Interesting Article on the Finances of a Touring Indie Band

Interesting article. This band appears to have it's shite together, regardless of being able to profit from a tour. How many musicians do you guys know that don't have another job? I think good music is made in those perilous environments.

I met a guy that was the drummer in "Framing the Red". They toured all over the country and even opened up for Hinder and Def Leppard. He makes more money selling Toyotas.

Did tRigz ever tour?

I heard the Rogz banked so much from the 2010 fall tour they will never have to work another day in their lives

tRogz are strictly a studio band.

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2 crew members is excessive. 1 is plenty. Many bands don't have any with them. Staying in hotels every night is excessive. Most small bands stay with friends/fans in various cities at least 20% of the time. Those 2 items would allow this band to make money. Then, paying band members a salary and per diem? Naw, you get a percentage of each nights take.

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Yep. It sounds like their problem is knowing how to budget and not splurge on everything. I mean, I get that they want to pay per diem to the band members and a salary, but at the same time, they aren't some big corporation that should do this. It seems laughable that musicians would expect a per diem and salary when touring.

Whenever I pick up a bass gig around town I usually charge $500 an hour

they blame the stage production and wanting to put on a great show as an investment causing them to lose out, but behind the scenes seemed to spend excessively too. stuff like hotels the whole way, the extra crew member.... this was to a degree them wanting to do it up while on tour, not just have a noteworthy stage presence. they treated it as an experience and not a small business.

interesting read though.

The thing to remember about Pomplamoose, is that they are NOT a struggling band, trying to eke out a meager living, hoping to make the big time.

They are a long established "Youtube" band, with well over 100 million views; they earn about $5000/month from iTunes and other downloading services; Jack Conte started the website Patreon, which allows people to support their favorite bands or artists through donations(kind of like a "Kickstarter" for artists). He gets a cut of every donation on Patreon. Pomplamoose gets $6000 to make every video; They have appeared in many national commercials (I'm sure y'all remember the Hyundai Christmas commercials from a few years ago).

They have plenty of money. I'm sure they earn well over six figures, but they pour most of their money back into the band via instruments and A/V equipment. I think Conte released this information because he thought it would be interesting to his fans and beneficial to other bands.