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

~ (Author) "If you've picked up this book, you're one of the many musicians who are looking for an answer to the question "How do I survive..." (more)
Key Phrases: booking your band, venue worksheet, anchor gigs, United States, New York, American Express (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Touring Musician helps performers at all levels of experience to take control of their careers. Packed with practical information as well as amusing and enlightening anecdotes, this invaluable handbook guides musicians in apply 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.

Authored by Hal Galper, an educator and professional pianist with a virtual Who’s Who of musicians, this book introduces you to the successful career development and booking and tour techniques that he witnessed first-hand as a side man and that he later developed himself as a band leader, providing an inside look at the proven strategies used by some of the greatest names in music.

Included in this book: point-by-point advice on setting up a small business; 11 sample worksheets and checklists, in a ready-to-photocopy format, that will help to keep information organized; samples of the major types of legal documents involved in booking a band; a step-by-step chapter showing how to book and route a sample tour; and solid advice about researching venue contracts, negotiating gigs and fees, managing band finances, coordinating promotional activities, and much, much more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Billboard Books (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823084299
• ISBN-13: 978-0823084296
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #686,921 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #19 in	Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Business Travel
  #20 in	Musical Instruments > Instrument Accessories > General Accessories > Practice Aids > Instructional Banners
  #47 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Law > Business > Entertainment

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

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.

9 of 10 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

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.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Necessary Addition to Any Professional Musician's Library, May 18, 2000

By	Matt Richards (New York City) - See all my reviews

Drawing upon his own experience as a solo artist and a sideman with legends of the modern jazz world, pianist Hal Galper has written 'The Touring Musician' which I consider to be the best source of information and practical advice for the performing musician currently available. He covers every aspect of booking and touring that you will encounter in the ocurse of your musical travels. From mental attitude to setting up a home office, contacting and getting gigs, budgets, hotel and travel reservations -- I need to write a novella to convey all the details. He includes websites and phone numbers for a great deal of the companies and organizations you will deal with (airline tickets, hotel reservations, vehicle rentals, office gear) and offers his own worksheet designs to maintain the financial end of things. Hal also shares his personal touring successes and mistakes -- the entire book is related in a friendly, personal manner and always offers encouragement in what, for me, often seems an overwhelming endeavor. As a solo artist myself, I have been searching for this type of detailed professional advice. I recognized Hal's name during my search and checked the book out. Within minutes, I bought it. Within days, I read it and highlighted and underlined... Though written from a jazz player's experience, this book is definitely valuable to any musician who has decided to build a successful career. I offer my sincere thanks to Hal Galper for this writing this book.