"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. " Plato
This year, everyone thought 2023 would be completely back to normal. Everything would be fine and it would be like 2020 never happened. Well, that’s not the case. Between inflation, skyrocketing prices, and gas, people can’t tour. There are a lot of many factors, but the main one is money.
There’s been a lot of talk in the industry that people are taking it really slow this year. Are they working on music, are they taking time off, or are there just stepping back and waiting to see what’s going on in the world. I can’t go into too many logistics but basically, it’s very expensive to tour for just a couple of days.
You have to rent the equipment, rent tour buses, get gas, get groceries, pay for the trucks, get hotel rooms, and possibly flights, did I mention you have to pay the crew? The crew includes as far and wide as TM, PM, PA, lighting, video, rigging, audio, truck drivers, and bus drivers. Then on top of it, as an artist, you have to pay your agent, your manager, your record label, and your publicist… you see where I’m getting at with this.
With the cost of everything going up, it doesn’t make sense to tour. Especially for the smaller/ just getting started artists. Let’s say you are an artist and you are going to about 500/2000 person venue(s). Right, so depending on your contract, you are either getting a set rate or you are getting a portion of the ticket sales. Now depending on the venue, these ticket sales can be anywhere from 5 dollars to 75 dollars. And that’s not including taxes and fees. Chances are, the ticket sales, or your rate, are not going to cover the amount to pay everyone, pay the expenses, and then pay yourself just to go out for the weekend.
So what’s next? As an industry, we need to think about new and inventive ways to make money. Will Las Vegas residency become a thing? Where an artist just stays in one city for a certain amount of time? Will venues have to start paying more for the acts to come to their city? It’s a real toss-up with what will happen next, but we just have to keep trucking and see what happens.
This is a great article about the harsh realities of our industry. I hope you take a read!
While I could stay in Australia forever and ever, it was time to finish our tour in Auckland, New Zealand. I’m going to sound like a spoiled brat, but I’m telling you this for future reference. If you decide to go to New Zealand, make the south island a priority. I think it is prettier, greener, and most of it has all the “fun stuff” that everyone talks about. Skydiving, white water rafting, Milford Sound, you get the picture. The south island is where everything is at. I especially love Queenstown, I can’t wait to go back there. There’s a reason why they call it the “adventure capital” of the world.
Auckland is the one of New Zealand’s biggest urban cities. It’s also known for its skyline and all the other cool islands around it. Other than that, I can’t say that much about Auckland. To me it’s another big city, but all the surrounding islands and landscapes around it is pretty cool. You can drive two hours to see where they filmed Lord of the Rings, there’s also all of these cool mud hot springs, but also great wine and wildlife in the area. There are tons of boat tours and tons of scenery to see outside the city.
Luckily, I’m a chatterbox, and I was told by a handful of locals to go to Waiheke Island, basically not known for much except for sights, food, and lots of wine. It was just starting to get into the summer, so not too many people were on the beaches. But it’s better than the weather that I’m currently experiencing in Nashville. I would totally go back early in the morning because it would be a good day trip… to drink wine and eat food.
I was under the weather and due to high restrictions still in place in New Zealand, I was not allowed in the venue. I think the show went well, but I was working from my hotel room. Overall, the run down under went fairly smoothly with some bumps and hiccups in the road.
I’ll be completely honest, touring down under is hard and arduous. There are no tour buses and you are dealing with a big island that’s the size of the US. If you don’t plan accordingly, you’ll be going up and down left and right, flying all around til you get to the show. You’ll get crowds in Australia, but you won’t get the sleep on show days.
It was a great learning experience. It taught me more about traveling, traveling fast-paced in a large country, but most importantly about me. It taught me a lot about my patience, my value, and my worth. But more importantly, I like to think I’m pretty good at my job. It’s very easy in this industry to get lost in what you do, to get lost in the sea of people, but just stand up for yourself and just do your job well.
I’ll be completely honest, I really wasn’t looking forward to writing this blog post. I love Sydney and I miss it all the time. Bringing up memories of living there makes me miss it more and more each day. Writing this blog makes me very nostalgic and happy but it also makes me sad. Because the life I had in Sydney is the life that helped me create the life that I had for myself today. It’s a big part of who I am today. It’s a good thing, but remembering Sydney really makes me miss it.
It’s also a big reason why I work in the music industry today. I moved to Australia because the recession hit the midwest so bad people weren’t hiring interns. I decided to do something about it and move away. I ended up working for the Willoughby City Council as a public relations/events intern which led to the start of my career. Eleven years later, here I am, working in the music industry. Living on a tour bus, writing to you amazing people.
Living in Australia and then coming back for work was very surreal. It was a full circle of my career and it made me realize I accomplished more than I give myself credit for. I’ve worked very hard for my live events career, and I never take any part of my travels or any part of my job as just “another day”.
I’ve heard a lot of people over the years talk about Sydney and say “it’s not that great of a city”. I always ask “why” because I’m genuinely curious. Most people don’t think it has a lot of culture, it’s just another big city, and it’s not that wow factor. The list goes on, you get what I’m saying. I don’t think people really appreciate the beauty of Sydney. There is culture, food, wildlife, and everyone from everywhere in all sorts of walks of life.
There are famous beaches surrounding the East coast of Sydney, there’s a lot of Eastern and Western culture embedded all around Sydney, and I’m sorry, maybe you have been to the wrong places but I’ve had some of the best food there.
Sydney is also famous for the Sydney Opera House and the Blue Mountains. Sydney has everything that any big city should have. Did I mention they have pretty decent weather year round?
I could on and on about Sydney. The wonderfully nice people, open-mindedness, and beautifulness of seeing everyone for what and who they are. Don’t get me wrong, every big city has its problems. But I have never heard people complain about the dating or job shortages in that city.
The best part about working and touring in Sydney is experiencing my work in the city that started my career. It was probably one of the largest crowds we had through out the tour. The venue is extremely well laid out and it’s very easy to navigate and get from the CBD to the west side of the city. I loved working and touring there, I would do it all over again if I could.
To say I wasn’t nervous about going over to Europe, would be a big lie. I’ve been working in events for about 11 years now. It’s always growing and changing, so you have to keep up with the times. Since I haven’t been to Europe on tour, I didn’t know what to expect. I was worried that accents would get in the way, culture/work habits would be a problem, or even just being American working over in Europe would get in the way. I’m extremely hypersensitive to what is going on in the world and how the world views the states. It’s not an appearance thing or vanity for that matter, I just don’t want people to take me as a joke. I’m here to work, I’m open-minded and I want to adapt to the situation I’m in as best as I can.
There are always problems in the events world, and our job is always to have a solution to those problems. Of course, the first thing that happens when we get over there, KLM lost 14 bags including my own. 14, that’s a pretty big number, and I knew we weren’t alone in that! Of course, there was/is a shortage of workers, and I’m sure there was a strike going on, but what I tell everyone, if you can’t handle the workload, just don’t take it on, and that includes airlines. So it wasn’t a good start but the very next day, our luggage finally made it to the UK.
We are very lucky and found an awesome work crew to travel with us, SoundForce Crew, if you ever need extra hands on your tour, these are your guys. Urban was the leader and a true leader at that. It’s great working with people that have the same type of work ethic as you do. The last thing he said to me was, “you are truly good at your job.” What he doesn’t know is I feel the same exact way, and I think he’s amazing at his job. Hiring those guys if you can while you are working in Europe. They made our first day go by very smoothly and let me handle other things like finding luggage.
Glasgow was the first start to the tour, and man what a day it was. From trying to understand accents to try to get everyone’s luggage, it was a very interesting start. I learned very early on, Europeans are a little bit more relaxed (I should have known that from my travels over there before), maybe it’s just the midwestern in me that’s always “Go Go GO” but it made me take a step back with my runners, and think “OK this is how they work over here.” It’s not a bad thing, just a different pace of work.
The biggest issue I had in Glasgow was the accents. Man, did I have a hard time understanding all the venue workers. Literally, my biggest fear on my first day on tour was not being able to communicate with them. They speak English for crying out loud, and I still had to ask them to repeat themselves 100x over. However, they all made me laugh so hard, that I cried. I needed that on my first day on the road in Europe. I even made a dog friend over there! I can’t wait to go back… but this time with my luggage.
With all the hiccups and such we made it through the day. However, we had to take a ferry overnight. I stupidly slept through the ferry which you are not supposed to do, but needless to say, the rest of my guys got up and they were very tired going over to Ireland.
Dublin is everything you imagined and dreamed of. It’s the place of music, art, and culture. It was fantastic and I can’t wait to go back. We had great burgers for after-show food and gathered lots of great information about Dublin and the history behind it. And of course, people were thrilled to see the boss man on stage. I couldn’t have asked for a better second show in Europe.
The thing that stuck out the most to me in Dublin, was the number of tourists. Where I’m from in Milwaukee, we have a huge Irish community, a lot of people migrated over to that area from Ireland. When I was able to sneak away, my runner was great and answered all my questions. I’m always curious and will always take the opportunity to escape when I can. With all the different things you can do in Dublin, I was able to go to Stephen’s Green. It was packed and full of people. People were everywhere drinking coffee on the grass, sitting in rounds playing music, and just enjoying the little sun that Ireland normally gets. With much history involved in the park, it’s no wonder why it’s one of the main places to go in Dublin.
Stephen’s Green
My runner was great and showed me all the buildings, the bridges, and all the neighborhoods in between. I had to ask him, “people are so proud of the Irish heritage, even in the states. Why is that?” He just said, “We are proud people, with a lot of history, but we are about a culture of who you know as well. That’s why we spread far and wide, we just know people!” Which in the end, totally makes sense, if you know anyone who is Irish in the states, they proudly say, “I’m Irish”.
Overall, I hope to make it back to the UK sooner rather than later.
Means “we will see you later”View from the airplaneShow in GlasgowAll the luggage shoved in the back of the car I make friends with dogs!Entrance to Stephen’s GreenOne of the many statues in the parkShopping District Double Decker Bus in Europe
It is almost March 2021 and it will be a year since this whole thing went down. While most of us are over this and exhausted (I know I am), take the time to be proud of yourself.
Be proud of the fact you made it a year, changing your whole life around to help the community around you.
Be proud of the fact that you probably accomplished more than you think! I know I did!
Be proud of the fact that you didn’t give up. You kept fighting through this whole thing. Mentally and spiritually.
Be proud of the fact that you developed new hobbies and found new ways to entertain yourself!
Be proud of the fact that you took the time to think about what really matters to you in this life.
Be proud of the fact that you did your best to make it through it!
Be proud of the fact that you are awesome, you are doing great, and there is hopefully light at the end of the tunnel.
If you follow this blog, you know this blog was mostly about music. Well guess what COVID-19 happened and it’s STILL happening. It’s 12 days in 2021 and I’m already mentally exhausted. I’m exhausted about what’s going on in the world. I’m exhausted about my career and after 10 years of working towards it, my career just disappeared.
I’m tired of the news and all the negativity. I’m tired of the peoples’ flakiness because let’s be honest, we are all struggling. We are all drowning in the same water, some of us just have boats and yachts others have canoes and life vests. Just remember that when you decide to play the “woe is me” card.
I know I sound so mean, rereading what I typed, it can sound really harsh. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I’m not trying to be mean, I’m trying to be honest. I have friends in music who are struggling and I have people who work in medical that are struggling. Everyone is struggling in their own way and the scary part is the ones that don’t show pain are the ones that are struggling the most.
I wish I could write about what’s going on in music and the next show/artist you should go see next. I wish I could write about a the next artist I’m going on tour with. I wish I could write about the newest production that is happening on stage. I just wish I could happen about what’s going on in the world of music and entertainment in general.
Life sucks right now. Most of our worlds have flipped upside down and inside out. It’s an adjustment for everyone. So I leave you with this. Remember the scene in Bridesmaids, where Annie’s mom says, “Honey, I think this is your rock bottom. But you know what’s good about hitting rock bottom, you can only go up.”
Annie kind of rolls her eyes because she’s heard that line before and then later in the movie Annie says, “Hey mom, remember when you said I hit rock bottom… that wasn’t it.” And like most movies it has a sappy, happy ending. I can’t guarantee your life will have a bow at the end of your ending. But I will tell you, I’ve hit rock bottom, it’s not as bad as it seems. Believe me, I got through it, and if this is your rock bottom. Just know, you will get through this.
An acquaintance (who works in the events world) who I know through coworkers and such was lucky enough to work for her mom’s company during this tough time. So when she asked me what I was doing with my time her response was, “Oh, so I guess you’re just coasting.”
First off, that is one of the most insensitive things you could ever say to someone during this pandemic. I know I can be harsh and blunt, but I’m not about hurting anyone’s feelings. Especially when the entire events and entertainment world is at a standstill. And millions of people are still out of work because of the pandemic.
Secondly, if you are that person that thinks that people like us should just “get another job” because we are “coasting”. Let me put it into perspective for you.
I have been working in the events world for the last 10 years. I’ve dedicated my life and made a lot of personal sacrifices to get to where I am today. 10 years may not seem like a lot, but that is 1/3 of my life. Essentially, my entire 20s has been dedicated to putting on events. So to tell someone like me or anyone else who works in this industry to get another job, just know that is a big slap in the face to us.
Also, I don’t know what happened to being kind to people, but a lot of us are mentally struggling. We are still trying to wrap our minds around the fact that our livelihood and our careers are done. How do I know this, just look at your social media pages. It’s devasting.
I recently saw a friend, and not only did he lose his touring job. But he was diagnosed with a rare skin disease and filed for bankruptcy. So please tell me he’s coasting. Because to me, it sounds like he’s just trying to survive.
I would also like to point out, that any show/movie you are watching during this pandemic. Those people are out of work as well. So forget about the new season of whatever show you are watching in this current moment in time.
Look, I’m not trying to be mean or shame people who work normal jobs or are lucky enough to find work. I just want people to understand. The entertainment/events world is struggling. Hard.
Most of us are not getting financial support. And if we are, it’s because we actually work for an artist/actor/production company, that is lucky enough to pay their staff. That’s like hitting the lottery right now. But I would say the majority of them can’t pay their staff. With no events, means no money coming in. And I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of companies went under. It’s the sad truth.
But it’s not just the people working. It’s the local venues. It’s the small artists that have been trying to get on stage for the past 10 years. It’s the people who work at big and small venues. It’s the people who produce your favorite TV show. It’s any sporting event you can think of. I could go on and on about how many people this affects. If the entertainment world doesn’t come back like it was before, just know the economy will struggle. You can kiss the Super Bowl goodbye as well.
From the bottom of my heart, if you know someone that works in the entertainment/events world, be kind to them. Literally, ask them how they are doing. While some people may be getting back on their feet, others are trying to figure out how to pay the bills.
In entertainment, hospitality and anything and everything having to do with people or customer service. It really does hit us the hardest. But let’s not forget about the medical field and everyone else trying to do their normal everyday jobs. And to those who are saving lives, thank you. Everyone everywhere is just wondering what just happened to the world. We need to respect everyone’s’ life.
This is a difficult time for a lot of us. Some of us will not get unemployment. Some of us will really struggle to pay the bills. Some of us will just be extremely lost because we’ve never felt this ever before in our lives.
Take it from someone who has hit rock bottom several times, you will be OK. This is very hard to hear for a lot of people, but you will. I promise. You’ll understand why when you recover.
How do I know? Once you’ve hit rock bottom, a couple or so times, you learn how to get back up. It seems impossible. But the people who fight will know exactly what I’m talking about.
I believe in our industry and the people who work in it. There’s a reason why we got into it in the first place. There’s a reason why we stick around. We are a community of outsider thinkers and big believers.
Do I know exactly what to do during this difficult time? Absolutely not. Everyone grieves differently. Everyone has a little slightly different way of thinking about life and living life.
What do I think you should do with your abnormal, large amount of time? Reflect on what means the most to you. Your career, family, friends, hobbies. What makes you get up in the morning? What makes you continue to grow and learn from your previous experiences? What gives you some sort of purpose?
I’ve known for a while but one purpose of mine is saving animals. I always have, but now I will make it more of a priority to volunteer with animals. Because animals have saved my life in the past, now it’s my time to help them and save them.
During this time, I hope you find purpose. Peace. Closure. I hope you spend more time with your close family and friends or at least give them a call. I hope you get a better understanding of our world and the world we are living in.
During this time, I hope you find new excitement in the world, something else to look forward to besides work. I hope you forgive those that have hurt you in the past. I hope you find new excitement in your partner or find a new partner. A new hobby perhaps. Something that drives you and a new passion to help you grow into the person you should be and can be. That I know you can be.
But I hope this rattles your world, to the point where you change for the better. Not just for you, but everyone around you. We can do this, I know we can. Just believe in yourself and the community that surrounds you. We can fight this.
There is this crazy thing called dating. I know it’s been around forever and it’s how we find this thing called our “soulmate”. If you follow my blog, I talk a lot of my stresses, my ups, and downs, but not so much about my dating life.
Let me make this clear, I’m not writing this blog because I think the music industry is “bad”. I love what I do and I’m passionate about music ( as you all know). However, there are a lot of life adjustments and compromises you need to make to have your life work. One of them is dating.
Here is how the ” Hi, I’m Jaimee, I work in the music industry.” dating conversation that is called “my life” in a nutshell.
Literally… pretty much every conversation goes: ( In bold is me)
“Oh! You work in music that is so cool! What do you do”
“I help make the show run smoothly. Basically, any fires that need to be put out, I put them out.”
“Oh, so what exactly is your title?”
“Production assistant/coordinator, it changes from gig to gig.”
“Oh cool, you’ve probably have worked with some pretty amazing acts.”
“Yes, I’m grateful for the opportunity with the ups and downs of my job.”
” So what are your hours like?”
“They are pretty much all over the place, it depends on the gig. My job/festival/tour changes from gig to gig.”
” Oh, I see…”
I’ve had this exact conversation at least 20 times in the past year. Guys find me fascinating, but they don’t walk into the unknown, that is my job.
Long story short, if people don’t work shows, they have a hard time understanding what I do. And therefore, get freaked out from the unknown of hours, will I have time for anything, when I’ll be available, am I partying with the artist…
It blows my mind most guys won’t give me a chance. But it goes for my guy friends too. Girls can’t stand when they are on the road. They look at them like they just got mono from them.
So for those of you out there that want to do this. Just know that dating will be extremely hard. And people will look at you like you just farted in public.
Wow! Words can’t explain what has happened to me this summer. But it’s a roller coaster!
I learned a lot about myself, my career and what I want out of life.
Here is what I learned from tours and festivals I’ve worked so far:
I want respect. I don’t need the ground I walked to be a red carpet, I just want sugar and spice and everything nice. Meaning peoples’ personality, not things or stuff.
I want to move up in my career. It’s one thing to have power, but it’s another to have power and to create better opportunities for your team and for yourself. But also, I just like to make life a little bit easier.
I do like to travel for work. I’ve been to some places, I probably wouldn’t have gone had it not been for work. I’m extremely grateful for that and experience new places in the world.
I don’t want to be an asshole. I’ve learned that just being mean to people is just petty and stupid. I’ll always be the first one to admit when I make a mistake, but don’t be a jerk about it when I admit my faults.
I don’t ever want to be anyone else but me. I can’t help who I am. I can be really tough at times and I can be the nicest person in the world. But in the end, I am who I am. I plan on treating everyone well and equally and I want the same in return.
The Thein Way to Live 