Come to my city/country
The most common comment and DM our bands get is “come to my city/country…”.
Here’s a breakdown of why acts don’t play every city or country.
Tours are booked by booking agents (DIY is also possible but not at a level that makes a profit). These agents know all the promoters who are the people that put on shows in venues. Many promoters don’t know all bands or might not like a band or think it’s going to lose money so don’t book.
Agents book tours on routes that make sense for maximising income and physical travel I. e can an act get drive 1000 miles and still play or will they need a travel day. Tours cost a massive amount of money with visa, CWA (to avoid paying 30-40% tax), Transport, staff, backline, hotels, flights, merch manufacture/shipping and all this can be lost if a band gets sick with Covid 19 as there is no insurance cover.
Bands can’t play every City-Otoboke Beaver did 29 shows in North America over six weeks last trip and that’s a long time away from home in a bus. It’s a lot of stress and constant moving. If they did every City in USA it would take 109,000 days without a day off or 309 years.
That’s why tours prioritise key cities where the most fans are. USA is the most difficult country to tour because the visa costs $5000 and months of work and is almost impossible to get for smaller acts without enough press to show there is a demand in USA plus tax is 30-40% and then all Vans, hotels and backline cost more than elsewhere.
Australia is also very difficult because of high tax. Canada is difficult because the currency is worth less and tax mean fee offers can be less than a days van hire/fuel/hotels.
South America like Australia and USA takes a long time for promoters to see a demand and flights cost so much that it needs to be 500-1000 capacity venues to make it viable.
Other factors are in place for Festivals or some countries like sexism or racism. We have seen venues sellout with six months to go before a show and the promoter not upgrade the venue when if it was a white male act, they would.
So tours happen when they happen, when it’s viable. Asking bands on every post is annoying and can be damaging to mental health as it never ends and is 1000’s a week. Sometimes fans are angry because they think acts are personally choosing not to play a place but it’s based on demand and offers. If bands choose themselves then they’d all choose to play Glastonbury Hawaii, Iceland but it doesn’t work that way.
If you want to help, hassle local promoters or festivals or travel to see a band instead.
