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This topic has 3 voices, contains 6 replies, and was last updated by  David J. Hahn 353 days ago.

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December 4, 2010 at 12:51 am #6764

leovolf

<p>Does anyone have any information or advice regarding getting onto a non-equity tour. I&#39;ve heard that it is a bottom of the food chain kind of gig, which is probably debatable. Even so, there seems to be a lot of mystery behind the process of getting onto a tour. I know there a couple of agencies that put on the tours and also hire the musicians. I even had a friend who do a national tour, but even he was uncertain how he actually got the gig.If anyone has any info, it would be greatly appreciated.
</p>
February 27, 2011 at 6:36 am #7446

David J. Hahn

Hi Leo –

Thanks for your question, sorry it took so long to get back to you.

I know a little about non-union tours. I was in the scene a few years ago.

The major companies are Networks and Columbia Artists. Prather Entertainment group also launched a touring company a few years back and they hire musicians too.

You can find a huge list of non-eq touring companies here:

[url=http://www.nonequitydeputy.com/default.aspx?tabid=31]Touring Companies (NonEquityDeputy.com)[/url]

Networks has a jobs page on their site:

[url=http://www.networksontour.com/jobs/]http://www.networksontour.com/jobs/[/url]

It looks like you can submit your resume, photo and recordings to musicresume@networkstours.com.

These jobs are usually hired by work-of-mouth, but it doesn’t hurt to submit your stuff. Your best bet is having your friend (the one who did a tour) recommend you to his company. That stuff goes a long way in this business.

I got my first tour by cold calling a contractor in NYC. I said, “Hi, my name is Dave, I play keyboards and I’d like to go on tour.” He said, “Great, do you want to go to Taiwan in 2 weeks?”

I dropped everything and left in 2 weeks. It was a very, very, very lucky break for me.
February 28, 2011 at 6:29 pm #7452

leovolf

Thanks David,

There’s a wealth of information in your reply, so it was definitely worth the wait. I already knew about Networks and actually had submitted my stuff about a year ago when they had a job posting up looking for musicians. I have not been able to contact anyone recently there regarding their need for musicians. I don’t know if it’s like an industry standard but there is definitely something lacking in the process of communication with Networks.
A good friend of mine (bass player) ended up submitting his stuff for them around the same time i did and never got any sort of confirmation or acknowledgment of them receiving any of it. He got very annoyed and it got the point where he ended up writing a pretty nasty e-mail. Which was pretty silly. Anyway like a month ago, he ends up getting an email from the MD at Networks saying they need a bass player urgently for one of their tours and want to know if he can do it.
I am relatively knew to all of this. Your story of getting your first tour and the experience with my friend pretty much reaffirm my suspicion that there is no true method to this madness. It definitely will not hurt to check out some of these other companies and submit my info.
Thanks!
February 28, 2011 at 6:31 pm #7453

leovolf

Oh one more thing! There’s actually a posting up right now on playbill for a national tour, if anyone else is interested. http://www.playbill.com/jobs/find/job_detail/35271.html
February 28, 2011 at 10:15 pm #7454

David J. Hahn

Thanks for posting that link, that’s a good find.

These sorts of places rarely acknowledge new, unsolicited resumes from musicians. Its even more rare that they hire from those sorts of admissions anyway. Note that your bass player friend only got the call because they were desperate.

But yes, that was a silly decision to send a nasty email. I would never in a million years recommend doing that.

Submitting your resume is just a form of advertising. They’ll see your name and forget about you. You’ll submit again 6 months later and maybe they’ll remember seeing your name before. 3 weeks later someone will recommend you and they’ll think – yeah, I’ve seen his name around lately. Then maybe you’ll get a call. That’s just how this stuff works.
April 19, 2011 at 10:58 pm #7513

mojobone

I’d just like to reinforce Mr. Hahn’s post; every gig i ever got came from relationships first, buzz a distant second, and competence only let me keep the gig once I got it. (and a nasty email is [i]never[/i] a good idea)
June 3, 2011 at 3:03 pm #7660

David J. Hahn

Has everyone seen this job listing on our jobs board? I would have sold a kidney to find this listing about 6 years ago. I’m really proud that they have decided to start using our jobs board:

IN THE HEIGHTS/Touring Pit Musicians
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