here’s one thing in the world that’s 100% guaranteed to kill a music fans mood, and that’s seeing their city get skipped by an artist on their Australian tour.

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It genuinely hurts to think how many times I’ve excitedly scanned over a poster just to realise Perth is missing out yet again, and while it’s definitely aggravating, it seems a lot of people jump straight into abusing touring agencies without giving it any proper thought.

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As someone who’s been guilty of this in the past, it seems fitting to be the one to break down the key factors that decide if an artist skips your city. It might not lessen the pain, but it might save a few keyboards in the process.

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It's Not The Artist, It's Management

One thing that can’t be stressed enough  - artists themselves never choose not to go somewhere. The final decision on where they tour rests entirely with management.

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They might not be offered enough money to make it worth their while - the show they’re offered might not be enticing enough - they might not want to risk tarnishing their rep with bad ticket sales. There’s always ‘bigger picture’ reasons for a city being skipped.

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As annoying as it is, missing a city is never personal, nor intentional. In the end, it’s just business.

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Upholding An Image

To many artists, image is everything. People want to look big and play for big crowds, but sometimes that just can’t be a reality.

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Playing a small show can look bad in a lot of different ways, so if a city can’t guarantee numbers an artist will be happy with the odds of them touring there drop drastically.

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Producers expecting crowds of 1500 won’t be happy playing for 300 - so if good numbers aren’t a guarantee, why would their management bother? Some dedicated artists might put on a show regardless, but for others, their reputation is too important to risk.

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Risk vs Reward

Gone are the days where events can book anyone and expect massive crowds. Instead, organisers need to be as certain as possible that they’ll sell enough tickets to their show to return a guaranteed profit.

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Why? Because hosting an event isn’t cheap. Booking artists can cost tens of thousands of dollars, then there’s venue costs, staff, marketing fees. Without consistent profit events can’t sustain themselves, so they need to be absolutely certain that whoever they book will pull enough ticket sales.

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As a result, some artists skip cities purely because no one believes it’s worth the risk booking them. If you’re in a city full of stinges *cough* Perth *cough*, then you’re in for a rough time.

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There’s plenty more I could talk about, like inconsistent crowds or the constant demand for mainstage headliners, but it feels like these points do a clean enough job explaining everything that’s needed.

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When it comes to missing out on shows, there’s one thing I can urge you to remember, something I really wish I’d realised sooner - angry comments on tour posters achieve literally fuck all.

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Missing out sucks, but look on the bright side, at least you don’t live in Darwin.

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