# DIY Tour Management Guide

How to run your own tour with no dedicated tour manager. This is the field manual for the artist (or a single team member) wearing all the hats: advancing, money, merch, travel, and keeping the wheels on. It assumes a small operation — a DJ/electronic act like Snooko, or a small band in a van.

The core idea: **a tour manager's real job is to remove every surprise.** If you're doing it yourself, your job is the same. Systems beat scrambling.

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## The one thing that makes DIY touring work: the day sheet

Build a one-page **day sheet** for every show and read it out loud each morning. Everyone in the party gets it (text, shared doc, or printed). It contains:

- Date + day of week
- City, venue name, full address (the one GPS finds)
- Promoter/venue contact name + cell
- Sound engineer name + cell
- Schedule: load-in / soundcheck / doors / support set / **your set time** / curfew
- Fee + balance payment method + who pays you
- Hotel name + address + check-in time + confirmation #
- Drive time to next city / next call time
- Notes (parking, gear quirks, guest list count, anything weird)

If you only do one thing from this guide, do this.

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## Advancing shows (yourself)

Advancing is confirming every detail with the venue/promoter ~1–2 weeks out so the day-of has no surprises. Send a short advance email and **get answers in writing**:

1. **Schedule** — load-in, soundcheck, doors, set times, curfew.
2. **Technical** — does your stage plot/input list match their system? For a DJ: confirm **exact booth gear models** (CDJ-3000? DJM-A9? linkable via USB/SD or laptop + Rekordbox/Serato? is there a working USB hub/link cable?), monitor situation, and whether you can patch visuals.
3. **Logistics** — parking/load-in access, green room, wifi, merch table location and whether they take a cut.
4. **Money** — confirmed fee, balance method (cash or wire), who hands it over, comp/guest count, settlement process for door deals.
5. **Hospitality** — rider items, meal or buyout, water on stage.
6. **People** — day-of cell numbers for promoter, sound, and house manager.

Save each show's advance reply in a per-show folder with the signed contract and deposit confirmation.

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## Day-of-show timeline (typical club night)

Times shift, but the *order* almost never does. Build backward from your set time.

| When | What |
|---|---|
| **Arrival / load-in** | Get to the venue at the advanced load-in time. Park where you're told. Meet the day-of contact and the sound engineer first. |
| **Setup** | Stage/booth setup. Hand the engineer your input list / confirm DJ gear works. Test USBs/laptop link, every channel. |
| **Soundcheck** | Line check everything. Set monitor mix. For DJ: test a track through the system, set gain structure, check the booth monitor isn't blowing your ears out. Fix problems now, not during the set. |
| **Down time** | Eat. Hydrate. Set up merch. Confirm guest list with the door. Locate where you get paid and who pays you. |
| **Doors** | You're off stage; crowd comes in. Merch table staffed. |
| **Support sets** | Watch the room fill. Read the energy. Adjust your opener mentally. |
| **Your set** | Play the room you're in, not the set in your head (see Set List Guide). Watch the curfew clock. |
| **Post-set** | Merch push (you'll sell most right after you play). Thank the crew, the promoter, the sound engineer. |
| **Settle** | Collect the balance / run the settlement **before you leave the building.** |
| **Load-out** | Pack, count your gear, confirm nothing's left behind. |

Two rules that save tours: **be early, and never leave money or gear in the building.**

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## Handling money

You are the bank, the bookkeeper, and the treasurer. Treat cash like it's radioactive — track it.

- **Know each deal cold** before you walk in: guarantee, or guarantee-vs-percentage, or door deal, plus what's covered (lodging, hospitality, ground).
- **Deposits** should already be collected at booking (industry norm: 50% on signing). The **balance** is paid the night of — get it in hand before load-out. If it's a wire, confirm it actually sent, don't accept "we'll send it Monday" from a new promoter.
- **Settlement** on door/percentage deals: get the **settlement sheet** showing tickets sold, ticket price, gross, the promoter's deductible expenses (only what the contract allows), and your split. Don't accept vague math. Ask for the box office count.
- **Carry a float** of small bills for merch change, tips, parking, emergencies.
- **Log everything daily** — one spreadsheet: income (guarantee, door %, merch), expenses (gas, tolls, lodging, food, gear, parking). Reconcile each night while it's fresh. Photograph receipts.
- **Separate business money.** Use a dedicated card/account for the tour. It makes taxes and the post-tour P&L survivable.
- **Tip the people who help you.** Sound engineers especially. It's the right thing and it pays off.

After the tour, build a simple **P&L per show and overall** so you know which markets and promoters to keep.

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## Merch (often where the profit is)

For small tours, merch frequently outearns the guarantees. Don't treat it as an afterthought.

- **Bring the right amount.** Estimate ~$1–3 of merch revenue per head as a rough planning anchor and adjust by market; don't haul inventory you can't sell, don't run out of your hero item.
- **Hero product + range.** One great shirt/hoodie people actually want, a low-price impulse item (sticker/pin), and something premium. For a DJ act, vinyl, USBs, or limited tees move.
- **Take every payment type.** Square/Stripe tap reader + cash. Most buyers are cardless... actually the opposite now — most are cashless, so a card reader is non-negotiable.
- **Staff it.** Someone working the table during and right after your set. If it's just you, set up before, and hit it hard immediately post-set when the buying intent is highest.
- **Know the venue's cut.** Some rooms take a merch percentage (common in larger venues). Confirm in the advance and price/account for it.
- **Count in and out.** Inventory before doors, inventory after. Cash should reconcile to units sold.

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## Travel & lodging logistics

- **Routing realism.** 3–5 hours between shows is comfortable in a van; build in buffer for traffic, weather, and load-out running late. Don't plan to arrive exactly at load-in after a 6-hour drive.
- **Book lodging ahead**, not at midnight after the show. Cheapest reliable beds near the venue beat a "deal" 40 minutes out. Lock confirmation numbers into the day sheet.
- **Flying tours (common for solo DJs):** carry on what you cannot replace — laptop, USBs (have **backups** of your library on a second drive/USB), headphones, adapters, IDs, payment gear. Check the rest. Arrive with margin; a missed flight is a missed show is a refunded fee plus reputation damage.
- **Ground transport:** rental, rideshare, or promoter pickup — confirm in the advance who's getting you door to door.
- **Gear redundancy:** for a DJ, two USBs + a laptop with Rekordbox/Serato + your music backed up in the cloud. For a band, spare cables, strings, fuses, a DI, gaff tape. The show must go on with one thing broken.
- **Rest and food are logistics, not luxuries.** A blown-out artist plays a blown-out set. Schedule sleep and real meals like they're load-ins.

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## Common DIY pitfalls (and how to dodge them)

- **No signed contract / no deposit.** "Verbal hold" isn't a booking. Paper it; collect the deposit.
- **Vague advance.** "It'll be fine" from a promoter is not an answer. Get specifics in writing, especially **DJ gear models**.
- **Showing up late to load-in.** Burns goodwill with the exact people who make your show sound good.
- **Not settling the same night.** Chasing money after you've left town is how artists get stiffed. Collect before load-out.
- **Underestimating costs.** Gas, tolls, parking, food, lodging, merch restock, and the merch cut add up fast. Budget with a cushion.
- **No gear backups.** One dead USB or cable shouldn't end the night.
- **Burning out.** No days off, no sleep, no food → bad shows by night four. Build recovery into the route.
- **Treating merch casually.** Leaving the table unstaffed during your set throws away your highest-intent sales window.
- **Forgetting the guest list discipline.** Every comp is an unsold seat. Keep it tight.
- **No content plan.** You're in 8 cities with a phone in your pocket — capture footage nightly for the next announce.

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## DIY tour kit (throw it in the bag)

- Printed/shared **day sheets** for every date
- Per-show folder: signed contract, deposit confirmation, advance replies
- W-9 + payment details ready
- Square/card reader + cash float + change
- Merch + inventory count sheet
- Gear + **backups** (DJ: 2 USBs, laptop, library backup; band: spare cables/strings/DI/fuses, gaff tape)
- Chargers, adapters, link cables, power strip
- Cloud backup of your music + all docs
- Basic first-aid + meds + earplugs
- A running income/expense spreadsheet
