The Touring Musician: A Small-Business Approach to Booking Your Band on the Road [Paperback]

Alfred Publishing (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

The Touring Musician helps performers at all levels of experience to take control of their careers. Packed with practical information, this invaluable handbook guides musicians in applying sound business practices to band travel by evaluating assets, creating an action plan, researching, negotiating, and booking venues, arranging transportation and lodgings, managing personal and tour finances, and getting publicity. The Touring Musician includes: Point-by-point advice about how to set up a small business Eleven sample worksheets and checklists, in a ready-to-photocopy format, that will help keep you and your information organized Samples of the major types of legal documents involved in booking a band A step-by-step chapter showing you how to book and route a sample tour, including five calendars and five budgets Plus solid advice about how to research your venue contacts, negotiate gigs and fees, manage your band finances, coordinate your promotional activities, and much, much more

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Alfred Publishing Company (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739046896
• ISBN-13: 978-0739046890
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #673,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Business Travel

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are a musician YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED THIS BOOK., September 24, 2000

By 

Jonathan Hartman (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Touring Musician: A Small Business Approach to Booking Your Band on the Road (Paperback)

Hal Galper's book covers all of the essentials that every musician needs to know about how to find work,secure work, and stay working! The Touring Musician provides the necessary tools and knowledge to build a successful independant career; tools that, unfortunately, many musicians were never taught and sorely lack.

Approached from the mindset of a small business, Mr. Galper shows musicians how to find performance opportunities and how to market yourself to secure work. The Touring Musician sheds light on how to effectively organize yourself and your band, how to deal with promotion and the press, and how to convince venues to hire you. In addition, this book teaches musicians how to overcome many of the common barriers to their own success. Written in a friendly and engaging style, the Touring Musician is clear and easy to understand, with numerous examples and real world anecdotes. It is applicable to any style of music, and frankly, to performing careers of any type. Hal Galper effectively destroys the cliche that "there just isn't enough work out there" ! Even if you are a fairly successful musician, I guarantee that you will find new ideas and techniques to expand your career.

If you are a musician, YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF TO GET THE TORUING MUSICIAN and learn the tools within it from cover to cover. I have been a professional musician for ten years and since utilizing the techniques in this book, I have scheduled more work, and higher paying work, than ever before. Every musician that I have lent this book to has immediately purchased it!

There is real satisfaction in doing what you love; this book will help you realize your professional goals. I feel that the Touring Musician is one of the best investments I have made in my career. I strongly encourage you to do the same.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best I've seen! An absolute must-have!, October 10, 2002

By 

"skipster8" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Touring Musician: A Small Business Approach to Booking Your Band on the Road (Paperback)

I'm only about 3.5 chapters into this book and to me it's the best book on getting the business end of a music career I have ever come across. I have a stack of music business books about yea high and they are mostly very good, but Hal's is far and away the top gun. He not only demonstrates the logistics of getting a band started, how to ask a club/venue booker for gigs, how to set up the money end, but he also looks at the inner psychology of what it takes to be a touring/performing musician, and does it so that all the hard work you take on looks manageable. Not only is this a good book for entry or mid-level musicians, it's a great read for ANYBODY who would want to start his or her own business. Sometimes it's a little dry and hard to read, but the information it contains is so valuable I don't mind at all. I highly recommend this book from a "road rat" who has been there and done that.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Touring Musician is truly invaluable, April 9, 2000

By 

Gerald Lenoir (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Touring Musician: A Small Business Approach to Booking Your Band on the Road (Paperback)

"The Touring Musician" is extrememly helpful to me, even though I am not a musician. I am a freelance public relations consultant and I am just entering into the music business. One aspect of what I will be doing is booking tours of jazz musicians. Part II of the Book, "Booking Your Tour" was detailed and informative. The chapter on venue contacts gave vital information on the different types of venues, their pay range and their particular requirements. The chapter on contacting venues and negotiating gigs gives sample dialogues for making contacts and give tips on the main negotiating points. And the chapter on tour routing and budgets presents a detailed scenario that is realistic and contains many of the fine points of routing a tour. I also appreciated the uselful information on touring in Canada in Chapter 11.

This book is just what I was looking for to start my booking agency. Thanks to the author and the publisher.