10 surprises to plan for as an artist to avoid going into “musician-debt”

The Boy Scout motto is “be prepared”; and it should be the touring musician’s motto, too. 

When I left my English teaching position to hit the road as a musician, I knew my monthly expenses, and felt confident I could gig enough to cover my bills.

Cell-phone bill? Student loan? Rent? Gas? Groceries? Blue Care medical insurance? I’m good!

However, the first December as a full-time musician in 2011, I got super sick with viral meningitis, and I had to cancel a full week of work. While I had planned enough to have a savings cushion for emergencies, I learned the hard way that budgeting is about planning ahead for the potential surprises.

Here’s a list of things to be prepared, and hopefully avoid going into “musician-debt”:

1. Car maintenance: You can’t neglect this. Touring, even locally, racks up miles, and cars need to be fixed, oil needs to be changed, and cars need to be reliable. If you play a lot of gigs, your car is going to breakdown. It’s inevitable.  (Giglife Haiku #9)If you don’t budget for it, you will find yourself stuck on the side of the road with no way to fix your car. We all need help at times, but if your band needs to do “Go Fund Me” campaign because your car broke down, you weren’t planning ahead. Mike Errico says it bluntly in his NYT article: “But if you need to crowdfund your hospital costs, you were never on your feet to begin with.” Let’s add car maintenance to that sentence.
2. Instrument maintenance: I’m spending between $300-900 on repairs and maintenance on my three acoustic guitars that I use on the road to keep them in professional order.This might seem like a lot, but if I go into the recording studio and my guitar has terrible fret buzz, I’m losing money in the end! Budget for those repairs. Our instruments are our tools. Plus, be prepared for accidents! A storm blew my guitar off the stand at a festival gig last year, and I had a $300 repair! (Thanks you to my guitar tech, Mark Weninger for saving the day!)
3. Sick days: They get me every winter. After Christmas, my baby got her first cold, and it spread through the entire family. I had to find a replacement for my mash residency to be able to heal my voice for a theater gig. Right now, I tend to miss only two or three gigs a year to sickness, but it’s always the worst timing! So be prepared! When you aren’t gigging, you aren’t making money!
4. Snow days: I loved these as a public school teacher! The local TV news would announce Holly Area Schools were closed because of winter weather, and I’d be sitting at home in my pajamas, grading papers, cooking breakfast, and enjoying coffee on a snow day. As a musician, snow days are my enemy. Like sick days, we have to plan for them to happen. Usually, I can get to the gig if I leave early enough, but if ice is on the road, don’t chance it. Sometimes, I get to the gig, and then discover I’m stuck in that town for the night because the storm is too hazardous to drive home! Hotel bills, boo!
5. The holidays: December is the most expensive month, yet also the time when I’m most susceptible to getting sick or facing inclement weather. I recommend planning your holiday budget in the fall.
6. The peak times and down times: Every business has peak times. Mine is the summer when Michigan restaurants start booking music for their patios. Wedding gigs happen most often too. When my friends are planning their summer vacations, I’m planning my busiest work season, and playing as often as possible! I like to take my December slower, so that’s when I take time off with family.
7. Zero is always a number! When planning a possible recording project or ticketed show as an undiscovered artist, remember that zero is always a number! If you plan on a number of sales helping you breakeven with costs, you might find yourself in debt! This happened when I recorded my single, “Love Birds” in 2013. I spent $1300 to record the single, and estimated that the digital sales would help me breakeven.The song turned out great, but I didn’t leave myself with much money to market it, and I learned quickly that a single doesn’t attract as much attention as an EP or full-length in the folk world! I was really bummed after the initial sales reports, but this is part of business. Learning, adapting, and keep creating.
8. Industry trends might not be your trend: Which brings me to this odd discovery. I figured “Love Birds” was going to do better as a digital single in 2013 since CDs sales as a whole were dropping in the music industry; however, I’ve discovered in 2014 & 2015, I’ve increased my CD sales.Now, these aren’t large enough numbers for me to count on each year, but it’s a reminder to us new artists that getting sales at shows is so much easier than trying to get digital sales. Yes, we should be knowledgable in the industry, but you might find that your life or genre doesn’t match the trends.
9. 80/20; 90/10: This equation shows up a lot in my numbers. If you have 1000 likes on Facebook, only 100 of those people might actually be seeing or interacting with your posts. And your mailing list might be at 20%.If you know 100 people in a city or region, you might get 10 or 20 of them out for your gig. Occasionally, you might increase the success rate if it’s a higher profile show and you get a lot of press, a new album release show in your hometown, or a unique event. But most of the time, count on your 80/20 or 90/10 equation!
10. If you take someone on the road, it’s like a short-term marriage: Touring is really emotionally and physically draining. We bring out the best and worst of ourselves when we are on the road, so it’s important to plan ahead before you share those tours! Maybe start with a week of shows together before planning an entire month together in the van.