What's the point?
Once you’ve established if you can go on tour you need to figure out why you want to go. Are you going out to promoting an album? Have you been inundated with requests to visit a particular town? Are you trying to expand into a new area? Giving yourself a focus will help you to keep the tour manageable and help shape the decisions that you make. From there you can narrow down where you want to go and how long for.
Where are you going?
Some artists enjoy the challenge of touring in a place where they’re unknown, while others prefer the safety of towns with a big fan following. But how can you find this information? Luckily, it’s now easier than ever to gather data about your followers. With your Spotify artist account, you can filter through your followers by country and city to find the areas where most of your streams are coming from. If you don’t use Spotify, you can also find follower stats on Instagram by converting your profile to a business account. It’s also worth checking out your age and gender stats on these platforms to help you decide on the kind of venues to approach and what merch to bring.
Although it’s tempting to go everywhere you can find a fan, it’s important to know where to draw the line. Try to pick places that are connected to major motorways and have nearby accommodation. Don’t get caught out by places that have low bridges or restrictions on tour buses and large vans. As all of this information comes together you can start drafting out a route and assign a date to each stop.
Don’t forget to make a note of any toll bridges, border checks or major roadworks along your route.