Live is a fly-out band Options

[LiveForNow]

I talked to a music industry professional recently, and he introduced me to the concept of a fly-out band.

Basically, there are two ways bands make money doing concerts. One way is to do all the legwork that comes with doing a tour. This involves costs, effort, and risk. Your money is tied to the revenue you generate doing the show (ticket sales, alcohol sales, merch, etc). While there might not be a lot of money in any one particular show, the hope is that over 60 dates you've made enough profit that the tour was worth it.

The other way to make money is to do fly-outs. Festivals and casino shows fall into this category. With a fly-out, the promoter/venue pays you a flat fee and covers all your costs in doing the show. There's no risk, you make guaranteed money, and it's comfortable.

It seems that with Live's reunion, they decided that they wanted to be comfortable and make guaranteed money. This explains almost every show they've done since coming back. The festivals and casinos are definite fly-outs. The Counting Crows tour might be somewhere in the middle, but I'm sure there was a lot less legwork and more guaranteed money doing that tour than headlining their own. The overseas show were big enough venues that there was probably little risk as well.

I think there are two ways to look at this. One is to say Live only cares about the money. The other is to say Live is made up of middle aged men who have other priorities. They can do shows here and there, make money, have fun, be comfortable, and get back to their lives.

I don't blame them for not wanting to do a traditional tour. I get that doing fly-outs is a nice lifestyle. It must be much better for Ed than doing his I Alone acoustic tour where he was driving himself to 200 person venues. It must be better for CCP who couldn't fill venues with Chris, and probably made very little on Summerland. It's their life, and this seems like a nice life.

I do wish though that they'd mix the setlists up and throw in some small venue shows here and there. They can do more to give the diehards what they want. It doesn't need to be a headlining tour, just enough that we can see them play 20 songs to their loyal fanbase.

[Voodoo Lady]

Interesting. I also learned a lot about tours from tweets today by Eddie Trunk. I’ll italicize what Eddie Trunk said and bold fan comments:

Shows are booked by the bands booking agent. The dates / offers are then presented to the bands manager. He then discusses the offers with the band. Routing comes into play as well. Tour managers & tour staff only deal with day to day of the tour. Not booking

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Johnny McCarthy
@JohnnieVolume
Replying to @EddieTrunk
Band members on the national/international level have very little input on tour itineraries. This is the job of tour managers working in conjunction with transportation captains venue promoters. and the supporting bands people.


That factors in also. If there is a great promo support platform in the market that can drive tickets/people. For instance a country act may not play a market if no country station / fan base for that music

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TheeCleveland
@TheeCleveland
Replying to @EddieTrunk
Columbus ?! Pssssh, try Cleveland... the Home Of Rock N Roll ... literally no yours come through here but it doesn’t help the local terrestrial FM Rock station (WMMS) has been awful for YEARS

A big band playing a way small place is known as an “underplay” in the business. It’s done for promotion & buzz if a free show and pald for by sponsor. Or paid for by you with extreme ticket prices if a ticketed show.

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Keith Albertie
@kalbertie
Replying to @EddieTrunk
Agree, it's all about the promoters.
But...it's nice when a well known band plays a small venue...not necessarily for the money, but for the fans...i.e. less 1,000 seats or less. Garage Days.

It’s simple business. Some fans think an artist has some bias against playing their city. Almost never the case. It’s a business. The only criteria is how much do they want & does the promoter think it’s worth it and they will draw enough to make money

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Jimbo Martin
@jimbomartin729
Replying to @Afterbu00193682 @reddragoncartel and 15 others
Same thing for Memphis TN. We get the @foofighters and #Tool when they tour. Anyone else I want to see, I have to travel to Nashville.

Bands don’t pick or care what cities they play. The only criteria is if there is a promoter willing to book them & pay their guarantee. As simple as that. If you aren’t getting bands/shows it’s because promoters there don’t think they can make money with it.

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Afterburner
@Afterbu00193682
Replying to @reddragoncartel @HalSparks and 14 others
Thats great but would someone for a change answer my question, why are most (90%) bands avoiding Columbus ,Ohio, formerly a good rock town but not now, this is a real fucking problem