Getting Your Show Overseas – 10 tips from Australia’s touring experts

Image: Sophie Kirov, Demi Louise, Dan Horton

This article is presented by The Appointment Group (TAG), an award-winning global, independenttravel and event management company.

Artists, managers and industry figures looking to tour overseas were given unfiltered insights into how to make the leap from local touring artist to international export last week.

The second annual Australian Music Week conference in Cronulla hosted the panel titled Getting Your Show Overseas, presented by global travel services company The Appointment Group (TAG).

Moderated by Sounds Australia’s Export MusicProducer GlennDickie, the panel saw Ballarat singer-songwriter Demi Louise, tour logistics guru Sophie Kirov and TAG’s Head of Touring (APAC) Dan Horton delve into the issues artists face when they’re looking to tour, the tricks of the trade, and their pre-tour recommendations that will help save time and money.

Demi Louise used social analytics to define her first overseas jaunt

Unsigned, award-winning pop artist Demi Louise may have just inked a management deal in Canada, but her career started on YouTube.

As she told delegates at Australian Music Week, when she saw that many of her fans engaging with her cover songs were from the UK she decided she’d tour there first in 2014.

“I think if that wouldn’t have happened I wouldn’t have chosen to go to the UK to start off with,” she said.

“I went over there never having showcased or anything, it was more of an organic experience where I just wanted to be there. We were lucky enough to get on [Liverpool] Sound City with [Sounds Australia]. From that, we got opportunities in London and we played the Aussie BBQ [showcase].”

Demi Louise on route to England in June

Beware the withholding tax

Sophie Kirov, Director of touring operations provider Down The Highway, has toured with TLC, Flume, Flight Facilities and Kimbra, among others.

A typical day may include coordinating flights and venue load ins, driving at all hours, and, at times, physically helping the crew load road cases, Kirov specialises in logistics and entertainment visas for the US, Australia and Asia.

Kirov warned panel attendees to budget for withholding taxes, the tax required of anyone making a payment to a foreign artist for services performed in that territory.

“If you’re doing [conference] showcases then you’re not paying fees,” she said. “But if you are doing shows where there’s a fee involved they will take a withholding tax from your fee.

“As much as you think you’re about to receive $1,000 for doing a show, they could take – depending on where you are in the world – anywhere between 30 or 50%. […] That’s money you won’t get back unless you want to file a tax return with that country – which is pretty unlikely and difficult.”

One major tour issue in the US is with powering gear

Normal US mains power is delivered as115V, while the average Australian mains power is delivered as 240V. If you don’t want to feature unwanted pyrotechnics at your live show, then heed Sophie Kirov’s advice.

“It’s something that you have to be very mindful of,” she said. “[…] You have to step up your power otherwise there’s not enough voltage to power your gear. That’s when you need a transformer.”

“You’ll need a really good one,” added Demi Louise. “Because we blew up three in one day.”

Demi Louise performing at Blade Craft Barber Academy in Dallas, Texas (March 2016)

The US industry was made aware of Courtney Barnett before her first tour

Nick O’Byrne, Owner/Manager at Look Out Kid, ex-AIR General Manager and co-Owner of Barely Dressed Records, has been working with Courtney Barnett since long before her sweep of the AIR Awards and ensuing US praise.

While the Melbourne-based export may have appeared to return from her first CMJ Music Marathon in 2013 a hero, the groundwork for that trip began months before she even boarded the plane.

According to Ellen Kirk, Assistant Manager at Look Out Kid, O’Byrne travelled internationally to develop relationships before Barnett was even ready to tour overseas.

“He was already talking to people from a lot of different labels and started talking to booking agents and stuff to pitch Courtney and Fraser [A. Gorman] separately, before even sending either of those guys over there.

“So when they got there, there was already people interested in them and we already had booking agents on board.”

Barnett’s show at CMJ was of course curated and staged by export body Sounds Australia, was part of the event’s College Day. As moderator and Sounds Australia Export Producer Glenn Dickie pointed out, Barnett could not have won over a more culturally alienated crowd.

“It was quite amazing to see people gravitating towards somebody talking about growing tomatoes in Northcote, Melbourne,” he said. “It just didn’t make any sense but everybody loved it and latched on to it.”

Courtney Barnett at CMJ, 2013
Photo Credit:Philippe Perez,the AU Review

Including a buffer within your budget is key

Kirov’s budgets usually have around 40 line items, from travel elements, to marketing, transfers and production.

“The budgeting that I work off is always inflated because obviously there’s change in dollars, even though right now the dollar may be sitting wherever it’s sitting for whatever country you’re going to, you need to keep in mind that that could well change by the time you’re there in three months, or six months. You need to have those buffers in place.

“Every show day I always have those buffers because that’s the beauty and the punish of touring; things happen that are just completely unexpected. Whether it’s gear breaking or something going missing, or you need to quickly get somewhere else because there’s a great opportunity for show.”

Get an accountant

Sophie Kirov recommends the pay-now-save-later model for touring artists.

“Even though there’s a cost involved in engaging an accountant, in the grand scheme of things – especially if you think you’re going to be doing a lot more touring overseas – they will pay for themselves.”

Cut travel costs by being the early bird

Dan Horton is Head of Touring (APAC) at global travel services company The Appointment Group (TAG). Having helped set up TAG’s Melbourne office after moving over from the UK, he looks after the Asia-Pacific region, making tours with the likes of Courtney Barnett, Coldplay, Flume, Chet Faker and Bernard Fanning, among many others, run smoothly.

Despite TAG’s partnerships with multiple airlines, Horton knows first-hand the impairment Australians experience from being geographically removed from the top touring spots.

“The biggest costs to artists is flights,” he said. “It should be the first cost you budget for. The key is to – while I know it’s sometimes hard in this industry – book as far in advance as you can to get the cheaper airfares.

“To the US we’re talking between $1,500 to $2,000 a head for a round-trip ticket, so that’s the big thing that you’ve got to budget for initially.”

Consider all hidden costs beforehand

Despite traveling light, and despite touring as solo artist, singer-songwriter Demi Louise struggles with flight baggage allowances on tour.

“The #1 thing [to tip the scale] is instruments,” she said. “But then even taking things like leads and pedals, all of a sudden you’ve got another five kilos of luggage.

Louise recommends having your promotional assets created at your final destination to cut baggage costs.

“To start off with I was printing all my CDs at home, doing it all by myself, and taking it over. Then I realised you can get things done online in the city that you’re going to quite quickly; […] so allowing a day for that is a good thing.”

“You need to be realistic about touring,” added Sophie Kirov. “Even though [travel services company] TAG have given you all the information you need regarding excess baggage, you can get there and there’s a magical heavy charge that they’re putting on just for that day only. Or your particular case is five or 10 centimetres too big.

“It happens all the time,” she said. “And if there’s a language barrier, or if you’re not a preferred partner of that particular airline, you don’t want to be in a position where it’s like ‘Well we’re not eating for the next two days because we’ve got to pay this particular charge’.”

Demi Louise said she uses Facebook to cut accommodation costs:

“There’s a lot of Facebook groups you can become a part of even before you get to these conferences,” she said. “If you are traveling by yourself as an artist or a manager you might not necessarily know anyone that you can split a hotel room with. You can find these groups online and say ‘I’ve booked a double room there’s another bed in here does anyone want to split it up?’ You can stalk them on the internet to make sure they’re not weirdos.”

TAG’s Dan Horton said there are a few tricks of the trade to keep costs down.

“AirBnb is a major player these days, which I think has really changed the face of touring, especially for emerging musicians who haven’t got the budget to book hotels,” he said.

You’ll benefit from booking your entire tour with one airline

Did you know all the benefits an airline grants to frequent flyers or loyalty scheme members, such as lounge access, extra luggage and upgrades, will often apply when flying with carriers in the same alliance?

This means a Qantas member can receive same benefits they would get on its partner airlines like American, British Airways or any of the 14 airlines that are part of the oneworld Group.

“Once you receive certain tiers of a membership you can get extra baggage allowance of up to an extra three or four pieces,” noted TAG’s Dan Horton. “It’s well worth starting out with an airline that you think you’ll be travelling with in the future.”

Sophie Kirov added: “That Lounge access, as much as it’s all very fancy, when you are touring that’s a meal – multiple meals if you want to take a Tupperware container,” she laughed.

“It’s a shower, it’s a place where you have WiFi, you have water… It’s a great tool to get bands to the airport: there’s food, and treats and alcohol.”

“I booked it all with one airline for the first time last year,” said Demi Louise. “It was so much better. Even in terms of checking in, they don’t argue with you about your guitar case […] which they sometimes do if you book separate flights with different baggage policies.”

Avoid the horror stories by using a travel services company

When artists and their crew are caught in a situation where their flight is delayed or cancelled, it can result in detrimental knock-on effects to the rest of their schedule. To avoid spending the aftermath waiting in line at the airport or on the phone trying to get through to the airline, the panel members recommend engaging a travel services company.

TAG’s 24/7, 365 days a year, fully in-house emergency team, proved advantageous when Sophie Kirov was stuck in Bali with electronic producer duo Flight Facilities.

“We had a volcanic ash situation in Indonesia and I had Gordon [Brown, Senior Travel Executive] at the time who was in the UK, and he had more information than the people in Bali and the promoter.

“He said ‘Don’t go to the airport, the flight’s delayed for six hours and the promoter said, ‘We’re going to go to the airport’. It turns out the flight was delayed for six hours and if we’d gone to the airport we would have been sitting in complete chaos.”

This article is presented byThe Appointment Group (TAG). TAGis an award-winning global, independent travel and event management companydedicated to clients around the clock from offices in London, Manchester, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville, Melbourne, Sydney and Singapore.