What is Rock Tour Agency?
How we can book a tour for our band?
Okay, so - you're telling us that we need to pay for all of these stuff... And what's with us? What do we get? Can we pay you from our gig money?
We set up all the details, few days are left from the beginning of the tour. What should we expect?
Maybe this looks to you like not-so-cool scenario, but better to be prepared, than to expect just milk & honey, right?
- Rock Tour Agency is a booking agency. We book tours for underground metal bands in Europe.
How we can book a tour for our band?
- First of all, you need to have at least one or two high quallity uploaded stuff on the internet, and at least 45 minutes of live performance
- You need to know approximately how many days you want to tour, where; and to have your own backline and transportation (or you can rent ours)
- Contact us (via e-mail :rocktouragency (a) gmail.com or drop us a message to FB page) to talk about all details for the tour, at least 6-8 months in advance
- You need to check if you need Visas for the countries you will visit
- After we make a deal with the band, band needs to sign an contract which secure booking, and to pay a deposit after signing the contract (which is 1/3 from the whole ammount)
- Then - you wait, we work :) Yeah, we're serious. Booking process is very long (it lasts few months), and you can't expect in few days to have the whole tour confirmed
- You need to know, if you have in mind some specific cities to be booked, we can't book all cities you've imagined
- The best option for touring is to have 2 bands on tour (especially when band has 3-4 members) to split the costs ,but it's not neccessary
- Please, avoid questions like:
"In which clubs we will play?" - You will play at the club where local promoter usually book the gigs. We don't have a base of clubs which are the same on every tour.
"In which cities we will play?" - You can make an approx plan in which countries and cities you want to play. But have in mind that sometimes it isn't possible, because of many bands touring, or some promoters doesn't arrange gigs on a week day, etc. We will do our best to book cities you've imagined. You will be informed after every booked gig where you will play.
"How many people usually / will come to a gig?" - That is unpredictable, really. It depends on many factors.
"Is that a small club?" - Usually,it's a clubs with 100 - 300 people capacity. Local promoter can't pay a rent for club which has capacity of 300 people and more.
Okay, so - you're telling us that we need to pay for all of these stuff... And what's with us? What do we get? Can we pay you from our gig money?
- We always try to give our best for the band to get everything needed.
You will get acommodation on some places, food and drinks, local support band and all money from the gigs (depends what local promoter can offer ).
Mostly your cachet will be a doordeal (sometimes 100 %, sometimes a bit less), which can be better than a fixed fee,especially on some places.
Yes, we know, you want to get a fixed fee, so you can be sure. So do we. But the thing is that we are trying to get the best possible deal for you, and we can't affect on how does the local promoters / clubs works. Usually, the doordeal is around 50 - 200 €.
We set up all the details, few days are left from the beginning of the tour. What should we expect?
- The best is to not expect anything, and be prepared for everything.
We know, it sounds shitty. But less you expect, more you will be satisfied.
You should expect a lot of fun, new experiences, new places and meeting a lot of cool people which came up to see you.
Yes,we expect crowded venues with 300 people (because you are really cool band, right?! + RTA choose only quality bands which has great music), sweaty girls and gallons of beer which pours you while you're on stage. Stop.
You should expect not so many crowd, to be honest. You are not the only band which is on tour there. But it is better to have 20 cool people (which came to see you, and to hear your awesome music - that means you are worth to hear) than to have 100 shitheads which came just to drink beer at the bar / in front of the venue and to talk about "how the scene is dead". - Ok, enough. We are maybe a bit ironic, but that's the truth.
- Alright, after few days on the tour.... you are tired enough, you haven't had a decent meal the whole day, you spent a lot of money, and all you get is these 10-20 people which came up?
Cheer up! Really.
These 10-20 guys deserve yours respect. They CAME UP. They (probably) enjoyed your show, and they'll probably buy your CD, or shirt.
Sure, maybe the local promoter didn't promote the event properly, but the thing is even when promoters does it properly that nobody shows up.
Why? Because there are a lot of bands on tour, audience is filled with gigs and they can choose what they want to hear, and yes - everyone wants to get a show on weekend (especially promoters).
One shitty Monday can make things pretty much better, because these 10-20 people came up. They brought their asses to see your show even they need to get up early. You should respect those people.
- We'll try to find a replacement gig in the nearest town possible. Sometimes things like cancelling the gig could happen due to some unpredictable reasons.
If we cannot find a replacement gig, we'll make a best possible solution for a band (in agreement with the band).
- If this is your first tour, depends if you are an optimistic, pesimistic or realistic. Be realistic.
It maybe sounds lousy, but when you think about how really underground you are, you play thousands and thousands miles away from your home, and some people show up at the gig, then you meet all these cool people, share your passion with them, it is pretty cool, isn't it? - If you've already been on tour, you know what you can expect.
- Tours are nice experience where you spread your effort, music and art. Enjoy in it! Share your passion! You'll be happy and satisfied some day with that experience.
Maybe this looks to you like not-so-cool scenario, but better to be prepared, than to expect just milk & honey, right?