back in the day, bands toured in order to sell albums.
back then you HAD to have label support or there was no record
You could tour, but with out a record how many people would show
album sales and airplay was only way to make money, touring was profitable, but in general I don't think the band made a whole lot, but it was a good way to keep the fan base engaged and marketing for more album sales
recently, bands release albums in order to make money on tour.
this is 100% of the case for most bands who play 9:30 club and below. A band who can consistently do 30 date tours and pack the places can make a decent living. The make next to nothing from album sales these days. Its even cheaper to create an album, so less need for a record deal. I will say, one thing I kinda of agree with Agaz was it's kinda lame for the venue to take a big cut of the merch sales. Don't think it should be zero, but 20-25% seems like highway robbery for a band trying to make a buck
now they can't make money on touring?? what's left??
it's expensive to take an entourage on a US tour from a foreign country, so I'm always surprised that some small bands tour from europe, but they really need you to show up and buy merch
what kind of venues was Little Simz playing
from this pic, it's just a four piece
playing the FSS, would have to imagine a headliner would get at least 10k
although live nation could be really lame on that front, have no idea
but I can't imagine a one month tour with maybe 10 people and equipment was going to cost 100K
now really poor ticket sales could be a factor, if all those venue were only sold at 20-30% capacity, that could end up costing bacon to support that
