It feels good to be back on the road, and we are embracing the opportunity to introduce our show to new audiences around the country. We are encountering much enthusiasm in rooms filled with energy, and we’re meeting lots of wonderful people. We are grateful for that, but it has us thinking about several conversations we’ve had with our musician friends about their recent experiences on the road. We’ve been thinking about the variables and motivators for touring, especially in this challenging economic climate.

We have a unique perspective on this subject because not only do we tour, but we work with a variety of musicians who also make their living on the road. So, we are privy to many conversations and insights that we find valuable and thought it would be relevant to share some of those insights with our readers.

Over the years, we have all become accustomed to seeing artists with elaborate entourages, several semitrucks and a fleet of Prevost buses rolling into town for a show. But there was a time when multiple artists caravaned, driving themselves in station wagons and operating on shoestring budgets. We have certainly begun to see a resurgence of this lately, especially as independent artists take charge of their own careers.

With a record label behind an artist, yes, they may have access to all the traveling luxuries of buses and 5-star hotels. But what many don’t understand is that record labels are much like a bank that fronts the operating capital, with interest, for touring accommodations such as these. It’s kind of like a draw. If you have a tour budget like this as a new artist, all of that must be recouped from your sales before you see a net profit. You may travel like a king on the road only to return to your one-bedroom apartment. Even some labels are cutting back on the tour expenses to break a new artist, no longer sending them out as elaborately as they once did.

For established artists, they entirely front the money for their tours, rent venues and hope to recoup those expenses with ticket sales. If you look at many of the tours over the last year or two, especially in the country music genre, you see more and more artists teaming up to share tour expenses and grouping multiple acts on the bill so full responsibility will not be on one artist.

We are also seeing a trend of major artists choosing smaller, more intimate performance venues over the arenas. Some artists are even having to cancel tour dates due to lack of ticket sales. People simply don’t have the disposable income they once had to drop $40-$100 on a ticket.

Many of the major artists we work with have shared with us that although the arenas are fun, they don’t feel near the personal connection to the audience that they do in the smaller venues. We share that same sentiment. We like to see the faces of our audience and make eye contact instead of only seeing their silhouettes swaying in the lights.

We are happy to see the return of real connections being made between the artists and the audience. We look forward to more artists embracing this concept. We believe it will weed out the true artists from the “Benjamin Chasers” as well. When there is an honest and pure desire to reach people with music without the mega-dollar motivator, perhaps we will see less hype and more authenticity. Real passion and love behind the music . . . it’s what’s missing!