Tour:Smart by Martin Atkins

Posted by Justin Boland on Feb 03, 2008 | 0 Comments

Six months ago, I bought the 6th edition of Donald Passman’s classic book Everything You Need to Know About the Music Business.  I wound up re-reading as soon as I finished it, because I couldn’t believe how useless it was.  I figured I must have missed something…but the second reading didn’t change my mind.

I don’t want to demean Passman, since he definitely delivered on the title.  His book contains a very detailed look at “the music business” which is a total failure built upon exploiting and ripping off musicians.  It’s a lot like a textbook on dinosaur anatomy, really…or maybe a repair manual for the Titanic.  Passman also offers valuable advice on how to reduce rectal tearing and treat the bleeding afterwards.

However, I don’t recommend working with the “music business.” I recommend taking total control over your own career, and I found a pretty damn valuable tool for exactly that.

Martin Atkins calls it “the first real book on touring.” I agree 100%.  I’ve never seen a single book so full of immediately useful, honest and practical advice-all of it won through first-hand experience and battle scars.  Best of all, Atkins draws upon dozens of his friends and co-conspirators, too.  What you wind up getting is an absurdly complete guide to every single aspect of making money off live music.

The book is a massive object-oversized and 551 pages long.  It’s also very readable-Atkins is not a fan of bullshit, and he’s got a very clear style.

Tour:Smart addresses about 1000 topics I never even thought about before: international shows, merch booth design, selling ad space on your own promo material to other artists, settling up after shows, logical accounting for musicians, recruiting a road crew, working with street teams, planning and routing your tour, transportation checklists, DIY merchandise options, and over a dozen ESSENTIAL little blurbs for any performance contract…this is merely a fraction of what gets covered.  Martin Atkins has been on the road for decades in every possibly capacity, and he’s also a real-deal college professor at Columbia College Chicago.  This means he not only knows every possible trap and unforeseen disaster, but he’s also dealt with every conceivable obvious and obnoxious question from too-smart students and wiseass kids.

Of course, it’s 2008 and there are new traps being built every day.  We’re all going to earn a lot of bruises and scars, courtesy of mistakes that weren’t possible even 2 years ago…but that’s part of the fun, right?

Right?

Is It Perfect?

Honestly, it could have been about 100 pages shorter.  There was a surprising amount of firsthand stories that were entertaining but not especially educational-especially since the relevant meat is quoted in other chapters.  However, that’s my sole complaint-assuming “I got more than I paid for” qualifies as a complaint.

Seriously, that’s it.  Buy this book and arm yourself.