Oh, Sleeper Breaks Down Touring Costs For A Mid-Level Band

Solid State Records‘ Oh, Sleeper guitarist Shane Blay posted an interesting breakdown explaining some of the challenges faced by “Mid-Level Bands” when touring these days. The musician explains the various costs faced by bands including merchandise, booking agents, managers and more and shows why few bands can sustain themselves at that level or often lose money:

For the past 5 years my brothers in Oh, Sleeper and myself have sacrificed our lives, our time, relationships, birthdays, holidays, health(haha) to travel around and play shows for our fans. Not to say that isn’t been a fun ride! I would like to show you guys an average day in finances for a “mid-level” band like us. Im going to breakdown the average monetary in and outs of a day on tour. On tour bands have two ways to make money. Guaranties, and Merchandise.

The article is rather interesting and worth a read here.