How much do artists make on tour? Often less than nothing

How much do artists make on tour? Real tour budgets, why artists cancel, what venues take from merch, and how to stop a tour losing money.

How much do artists make on tour? Often nothing, and sometimes less: Pomplamoose’s 28-day US tour in 2014 took $135,983 and cost $147,802, a loss of $11,819. If your tour only breaks even, your streams have to pay the rent, so check what they bring in with the Spotify royalty calculator.

Where the money goes

Pomplamoose’s Jack Conte published the band’s tour figures. The money came from tickets, merch and a sponsorship. The costs were:

  • production
  • wages for the band
  • fuel, flights and hotels
  • food
  • insurance

None of that is unusual. A small band with a van has the same list, just smaller. The trouble is that costs come in whether the room sells out or not.

Why it’s got harder

Several well-known artists have cancelled tours because the sums didn’t work:

  • Santigold cancelled her 2022 US tour, naming the cost of fuel, tour buses, hotels and flights.
  • Animal Collective called off their 2022 UK and Europe dates, saying they “could not make a budget for this tour that did not lose money”.
  • Little Simz postponed her 2022 North American tour. As an independent artist she pays for her own shows, and said a month in the US “would leave me in a huge deficit”.
  • Kate Nash found she was going into debt on tour. She sells out the same venues she did years ago for a similar fee, but everything else costs more, and she pays her band and crew a living wage. In late 2024 she opened an OnlyFans account to cover the bills.

The small rooms are struggling too. The Music Venue Trust says 25 UK grassroots venues closed in 2024, roughly one every two weeks.

What venues take from your merch

Merch is often what turns a losing night into a paid one, and many venues take a cut. Hypebot reported in 2023 that venues and promoters typically take 15–35% of merch sales. In the UK, The Line of Best Fit reported in 2023 that some venues take up to 25%.

The Featured Artists Coalition runs a 100% Venues list of places that take nothing from artists’ merch. Check it when you’re booking, and ask every venue about merch fees before you sign anything.

How to stop a tour losing money

  • Do the budget first. Add up every cost, then work out how many tickets and shirts you need to sell to cover it.
  • Ask for a guarantee. A fixed fee protects you if the room is half-empty.
  • Keep the crew and the travel lean. Fewer people, fewer hotel rooms, routes that don’t zigzag.
  • Push merch hard. Bring things people actually want, and know each item’s margin.
  • Favour 0% merch venues where you can.
  • Watch your contracts. If a label wants a share of your live income through a 360 deal, work out whether it’s a cut of the ticket money or of the profit. On a tour like Pomplamoose’s, that’s the difference between paying the label and paying nothing.

Next step

See what your streams add to the tour money in the Spotify royalty calculator. For the bigger picture, read how musicians make money across all their income, or browse our music royalties and pay guides.

Where these figures come from

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