Hello!
I’ve been thinking about this for ages, and an email exchange with a band manager this week finally nudged me to write it down.
Across all my work with venues, promoters, and touring artists, I keep seeing the same thing: there’s no shared playbook for how to actually work together.
This manager was following up on some market research I’d mentioned – asking whether it could help them pick regional towns instead of booking blind. Their national tour is down on last year, and they’re lining up regional QLD, NSW, and VIC dates.
What stuck with me wasn’t the question – it was how much of regional touring is still crossing fingers and hoping for the best. Venue bookers are trying to fill their calendars with acts that’ll actually draw. Promoters are weighing up whether a 200-cap room in Ballarat is worth the risk. Bands are wondering if they’ll even cover flights to Sydney.
Most people are working with the same handful of tools – checking socials, scanning streaming numbers, maybe asking around about how a similar act went in that town six months ago. But with ticket sales softer across the board post-covid, that’s not enough to make confident calls.
The ones who consistently make it work – think differently. They know the market, know the size of their audience, know the real demand. They book under what they think they can do, sell out the room, and let the waitlist become a sign of demand.
Don’t get me wrong – there’s a whole lot of work behind that mindset, and some artists have teams around them to make it possible. But the approach itself is something anyone can start leaning into.
Here’s the thing: the data exists if you know where to look.
Streaming insights can tell you exactly where your audience lives – not just “regional NSW” but down to specific postcodes.
Social media analytics show where your engaged followers are, not just your total followers.
Bandcamp sales data, Chartmetric audience breakdowns, and Linktree click analytics can reveal where people are actively engaging and buying.
Paid ads let you warm markets before you even commit – get postcode sign-ups, send a teaser mailout, and gauge interest.
It’s market research and audience development rolled into one.
The people getting regional touring right are doing one of three things:
Venues are matching acts to their local demographics, not just booking on taste or who called first.
Promoters are treating each show like a business case, knowing which acts travel well and which don’t.
Bands are using data to pick markets, not just saying yes to any offer.
A framework that works:
Map your audience – pull regional breakdowns from Spotify for Artists, Apple Music for Artists, Instagram Insights, YouTube Analytics. Look for concentrated pockets, not just total listeners.
Research the venue’s history – find actual attendance for similar acts, not just room capacity.
Factor in timing – avoid clashing with major local events that will split your crowd.
Test markets first – pick one or two promising towns based on data, not five and a prayer.
Collaborate when needed – co-headlines or strong local supports can make a market viable and grow your reach for future festival pitches.
The regional venues, promoters, and bands growing right now aren’t necessarily the biggest names – they’re the ones matching the right act to the right market at the right time, instead of booking blind and hoping for the best. And whether you’ve got a whole team backing you or you’re doing it yourself, the tools are there to make smarter calls.
Also! Don’t forget: ask questions, ask for help, reach out to other bands, talk to the venues and promoters you trust. The people doing this well are usually the ones sharing what they know.
One last thing – don’t play too much. Oversaturating a market makes it harder to draw a crowd next time, no matter how good the show is. Give people a reason to be excited when you come through, and space your appearances so you’re an event, not a fixture.
What’s your experience with regional touring? Any markets that surprised you – good or bad? I’m thinking about putting together a downloadable checklist for this, so your input could help shape it.
Yours in market research,
Caitlin xx