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Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Lorde Explains Why Touring Is So Hard for Artists in 2022
Billboard: On Wednesday (Nov. 9), the “Solar Power” singer sent a newsletter to fans that included a “spiel” on the difficulties artists are facing on the road, highlighting “a storm of factors” that have led to this moment.
After the pandemic, I think that most people believed the theatre industry would just fix itself back to what it was before. However, that is not the case, as it has been with most things. We forget that there are touring shows and artists on the road who are struggling more than they were before. As an avid concert goer myself, I have been lucky in the past year to attend as many concerts as I did. The fact that the venues would sometimes change, or the show would be postponed to a later date, or that you would wait 2 hours for the artist to come on stage have been major things that concert goers haven’t had to deal with before. In a way I think the pandemic helped us realize how taxing the touring industry can be. In the hypothetical it seems really fun, but in actuality now it’s a stressful endeavor that has snowballed out of effect, so much so that artists like Taylor Swift and Lorde have to play at different venues for less time than normal. I find it really admiring that Lorde spoke out to tell her fans about the struggles she has been experiencing while on tour. That act alone shows strength and makes her more human, and I am hopeful that the touring industry will become less stressful for all parties in the future.
I am really struggling to have sympathy for musical artists for cancelling their large tours and then draining money for that decision. I especially am struggling to have sympathy for larger artists that this article pointed out like Lorde or Justin Beiber or Shawn Mendes. There is no doubt that covid took a financial tour on all these artists when they had to cancel for the safety of their patrons but lets be honest touring is part of the job of these artists. The luxury of being able to take off months of touring and months of your job for your mental health is not something regular people have. Like I hesitate to call it a "struggle" in any way shape or form if you're still able to survive after canceling your tours. There are multiple are artists that don't go on tour and just adjust their lifestyle accordingly. Artists can easily just not buy million dollar houses.
I hate it when fans are disrespectful towards artists and performers, especially when they are going on tour. It is crazy that these people put so much time and effort into making a show to repeatedly have to perform for like a month just for people to comment on them and their efforts. It baffles me. It’s also such an insane amount of money. Generally, you have to pay for travel, the equipment, the venue, the dancers, and the hotel rooms. Especially now, those are incredibly expensive, especially when it’s for about a month. “Nearly every tour has been besieged with cancellations and postponements and promises and letdowns, … All we want to do is play for you.” (Billboard) I am sure a lot of tours are done just for money, however not all of them are. People just want to have a good time, and it’s very upsetting hearing them get negative comments for just working hard.
I’m glad Lorde is able to speak out about this and provide some much needed context to fans and other concert goers. I just read another article recently about the mental health toll that touring takes on the artists and crew. It is extremely difficult to get into the mindset of constantly being on the move then adjust to life after that. Your whole life is revolved around performing and there is no sense of homebase. This conversation is also extremely interesting with all of the Taylor Swift drama going on with Ticket Master. I know that Lorde touched a bit on not wanting to charge her fans a ridiculous amount, but a piece of the puzzle that was left out is the insane amount Ticket Master charges for service fees alone. Although, since it is pretty much a monopoly it’s not like artists are able to speak out against it. This is something that needs to be solved at a bigger level.
It’s unfortunate that inflation has driven up the costs of producing shows to the point where it may not be economically viable for some artists. If memory serves, the historic business model for musical artists was to tour at a loss to sell records (and then CDs.) However, at some point the business model switched due to music streaming and now the music streaming services (which pay the artists fractions of a penny per play) are advertising to see people live. This is incredibly unfortunate because if the production costs of concerts are too high, then artists (especially middle of the road artists) may not be able to afford to tour anymore. Lorde specifically cited trucking costs which are triple that of what they used to be. Trucking in general is understaffed right now. Of course supply chain issues have challenged everyone, but I hadn’t heard about difficulty obtaining cymbals and in ear monitors for performers.
I think that it's really good that Lorde was mentioning all of these details that can add to so much more stalls and difficulty with the touring industry when compared to a touring industry that was pre-pandemic. I'd be interested to learn more about why they're having difficulties finding as many crew members, but I'm assuming it's because the hours for crew members are long and I'm not sure that they get paid well, so I'm sure that during the pandemic’s shutdowns they found work outside of the industry.I think that it's frustrating when people even listen to these problems, and then say that it's because the artists are being greedy. There are so many people who have to work on a tour to make it happen well. End so all of those people have to be compensated and spend a lot of time and a lot of effort, and a lot of money in order to get their jobs done. With the budgetary complications that have been recently plaguing a lot of touring artists, it's very understandable as to why artists would want to cancel- they don't want to put their entire team through working for a lot more, just to not be able to break even. I'm hoping that with time, the touring industry is able to stabilize into something new, or better.
Am I supposed to feel bad for Lorde? Like there are there not countless musical acts performing in basements all across this country? I understand that the cost of everything has gone up due to the pandemic, inflation, monopolies, and price-gouging. I deeply understand it as someone who has to budget all our shows. However, if you can no longer afford to do shows at the scope, you were doing before, the math is not hard. Just don’t do shows at the scope you did before. Your options are do smaller shows with less equipment so you don’t have to fill those overcrowded buses, do multiple shows a city to make more money without having to pay transportation costs, or charge more for your tickets. I understand that these are your fans, and you love them, and you just to play music for them, but no this is a business and if you need to charge more to cover your costs then reduce your costs or charge more.
Reading this article was actually really interesting and eye opening. As of right now, my hopes for after college are to tour in some way shape or form. Although this is what I want to do, I also didn’t realize how difficult it might be to do so. As someone who has lived in one place all my life, I also didn’t take into account how difficult it would be to travel in close quarters for long periods of time. I also didn’t realize how much effort it would take to cancel a show in the case something that cannot be changed happens, such as someone getting sick or injured, or other unfortunate circumstances coming up. As I move forward through college, hopefully I’ll get the chance to tour in some form before I make it my final career. I would hate to get myself into a huge gig and quickly realizing that touring is not for me.
8 comments:
After the pandemic, I think that most people believed the theatre industry would just fix itself back to what it was before. However, that is not the case, as it has been with most things. We forget that there are touring shows and artists on the road who are struggling more than they were before. As an avid concert goer myself, I have been lucky in the past year to attend as many concerts as I did. The fact that the venues would sometimes change, or the show would be postponed to a later date, or that you would wait 2 hours for the artist to come on stage have been major things that concert goers haven’t had to deal with before. In a way I think the pandemic helped us realize how taxing the touring industry can be. In the hypothetical it seems really fun, but in actuality now it’s a stressful endeavor that has snowballed out of effect, so much so that artists like Taylor Swift and Lorde have to play at different venues for less time than normal. I find it really admiring that Lorde spoke out to tell her fans about the struggles she has been experiencing while on tour. That act alone shows strength and makes her more human, and I am hopeful that the touring industry will become less stressful for all parties in the future.
I am really struggling to have sympathy for musical artists for cancelling their large tours and then draining money for that decision. I especially am struggling to have sympathy for larger artists that this article pointed out like Lorde or Justin Beiber or Shawn Mendes. There is no doubt that covid took a financial tour on all these artists when they had to cancel for the safety of their patrons but lets be honest touring is part of the job of these artists. The luxury of being able to take off months of touring and months of your job for your mental health is not something regular people have. Like I hesitate to call it a "struggle" in any way shape or form if you're still able to survive after canceling your tours. There are multiple are artists that don't go on tour and just adjust their lifestyle accordingly. Artists can easily just not buy million dollar houses.
I hate it when fans are disrespectful towards artists and performers, especially when they are going on tour. It is crazy that these people put so much time and effort into making a show to repeatedly have to perform for like a month just for people to comment on them and their efforts. It baffles me. It’s also such an insane amount of money. Generally, you have to pay for travel, the equipment, the venue, the dancers, and the hotel rooms. Especially now, those are incredibly expensive, especially when it’s for about a month. “Nearly every tour has been besieged with cancellations and postponements and promises and letdowns, … All we want to do is play for you.” (Billboard) I am sure a lot of tours are done just for money, however not all of them are. People just want to have a good time, and it’s very upsetting hearing them get negative comments for just working hard.
I’m glad Lorde is able to speak out about this and provide some much needed context to fans and other concert goers. I just read another article recently about the mental health toll that touring takes on the artists and crew. It is extremely difficult to get into the mindset of constantly being on the move then adjust to life after that. Your whole life is revolved around performing and there is no sense of homebase. This conversation is also extremely interesting with all of the Taylor Swift drama going on with Ticket Master. I know that Lorde touched a bit on not wanting to charge her fans a ridiculous amount, but a piece of the puzzle that was left out is the insane amount Ticket Master charges for service fees alone. Although, since it is pretty much a monopoly it’s not like artists are able to speak out against it. This is something that needs to be solved at a bigger level.
It’s unfortunate that inflation has driven up the costs of producing shows to the point where it may not be economically viable for some artists. If memory serves, the historic business model for musical artists was to tour at a loss to sell records (and then CDs.) However, at some point the business model switched due to music streaming and now the music streaming services (which pay the artists fractions of a penny per play) are advertising to see people live. This is incredibly unfortunate because if the production costs of concerts are too high, then artists (especially middle of the road artists) may not be able to afford to tour anymore. Lorde specifically cited trucking costs which are triple that of what they used to be. Trucking in general is understaffed right now. Of course supply chain issues have challenged everyone, but I hadn’t heard about difficulty obtaining cymbals and in ear monitors for performers.
I think that it's really good that Lorde was mentioning all of these details that can add to so much more stalls and difficulty with the touring industry when compared to a touring industry that was pre-pandemic. I'd be interested to learn more about why they're having difficulties finding as many crew members, but I'm assuming it's because the hours for crew members are long and I'm not sure that they get paid well, so I'm sure that during the pandemic’s shutdowns they found work outside of the industry.I think that it's frustrating when people even listen to these problems, and then say that it's because the artists are being greedy. There are so many people who have to work on a tour to make it happen well. End so all of those people have to be compensated and spend a lot of time and a lot of effort, and a lot of money in order to get their jobs done. With the budgetary complications that have been recently plaguing a lot of touring artists, it's very understandable as to why artists would want to cancel- they don't want to put their entire team through working for a lot more, just to not be able to break even. I'm hoping that with time, the touring industry is able to stabilize into something new, or better.
Am I supposed to feel bad for Lorde? Like there are there not countless musical acts performing in basements all across this country? I understand that the cost of everything has gone up due to the pandemic, inflation, monopolies, and price-gouging. I deeply understand it as someone who has to budget all our shows. However, if you can no longer afford to do shows at the scope, you were doing before, the math is not hard. Just don’t do shows at the scope you did before. Your options are do smaller shows with less equipment so you don’t have to fill those overcrowded buses, do multiple shows a city to make more money without having to pay transportation costs, or charge more for your tickets. I understand that these are your fans, and you love them, and you just to play music for them, but no this is a business and if you need to charge more to cover your costs then reduce your costs or charge more.
Reading this article was actually really interesting and eye opening. As of right now, my hopes for after college are to tour in some way shape or form. Although this is what I want to do, I also didn’t realize how difficult it might be to do so. As someone who has lived in one place all my life, I also didn’t take into account how difficult it would be to travel in close quarters for long periods of time. I also didn’t realize how much effort it would take to cancel a show in the case something that cannot be changed happens, such as someone getting sick or injured, or other unfortunate circumstances coming up. As I move forward through college, hopefully I’ll get the chance to tour in some form before I make it my final career. I would hate to get myself into a huge gig and quickly realizing that touring is not for me.
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