Roles & Contracts

Live Performance

Role 1: Tour Manager

A Tour Manager acts as the 'Mum' or 'Dad' on a concert tour to make sure everything runs smoothly.

They are in charge of the business side of a tour, Their duties include confirming show times, managing finances, managing the venues, dealing with promoters and making sure everyone is where they need to be and making sure they're on time.

In terms of salary, a tour manager will receive a salary depending on the size of the tour, roughly about £15,000 to £20,000 a year to start off with.

Normally, the fee structure is a normal base salary + expenses + a.p.d (an a.p.d is a daily allowance for things like food etc.)

When a tour manager is first starting out as a tour manager, trying to build a reputation for themselves, they will be in charge of smaller tours, mainly for the expenses. When a tour manager has a lot of experience, they will be in charge of tours on a much larger scale that are most likely for more famous artists, they will be earning a much larger salary.

The basic skills needed to become a tour manager is to be able to work well with other people, experience of working abroad and an additional skill would be the ability to speak foreign languages if working abroad.

A Tour manager is responsible for the whole group that he's on tour with, he/she could be working from early morning to late at night, including weekends. Sometimes a tour manager can work 24 hours a day.

Tour managers usually have a short-term contract when on tour with an artist although some contracts can last quite a long time.

The pros of being a tour manager is the fact that its definitely a good job for people who like live music, also it give them a chance to help book the artists to show and even help put the shows together.

The biggest con would probably be the fact that once the tour is over, the tour manager would be on call.

Contract of a tour manager:
Tour managers are self-employed freelance workers who work on short term contracts. 

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Role 2: Artist Promoter

The main job of an artist promoter is to publicise the concert that the artist is performing at, their more or less in charge of putting on the show because its their job to get the word out about the artist so that there will be a larger audience to see them perform. Their promotional methods include; organising tours, negotiating contracts, organising publicity events such as interviews and getting airtime on radio and TV shows.

On average, starting salaries for an artist promoter will be roughly £12,000-£18,000, then as the promoter becomes more experienced, he/she can earn £20,000-£40,000, Top salaries can reach up to £100,000 if the job is done perfectly.

For an artist promoter, their working hours vary a lot because they might go to concerts at night and then deal with promotional events during the day which can involve travelling overseas to different countries.

The skills a good artist promoter should have would be good sales and negotiation skills, good spoken and written communication skills, drive, motivation and the ability to work well under pressure.

The pros of being an artist promoter would be that you get to work with the bands you love, its the perfect job if you like live music and the pay can be very good depending on the shows your doing. On the other hand, the cons would be that if your working by yourself, in a small venue and with a small band, if can cost the promoter a lot of money. 

Probably the biggest con would be that promoting a show is extremely difficult because the promoter make someone write about the show or make them come to the show so promoting the show is probably the hardest job they have and can all be for nothing if no one turns up to the show.

Technician/Sound Engineer:

The sound engineer's main job is to control the sound at live events like music concerts and performances.

Their duties include things like doing sound checks before the performance or concerts, positioning the microphones and setting up and taking down equipment at every venue when on tour.

In terms of salary, normally an experienced sound engineer can earn about £20,000 - £40,000 but a sound designer can earn about £40,000 a year or more.

A sound engineer would need to be very flexible about when they can work because the hours they work can vary from a sound check and a concert to whole day of work with no rest. 

A lot of the time, sound engineers are required to work weekends and evenings because most performances and concerts are in the evening.

The skills a sound engineer would need to have would be good hearing, for judging the sound quality during a sound check, good practical skills, good communication skills and an interest in music and sound.

The pros of being a sound engineer would be that they get to take part in the excitement and the build up to the live concerts, its a good experience for people who like the technical side of music.

The cons of being a sound engineer would be that they get to use the best and the worst of sound desks and still be expected to make them sound good. 

Much like an artist promoter, a sound engineer won't get much credit if the concert was good, but if the concert is bad the band may blame the sound engineer.

Contracts - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages of freelance work:

Being a freelancer, a tour manager can work whatever hours they want, if they want to sleep in on weekdays they can, they are able to work their most productive hours without falling behind on any work.

Another advantage to being a freelancer would be that they can work wherever they want as well, whether its at the local Internet cafe or the person is on holiday in Greece, they are not forced to be stuck in the office or at home.

Another advantage would be that they get to keep all of the profits from their projects, the money they get allows them to expand their business.

One last advantage would be that you are your own boss and if you don't agree with something or something doesn't go your way, you don't have to agree with it.

Disadvantages of freelance work:

Although being your own boss sounds like the best thing ever, being your own boss means that you have to be responsible enough to distinguish your business hours with your personal life and leisure time.

A common disadvantage of being a freelancer would be that there is a risk of not getting paid, although there are ways to avoid non-paying clients, sometimes you could realise too late when being at risk.

Since you are now your own boss, that means that your in charge of your own clients and projects, which means that you are the only person responsible so there is a lot of legwork which means you would have to take on many roles such as; marketing, advertising and sales.