Going on Tour?

There are a wide range of things you can do to incorporate your values into your tour. In addition to fan engagement tactics, there are ways to make sure that the team you put together, your routing and supporting communication for your tour is aligned. When planning these aspects of your tour, it's ideal to get everything in place before you hit the road and transition to implementation once you're on the road. Relying on planning things while you are touring might create too much pressure in an already exhausting and pressurized situation. 

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When thinking about touring options, you can think about fan facing activities, your team that reflects your values and practical refinements. It will be hard to do everything at once, so consider choosing an area of focus for this tour with the intention to expand that for your next one. 

Fan-Facing

Are there themes that show up on your album or an issue that is personally relevant to you? Consider strategies to incorporate activities and partnerships that reflect those themes and values. To help you get started, try looking through the information and links on these pages.

Here are a handful of places to start: 

  • Partnering with Justice Movements

  • Belonging and Inclusion

  • The Rural/ Urban Divide Myth

  • Backlash

Your Tour Team

Building the team that you tour with can be an important reflection of your values. Consider the people who are in your band, manage your tour, determine your routing, and on and on. When you and your team are aligned and reflective of your core values, you will have that many more people who are ready to support the strategy development and implementation. Making these steps will be more successful if you are also doing the personal work it takes to show up with your best self. 

Here are a handful of places to start:

  • Building Your Team

  • Equity

  • Listening

  • Apologizing

Practical Refinements

There are some very practical ways to reduce the environmental impact of your tour, create an atmosphere that reduces sexual assault, and save lives through harm reduction strategies that prevent overdoses. You will know what strategies make the most sense for your tour and what types of rider additions will work.

Here are a handful of places to get you started: 

  • Sustainability on Tour

  • Situational Awareness

Harm Reduction Resources

  • Harm Reduction flyers/pamphlets - South Side Harm Reduction (Minneapolis)

  • Naloxone 101 - NC Harm Reduction Coalition

Adding Smaller Stops To Your Tour

If you don’t live in a city or town often passed over on tours (or you haven’t lived in one of those for a long time), you might have some dated or narrow perspectives of who lives there and what kind of music fans you could meet. Taking time to research and add some smaller stops on your tour has the potential to introduce you to new fans, see some beautiful places, shorten your time in a car, and potentially connect with good work happening in places you might not expect it.

Start here :