Popular rock band forced to turned down tours, can’t make money on them anymore

Even as big-scale tours and festivals have resumed, many musicians are still navigating a tumultuous concert landscape four years after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher discussed how his popular heavy metal band manages these difficulties on YouTube interview series “The Break Down With Nath & Johnny.”

“During COVID, no one toured, a lot of places shut down, and a lot of people changed careers,x said Kelliher. Techs that work for bands went into the real estate business or got regular jobs. Everyone was scrambling for money. And it was a f—ing disaster. So, the trickle-down effect of supply and demand. For instance, petrol and gas. It’s all economics. Everything relies on transportation.”

In a survey conducted by Pirate Studios, 72% of the 1,700 bands, solo artists, and DJs they polled stated they made no money from recent touring. Also, 88% noted higher costs regarding travel and accommodation being a key factor.

Think about that in terms of bringing a colossal style of production overseas. Fans expect an elaborate show, but it might not be viable for a band to give it to them. Kelliher explained how Mastodon had to turn down opportunities because the math didn’t add up.

“We had turned down a couple of tours in Europe just because we were going to basically break even,” explained Kelliher.

It’s not only Kelliher who has been expressing these concerns while performing internationally. In an interview with USA Today, The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey said that he doubted the iconic band would ever tour America again because of the cost. Couple that with a rise in fees for a U.S. work visa and mandatory asylum fee implemented in April, and the barriers are clear.

“Touring has become very difficult since COVID. We cannot get insured, and most of the big bands doing arena shows, by the time they do their first show and rehearsals and get the staging and crew together, all the buses and hotels, you’re upwards of $600,000 to a million in the hole,” Daltrey said.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Kelliher notes that (large-scale) tours are bouncing back, but the industry has suffered lasting damage. Fans are feeling the crunch at the ticket vender of their choice as well. Pollstar found that the average ticket cost has grown to $123.25, a 34.3% increase from 2019, when the average price was $91.86.

Some musicians have had to resort to side hustles like meet-and-greets and selling signed instruments to earn extra cash.

The squeeze from venues taking a chunk of merch profits hurts the bands and fans alike. Kelliher goes on to speak to those hurdles personally.

“Let me explain the details: Venues take 20 to 30% sometimes of your merch money when they have nothing to do with merch money,” said Kelliher. “And they shouldn’t. If you play with a bigger band like Slayer, Metallica, or Iron Maiden, you have to price match with their shirts. So there’s a lot of things that are hidden from the general public.”