Booking a multi-city tour without a manager sounds impossible until you realize that managers and agents use the same tools you have: email, a phone, and persistence. The difference is they do it full-time. But with the right system, you can do it in a few hours per week.
Planning Your Route
Before you email a single venue, map out your route. Think about:
Geography. Don't zigzag across the country. Plan a logical path that minimizes drive time. A straight line or a loop works best.
Timing. Allow one day between shows for travel and rest. Playing 7 consecutive nights is a recipe for burnout and bad performances.
Markets. Mix big cities with smaller towns. Smaller markets are easier to book and often pay just as well because there's less competition for stage time.
Days of the week. Thursday through Saturday are the best nights for live music in most markets. Aim to hit your biggest cities on Friday and Saturday.
Building Your Venue List
For each city on your route, you need 5-10 target venues. Here's how to find them:
1. Search "[city] live music [your genre]" on Google
2. Check Instagram for music venues in each city
3. Ask musician friends who've toured those cities
4. Use a venue database like Shows For Artists (10,600+ venues across all 50 states)
For each venue, find the booker's name and email. This is the most time-consuming part of the process. Expect to spend 30-60 minutes per city on research.
The Outreach Timeline
12 weeks out: Start emailing venues. Include your tour dates, a link to your music, and ask about availability.
8 weeks out: Follow up with venues that haven't responded. Send fresh pitches to venues you missed in the first round.
6 weeks out: Confirm all booked shows. Start filling gaps with backup venues.
4 weeks out: Advance every show (confirm logistics, payment, load-in times).
2 weeks out: Start promoting each show on social media.
The Email
Your tour booking email should be slightly different from a local booking email:
"Hi [name], I'm [your name], a [genre] artist from [your city]. I'm routing a tour through [their city] in [month] and looking for a show around [date range]. Here's a live video: [link]. Do you have any openings?"
Mention that you're touring. It signals that you're a working musician, not someone who's never left their hometown.
Filling the Gaps
You'll inevitably have gaps in your tour routing. A city with no confirmed show between two other stops. Here's how to fill them:
- House concerts. Reach out to house concert networks in the gap city.
- Brewery/coffee shop gigs. Lower profile but easier to book on short notice.
- Co-bills. Find a local artist in the gap city and propose a co-headlining show at a venue they have a relationship with.
- Day-of outreach. In a pinch, call or DM venues directly. Some have last-minute cancellations and will book you on the spot.
Managing Logistics
Create a tour spreadsheet with these columns for each show:
- City
- Venue name
- Booker contact
- Show date
- Load-in time
- Set time and length
- Payment terms
- Lodging plan
- Distance from previous city
This spreadsheet is your lifeline on the road. Update it obsessively.
The Shortcut
If the idea of emailing 50-100 venues across 10 cities sounds overwhelming, it is. Shows For Artists handles the venue outreach part of tour booking. Set your tour cities and dates, and the system emails matching venues with personalized pitches from your Gmail. Follow-ups are automatic. You focus on the creative side.
Shows For Artists sends booking emails to real venues from your Gmail. from $49/month. Cancel anytime.