-A Tour Manager is the person responsible for organising and administrating the affairs of the artiste during the concert tour as it travels around. (The official definition!)

The idea of using a band/concert tour manager is to make sure the tour is running smoothly, all band and crew are happy, performance revenue is being collected and tour-related bills are being paid.

The following is a (very) brief guide to the work of a tour manager.

You should expect this level of work from any Tuba Production’s concert tour manager you work with.

The role of the band Tour Manager

A band tour manager is basically the person who oversees all the accommodation, transport, equipment and crew involved with the tour. They travel with the band on the road, dealing with all the day-to day problems as they arise. They also act as accountant; producing budgets, picking up cash for performances and paying suppliers and other expenses as the tour progresses.

On very large tours the role of band tour manager may be split between 3 or 4 different people; for instance tour manager, production manager, production assistant and tour accountant (s).

Tour managers are usually freelance and are paid by the artiste or artiste's management company from the tour funds. They work on a daily or weekly rate. The tour usually pays for the tour manager's accommodation, travel, communication costs and other expenses.
 
As a general rule, tour managers do not book or arrange the shows. This is the job of the booking agent working in conjunction with promoters.

The band tour manager will be contacted by the management, usually during or after the booking of the show (s). (In certain cases the management may consult the tour manager about the suitability of certain venues or whether it is possible to reach certain cities in the time allocated etc.).

The tour manager's job really begins once the dates have been booked. We then take the date sheet supplied by the booking agent and work on the following areas:

1. Advancing
2. On the road

Advancing

Once dates have been booked and the contracts have been signed, the band tour manager will then start to 'advance' the shows.

Advancing is the process of contacting each promoter and venue to ensure the entire artiste's technical and hospitality demands will be met and to resolve any problems the promoter or venue can foresee.

The tour manager will also ask about contact names and addresses, arrival times, equipment load in times, sound check and performance times, any supporting/opening acts and finally what time all live music has to be finished by.  

On the Road

Once the advancing has been done and the tour manager has all the appropriate venue information, contact details and times he or she will usually produce the tour itinerary (AKA 'tour book' or ‘road book’)

The itinerary details all the information for the tour, in a day-by-day format and is issued to all touring personnel as well as to related offices, friends and family.

The tour manager will then travel with the act on the tour. The job on the road varies enormously depending on the type and success level of the act.

The following items are part of a band tour manager's day-to-day workload:

1. Overseeing hotel departures on time
2. Settling accommodation bills
3. Overseeing travel arrangements i.e. band and crew onto the bus or to the airport in good time
4. Paying per diems* to band & crew
5. Overseeing venue arrival - double checking hospitality and technical arrangements
6. Arranging up to date running order with venue and promoter
7. Overseeing promotional activities i.e. TV, radio and press interviews at the venue or at other locations
8. Supervising any support or opening acts
9. Ensuring venue is ready to open on time by supervising sound check times
10. Liaising with transport department regarding the next days' travel
11. Ensuring all acts perform on time and for the allotted time
12. Settling performance fee with promoter and collecting any due cash
13. Ensuring all touring equipment is re-packed and loaded back onto tour transport
14. Preparing band and crew schedule sheets for the next day
15. Overseeing band and crew on to appropriate over night transport or to next hotel
16. Reporting this show's attendance figures to management and booking agent
17. Per Diems is a daily amount paid to touring crew to cover living expenses, food etc. From the Latin 'for the day', apparently.

Part of text extracted from TourConcepts.com.