One thing that I see time and time again on tours with other DIY bands is the blurring of the line between business and creative on the way up. When you are on tour with a band, make friends with them, hang out with them, party with them, whatever… but don’t turn every hang into a networking meeting. From what I’ve seen, it never works as well as a band thinks it will. A lot of times they don’t make a lot of the decisions anyway (because they aren’t a DIY like you… They have higher ups to answer to). If their manager is around, THEN put on your business hat. If you’re hanging out, grabbing a beer with the headliner after a show, just hang… Don’t start selling yourself for other tours or collaborations. All that fun stuff happens with time and with a good relationship.
Finally, this is a full time job. If you’re going to “do it yourself”, expect to do A LOT more work than if you were just going to be on some label where they do the work for you. Lots of emails, late nights, early mornings, hiring, firing, failing, problem solving, budgeting… PLUS the creating, writing, performing, practicing, interviews, photo shoots, video shoots… EVERYTHING.
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