Columns Economics and Today's Indie Band
In the popular video game Guitar Hero, there's a line that has millions of independent musicians around the world nodding their heads in agreement: go out there, rock hard and sell a bunch of shirts so we can eat.
For touring independent bands it's expensive to keep the show on the road. Keeping four or five adults fed, rested, and healthy may sound easy but the term “starving artist” isn't just a cute turn of phrase. And now with the economy sinking at a rapid pace and gas prices sky rocketing, it takes more than talent to make it in the music industry. It's not surprising that many indie bands have canceled or post-poned planning upcoming tours.
Singer-guitarist of Houston, Texas based band Something Fierce Steven Garcia had been budgeting money and booking show dates for months in anticipation of the band's third tour. High gas prices put the brakes on those plans.
“Once I ran the numbers, it was a 'there's no fucking way' kind of moment,” said Garcia who was forced to cancel the tour.
Garcia isn't alone in that reaction at the pump. Average drivers who make daily commutes to work have been screaming uncle for quite some time but the prohibitive price at the pump has made touring nearly impossible for the average band.
On the grass-roots level, cost has always been a concern for touring bands. But the nearly $2,500 in gas Garcia and his two bandmates would have had to pay just to make it to Vancouver, Canada, and back was too much to overcome.
"There's no way we can sustain a blow that big," he said, adding that the band is lucky to break even on a tour, even when gas prices are more moderate.
When you consider that the average van that bands take out on the road gets a mere 23 miles per gallon, the cost to make it from venue to venue starts to get a little of out control. Take a look at our mock tour schedule:
Hartford, Conn. (start with full tank courtesy of the van rental company)
Boston, Mass. ($18.06)
New York, New York ($39.41)
Baltimore, MD ($35.01)
Philadelphia, Penn. ($17.69)
Washington, D.C. ($25.04)
Raleigh, N.C. ($46.03)
Atlanta, Ga ($70.29)
Nashville, Tenn. ($42.36)
Dallas, Texas ($114.09)
Houston, Texas ($41.08)
Santa Fe, New Mexico ($152.27)
Phoenix, Ariz. ($92.19)
Los Angeles, Calif. ($68.76)
San Francisco, Calif. ($74.29)
Seattle, Wash. ($153.69)
Las Vegas, Nev. ($228.97)
Salt Lake City, Utah ($75.08)
Denver, Colo. ($93.43)
Chicago, Ill. ($178.76)
Detroit, Mich. ($50.11)
Columbus, Ohio ($36.18)
Hartford, CT ($114.98)
Sure, that's a long tour but if you're gonna go on tour you might as well do it right. For our fictional band, just getting from Point A to Point B under perfect conditions, it's going to cost $1,767.77. That's a lot of money to spend solely on gas. It's no wonder a lot of bands are packing it in before they even turn the key in the ignition.
And if they're not canceling their tours, smaller acts are banding together, stuffing themselves into smaller vehicles or cutting short their tours.
"We do have two bands, the Revisions and the Estranged, out on tour together right now who have decided to share a van to save on gas costs," said Ken Cheppaikode, who operates Dirtnap Records, a Portland, Oregon, independent label and record shop.
Cheppaikode said that after putting seven band members and their equipment into a van, they didn't have room for a roadie.
San Francisco's LoveLikeFire, a young band that counts on touring to make money and increase its fan base, now tries to get to the East Coast more often because the cities are closer to each other than out west.
"We often ask ourselves, is it worth driving so far when gas is almost $5 a gallon?" said Ann Yu, the band's singer. "We spend at least 150 bucks in gas to [get to] a show when there is no guarantee that you'll make any of it back.
"It does screw up a lot of bands on the West Coast, 'cause ... there are very few cities to play in under seven-hour stretches, which can be costly," Yu said.
With gas prices so high, bands are dependent on merchandise sales to get them to the next venue. For our imaginary band, to break even on gas prices that's 177 shirts that need to be sold at $10 each. That doesn't take accommodations into consideration nor does it include food. Figure 2 meals per day at $10 per band member for 30 days (there are 23 days in our mock schedule, so we've included a few days of rest and travel) and for a four-piece band we're looking at $2,400 for food. And if our band sleeps in the van for half of the tour and stays in $70 a night hotels the other fifteen nights that's still $1,050 for hotels.
Expenses add up fast just to get the band on the road and back home again. Our fictitious band has already racked up $5,217.77 or 522 t-shirts at $10 each. No wonder there are so many used instruments in the music store these days.
