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Emerging country-rock outfit Brown Horse from Norwich face significant financial challenges when touring. After their performances, the band members quickly move to sell merchandise, often earning more from T-shirt sales than from the shows themselves. This additional income is vital for sustaining their tours. Singer Patrick Turner remarks, “We joke about basically being travelling T-shirt salesmen. A lot of the time that’s how it feels – with a soundtrack.”
To minimize expenses, the five members usually rely on friends for places to sleep or endure long drives in their three-decade-old van instead of paying for accommodation. After a recent show in Oxford, they returned home at 3:30 am only to start their regular jobs the following morning, before heading back out on tour days later. Bassist Emma Tovell explains the sacrifices involved: “In order to break even, you have to make a lot of sacrifices for your wellbeing and comfort – which we do – and all the bands we know do, and it’s just culturally accepted that that’s what you have to do.”
However, upcoming opportunities are starting to ease these pressures. A new £1 ticket levy has been added voluntarily to many major arena and stadium shows by well-known artists like Harry Styles, Olivia Dean, and Florence and the Machine. This initiative has generated £5 million for the UK charity Live Trust, with £500,000 being allocated in the first distribution. The funds are split between musicians, grassroots venues, promoters, festivals, and producers, with Brown Horse receiving almost £5,000 to help cover accommodation costs, keep ticket prices reasonable, and provide the band with payments for the first time in a year.
Blur drummer Dave Rowntree, who chairs the Featured Artist Coalition responsible for distributing some of the Live Trust resources, highlights the difficulties faced by emerging musicians today. He attributes this “cost of touring crisis” to factors such as Brexit, the pandemic, and the living cost surge. Rowntree stresses how challenging it is for new bands to grow audiences and sustain careers, remarking, “It’s virtually impossible now to make touring pay for itself. So either artists aren’t able to tour, which is terminal for their careers, or if they do they have to cut back on something else.” Other artists benefiting from these funds include rapper VIC, soul singer Ego Ella May, and reggae artist Hollie Cook, who describes touring’s financial pressures as “really quite stressful.”
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