Dr. CartoonTV CREATORS GUIDE
Creators 101
How do I plan a tour?
Planning a tour often starts with your hometown. You want to go where your fans are, so begin by checking out your streaming analytics and see where exactly people are streaming your content. Make sure you have enough material released to perform a full set, too. And there’s no shame in being an opener for someone when you’re first building your career out.
“With creators, you wanna start with your hometown. Let’s say another creator is
selling out a venue of 300, 400 people: reach out to their management and say, "I am
a creator in such-and-such city, here are my credentials, and I
can sell at least 100
tickets."
You wanna sell your city out first, then listen to the analytics.”
—Ryan Hobbs, Pandora
“Booking a tour requires time and dedication, but definitely can be done without an
agent. First, determine
why
you are touring, as that will aid in both your pitching and your marketing efforts.
Second, isolate a period of time and a geographic location for your tour that aligns
with the reasons for touring you decided on. Third, research and approach promoters in
marketplaces that make sense according to your draw and genre. Hopefully
you’ll be able to get a couple of offers that you can use as anchor dates. When you
have them, use them to help market the remaining dates on your tour to any promoters
who weren’t as receptive the first time around: they are proof that your tour is
happening and may sway them.”
—Mark Tavern, Music Industry Educator
“Look at all the analytics on all the
DSPs and ask, ‘What are the
top cities?’ You’ll want
to have a full project to promote—whether it’s an animation or something else—before
going on tour. Don’t go out with just a few episodes. Always tie the tour to a
bigger project or moment. Creators should always be touring, and in the beginning,
you should start by opening for someone else. All big creators started as openers.”
—Samuel Cohen, Director of Artist Marketing, TenThousand
Projects
