All the things is expensive lately – even goals. For aspiring musicians, life on the highway is alluring. A brand new metropolis day by day, totally different cultures and meals, and all whereas attending to reside out your lifelong goals.
But the cruel reality is that in right this moment’s cash-strapped music business, younger bands face
a mountain of challenges on the subject of touring. From crew prices to journey to merch, the truth is fairly brutal. Trying to elevate consciousness of what it truly prices to tour in 2025, Hertfordshire’s Vexed revealed a breakdown on Discord of prices from their current mainland European and UK tour supporting progressive metalcore mob Silent Planet. And it’s eyewatering.
From spending £9,145.10 on bus rent to £1,024.56 on ferries and £2,662.65 on gasoline, amongst many different bills, the 24-date jaunt price them £34,370… of their very own cash.
“It’s a deposit on a home. It’s loopy,” says vocalist Megan Targett. “This was the primary tour we’d finished with out label backing and with out having the ability to get any charitable funding grant. It was fairly fascinating to see individuals’s reactions to the doc, as a result of I don’t assume plenty of followers realised how a lot cash it prices to tour.”
The majority of the prices, she says, come from journey. “There are tolls, bridges, ferries… all of that prices a couple of grand, after which your gasoline prices a couple of grand on high of that. It provides up quick, and that’s us retaining all the pieces as little as we presumably can. Earlier than you’ve even left the nation, you need to get a carnet, which is principally only a declaration
of products, however the carnet itself prices [almost] £800.”
Folks may assume bands reside it up every night time in good lodging, however Vexed spent almost each night time sleeping within the van or on mates’ flooring. “We did one Airbnb in Germany, however it wasn’t glamorous in any respect,” Megan says. “We had been all sharing beds.”
Though Vexed had been beforehand signed to Napalm Data, that doesn’t imply they’d a vast funds to tour as a lot as they like. Once they parted methods with the label after the discharge of 2023’s Unfavourable Power, they had been pressured to make brutal selections about the place their cash can be spent. A sound engineer was non-negotiable and so they additionally forked out
the cash for a merch vendor.
Doing merch each night time will get tiring, so we scrimped and saved slightly bit further as a result of it was value it,” Megan admits. They couldn’t afford to pay somebody to run their lighting, so that they’ve needed to study to do it themselves. However lighting in 2025 is of secondary significance to different facets of recent touring.
“You want content material creation, you want TikTok… all that,” sighs Megan. “We don’t give a crap about any of that stuff – we simply need to play reside gigs and meet followers. However for those who don’t take a content material creator, you might as nicely not go on the tour.”
The truth is that, on the grassroots stage, reside music is struggling. Many venues, combating an increase of their prices, take a lower of merchandise gross sales, pushing up the worth of the merch. And ticket costs have risen by the roof, making gigs, particularly for bigger artists, a luxurious that many followers at the moment are struggling to afford.
“All people’s put their costs up as a result of the price of residing is increased,” says Megan. She will be able to’t resolve the conundrum, however understands the challenges being confronted by all events.
“The fast repair can be discovering a label that’s joyful to chuck you a great deal of cash as a result of they need you to get greater… however it’s onerous, as a result of plenty of labels are simply oversaturated with bands [and can’t afford to bankroll lots of tours]. It’s the worst of each worlds.”
What is going to occur if we get to the purpose when bands can’t afford to tour? “We’ll find yourself with content material creation TikTok bands, and that shall be it,” Megan says. “I hope we don’t find yourself counting on know-how an excessive amount of, as a result of it’ll take away the center and soul of music.”
To recoup a few of the prices sunk into the Silent Planet tour, Vexed turned to their followers, beginning a GoFundMe to attempt to get out of the crimson, and internet hosting a raffle to offer away collectors’ gadgets together with signed vinyl, a Culling Tradition stage backdrop, and even a catsuit Megan wore of their Anti-Fetish music video. They don’t have one other tour booked but, however the looming debt hasn’t put them off.
“That is what I’ve dreamt about since I used to be 12 years outdated,” Megan says. “I’m 30 now and I can’t quit. Each night time after I get offstage, I’m simply on cloud 9. It’s definitely worth the stress, however individuals have to know the sacrifices their favorite bands are making to play you a reside present that lasts half an hour.”
Vexed play 2000 Timber subsequent month. Head to linktr.ee/vexedvexedvexed to study extra in regards to the band’s fundraising
VEXED SUPERBLOOM TOUR COSTS
Merchandise: £5,333.91
Merch restock: £2,414.92
Van rent week one: £1,690
Sleeper bus rent: £9,145.10
Van rent residence: £320
Ferries: £1,024.56
Tolls: £270.26
Carnet: £762
Crew: £8,420
CDs and vinyls from Napalm: £2,089
Lodging: £237.62
Gasoline: £2,662.65
Complete: £34,370
