the wheel. Just the fuel bill for this trip is likely to be at least $600. That budget allows for a bit of wiggle room on fuel efficiency and what I expect will be higher summertime gas prices. Still, no matter how many folks buy a ticket, these costs are fixed.
In addition to the cost of gas itself, we’ll have to factor in a hefty dose of toll charges. I will be driving quite a bit in New England, along the eastern seaboard, and in the metro Chicago region. These things are gonna add up for sure.
I am fortunate in that a number of my shows either are house concerts or I will have a host in town willing to put me up for the night at no charge. When touring, hotel costs are the biggest killer to making any money at all. Even a bargain room is usually around $100 a night at best after taxes and fees. So, just a few evenings with no place to stay can lead to an expense sheet that is hard to overcome.
To budget safely, I accounted for eight nights in a motel. It might only be four or five, but I would rather budget on the side of caution. This is a pretty threadbare endeavor, so I need to be as realistic as possible.
The other benefit with house shows and crashing with friends along the way is that some of my meals will be taken care of as well. For virtually all of these house shows, there will be spreads of varying sizes, shapes, and flavors, but there is always food. A free dinner or a gratis coffee and bagel for the road can also help to cut down on food expenses as well.
I’ll have little time for fancy dining and elegant meals, but I’ll still need to stock on snacks and drinks for the car as well as covering another meal or two throughout the day. I have allotted $50 a day for the 24 full days that I am on the road. It’s likely more than I will need, but again, I want to make sure that I am accounting for every penny spent on the road.
There is also a small budget for me to do a few touristy things along my route. Last summer, I spent a day at the battlefield at Antietam, visited a marvelous independent bookshop, took in a very underwhelming Civil War Museum, and saw a museum dedicated solely synthesizer pioneer, Bob Moog. I wanted to make sure that I was able to take advantage of the rare day off or light travel day to build in a bit of sightseeing.
I’ve allotted $300 for these sorts of activities on the tour, and I may not need that. However, if I am going to spend a full month traveling the country, I would like to take advantage of seeing some history, art, architecture, and natural beauty if at all possible. The museums in DC are free, for example and could allow me a free day of exploration and enlightenment with no expense at all. Still, I want to have a small budget to make sure I don’t have to miss anything special on the road.
Lastly, there are the hard costs of promoting and preparing for a tour like this. I’ve already paid for stickers and posters as we gear up show promotion. Next, I’ll be laying out good sized sums of cash to secure a small inventory of t-shirts for sale on tour. I’m also planning to do $20 ad buys in each market that I am playing via Facebook and Instagram. Micro-investments like these can help to be the difference between an awful gig and a passable one, but with this many shows, the costs escalate quickly.
With all of those various expenditures tallied, the expected expense of this tour is something in the neighborhood of $4535. Assuming these figures bear out with something close to accuracy, that means I will need to generate $215.95 a night to break even on the journey. With suggested donations at $20 per person, this means I need 11 paying attendees just to cover costs.
My goal for each of the show on the tour is to reach 20 paid attendees at $20 per person. If I can get 20 people in a room to listen, I also feel confident that after the show, I can sell $100 of merch per night on average. This means with donations/tickets and merch sales, I am looking to average $500 per night.
With a total of 21 shows on the itinerary, if we reached that average goal, I would take home $10,500 in total revenue from the tour. Assuming my expenses end up being somewhere around the rough estimate above, I would be looking at a profit of about $6,000 for the whole tour.
This is of course, if I hit my average revenue goal for each of these shows. If I fall short, I will come home with less than that figure. It is even possible that I could come home having lost money on the tour. Obviously, the tour needs to generate not only enough money to cover costs, but needs to make up for whatever money I could have made at home driving rideshare and doing design work and investing time here at WAIM. These shows are a risk, plain and simple. That risk comes with the possibility of great reward, but there is a more than zero chance I come home in worse shape than when I left, financially speaking.
This is the part where I ask humbly for your help. I have put together a ‘Sheddio On The Road Store’ where you can order t-shirts, stickers, posters, and more to help support the tour. Items will be ready for delivery at the beginning of the tour. You are welcome to pick up your order at the show of your choice on the tour, this will help to guarantee your size in t-shirts, especially later on in the tour. If you’re not going to be attending the shows, your order will be shipped directly to you.
In addition to the cool swag in the Sheddio On The Road Store, you can also pre-order tickets for most of the shows on the tour. Perhaps you’re thinking, “Matty, I don’t really have to worry about these selling out, do I?”
The simple truth is no, we are not likely to be selling venues out every night of the tour. However, by pre-ordering your tickets you can help to cover some of the up front costs for the tour that I have laid out here. But even more importantly, pre-orders for these shows are an incredible morale boost both for me and for the hosts. As I have said, these shows come with an inherent risk, and one of those risks is playing to an empty house. If you are thinking of coming out to a show, please snag your tickets today.
The one final thing I would ask is that you share this tour and the story behind it with one person in your life who you think might appreciate the tale and the music at the center of it. Below is a link to a Spotify playlist (I know) that features studio versions of many of the songs I will be playing on the road this summer. It’s a good place to get familiar with my recorded work.
Thank you so very much to everyone who has already been an amazing help in getting this tour off the ground. I’ll have much more to say later about all of the hosts, bookers, mentors, and supporters who have helped me to make this dream a reality. You all are an inspiration.
I cannot wait to see all of you out there on the road this summer. The days are coming quick.
Cheers,
Matty C