This keeps the dream alive': the bands sleeping at venues to make touring work

Touring has become financially precarious for grassroots artists due to the cost of living crisis and rising fuel costs. UK music venues are responding with funding initiatives that rebuild touring infrastructure, including converting unused venue spaces into rooms for touring musicians. Accommodation costs are a major barrier, especially in rural areas with limited lodging options. Voodoo Daddy’s in Norwich is refreshing its facilities with new shower areas and triple-stack bunk beds for touring artists. The project was created after musicians reported difficulty making tour finances work, particularly when covering hotel costs for groups of six or seven. Accommodation is being folded into performance deals, allowing artists to accept slightly lower guaranteed fees in exchange for staying at the venue, avoiding expensive hotels elsewhere. This also improves the touring experience by reducing the need to rush out after shows.

"Touring has become increasingly financially precarious for grassroots artists, pinched by issues including the cost of living crisis and increasing fuel costs. But a growing number of UK music venues are attempting a simple but potentially transformative fix: giving bands somewhere to sleep. This month, the Music Venue Trust charity announced a new wave of funding initiatives to rebuild infrastructure for touring musicians, including schemes focused on artist accommodation: unused spaces in venues could be converted into rooms for touring musicians, in an effort to cut costs and make smaller tours more viable."

"Accommodation costs are limiting touring options and venues, especially in rural locations where there may not be lots of accommodation choices, says Mark Davyd, the charity's chief executive. One of the first venues involved is Voodoo Daddy's in Norwich: the site is currently being refreshed throughout, with new shower facilities and triple-stack bunk beds installed for touring artists. Owner Ben Street says the project emerged from conversations with musicians who were struggling to make the numbers work."

"There's so many times that we'd have international artists discussing the fee and trying to get over here, and one of the big issues was they were trying to cover the cost of accommodation, he says. With a tour party of six or seven, the cost of that was just really difficult. Rather than charging separately for rooms, Street says accommodation costs are currently being folded into performance deals: artists may accept a slightly lower guaranteed fee in exchange for staying at the venue, but avoid paying far higher hotel costs elsewhere in the city."

"Previously, he said, artists would often rush off after shows: They'd stay at a Travelodge on a motorway, or a Premier Inn way out, because it's cheaper. That means they finish the show, have to really quickly pack up and just disappear. It just wasn't a nice ex"

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