An Honest Year on Philly's 'Rock On' TV show. (Image via an-honest-year.tumblr.com)
Tour press is, obviously, the type of press that the band does while on tour, but it's actually a very integral element of a band's overall press campaign. It supports the tour dates and the band's live business. It helps create awareness around a band's local appearance so the band can sell tickets, merch, and CDs in that local market. It also creates general awareness about an artist's existence and helps a band find new fans and media supporters along the way. Tour press is typically broken down into the following four elements.
1. Event calendar listings
This is the most basic aspect of tour press. It's the band's name, venue, and show date listed in the publication's show calendar, either online or in print (or both). Sometimes, it's accompanied by a line of descriptive text. Oftentimes, it's not.
2. Previews
This is an advance feature or review, which can include an interview or a "critic's pick" distinction, that runs in the local arts and entertainment weekly or monthly. It can also be in the daily paper's A&E section, or it can live online, or both. It runs in advance of a tour to let the locals know who's coming to town to perform.
3. Morning TV
There are morning TV shows in major, secondary, and tertiary markets. They're news driven, serve the community, and often host live, acoustic performances of bands coming through town. It's usually a bit of a production with a lot of moving parts, and it's often an early morning event. It's not an option for all touring bands, but for those with radio campaigns or mainstream-leaning music, it is. It means performing twice in a single day, but it also exposes the band to a much wider audience.
4. Post coverage
This can be an in-person interview that takes place at the venue and runs after the show. This can also be a review that runs after the fact. Post-show coverage may not generate any pre-event hype, but it does perhaps introduce the band to the market and could stoke further interest so locals will see the band next time around.
Tour press is an extremely valuable asset and tool, since it creates awareness of a band and of local shows coming to the market. However, with magazines and papers paring down, one person does the job of several. There used to be a music person, a movies person, and a lifestyle person. Now, in many cities, one person does all three of those gigs, so it's not always easy to get a tour-press preview to run. But they're essential, since they alert the locals to who's coming to town. It builds, supports, and sustains fanbases on the ground.
Find out more about getting press:
- Ask a Music Journalist: How to Get Maximum Press for Your Band Using Lead Time
- 10 Ways to Get Your Music in the Press (Besides the Usual Album Release and Tour PR)
- 4 Reasons You're Not Hearing Back From the Press (And What to Do About It)
- 5 Effective Ways to Maintain Press Relationships After Your First Review
- 8 Dos and Don'ts for Engaging the Press on Social Media
Amy Sciarretto has 20 years of print and online bylines, from Kerrang to Spin.com to Revolver to Bustle, covering music, beauty, and fashion. After 12 years doing radio and publicity at Roadrunner Records, she now fronts Atom Splitter PR, her own boutique PR firm, which has over 30 clients. She also is active in animal charity and rescue.
