TOUR MANAGRS & THE POLC FRAMEWORK

TOUR MANAGRS & THE POLC FRAMEWORK

Tour: A tour is a carefully and strategically planned series of live shows. Its main purpose is to bring the maximum financial profit possible. It has three phases: pre-production, on-tour, and post-production. The decision to tour depends on the factors why, when, and where. In most cases a tour is done for marketing reasons and to make money. A tour should be done to promote a new album and make money through merchandise sales, which means that the ideal point in time for a tour is shortly after an album release. The route and location for a tour and concerts depend on the demographical need and demand of the markets. A country with a higher demand gets more concerts provided than a country with less demand, in this case fans. (Waddell et al., 2007, pp.41-54)

Tour manager: is a person, with experience in the touring business. She or he manages the day-to-day needs of the band, the travel party, the merchandise manager, and the security. The number of the people the tour manager must take care of depends on the popularity of the band and the size of concert locations. Furthermore, the tour manager is constantly in touch with the band or manager. (Waddell et al., 2007, pp.26-28)

All tours are subject to murphys law: anything that go wrong will. As a tour manager the most important job is to make the show run no matter the circumstance. Therefore, the tour manager/company must anticipate any issues before the tour commences. The same level of vigilance must be maintained throughout. Every arrangement for travel, accommodation must be rechecked by the tour manifer Furthermore Atkins (2007, pp.253-254) mentions, that a tour manager is supposed to be a psychiatric, a diplomat or in any other possible position that helps to maintain a good atmosphere on tour. Most important is the understanding of what the band members, crew members and other people involved need, and not to question those needs.

With these definitions in mind is evident, that POLC framework is deeply embedded in tour management, and tour managers with or without noticing are planning, controlling organising and leading every day.

PLANNING

(P)

Planning: the function of management that:

Defines an artist or organisations mission and vision

Sets the goals and objectives

Creates strategies for the business plan

Develops a plan of action to achieves goal

There are 4 main types of planning

Strategic Planning: is the process of analysing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats of company and then planning for completive positioning and faster growth. (3-5) years. (Minnesota Libraries, 2022)

Tactical: The blueprint for the larger strategic plan to be implemented successfully (Tutorials Point (2022)

Operational: These plans are often short term and are carried out by middle-level managers.

Contingency: plans put into place to mitigate change in circumstance and or emergencies (Alvernia University, 2022.)

Deciding whether to tour or not is not a decision the tour company and or manager makes. Therefore, the role of strategic planning what you should tour, where, how and for how long as well as how much you should charge presenters, falls upon the senior and artist manager of the performer. Once a tour manager is hired the first task is to gather all information about the following tour (schtz, 2017), subsequently tactical and operational planning become of upmost importance for tour managers to align with the artists long term strategic plan.

Tactical plans focus on what is going to or need happen. They are concentrated, specific and short-term plans that support high level- strategic plans. The scope is less than on year and breaks down the strategic plan into actionable chunks. Tactical planning differs from operational planning, in that tactical plans ask specific questions about what needs to happen to accomplish a strategic goal; operational plans ask how the organisation we generally something do to accomplish the companys mission. (Alvernia University, 2022.)

For tour managers, tactical planning depends on what information has been given to them by management. Tour managers need to liaise with booking agents to understand

.

Operational Plans focus typically describes the day to day running the company. They can be both single use or ongoing plans.

InteneraryTactical

ContigencyOperational

ORGANISING

(O)

Organizing is the function of management that involves developing an organizational structure and allocating human resources to ensure the accomplishment of objectives.

How do music tour managers plan

How do music tour managers control?

How do music tour managers lead?

How do music tour managers organise?

https://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmanagement/chapter/1-5-planning-organizing-leading-and-controlling-2/https://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_principles/management_principles_polc_framework.htm#https://online.alvernia.edu/articles/types-of-planning/https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ZHCCDwAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PT137.w.0.1.63_196https://online.alvernia.edu/articles/types-of-planning/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/84795756.pdfhow to t

ASSESSMENT DESCRIPTIONS

Assessment 1a: in Class Presentation - 30%

Due: Week 6

Assessment Description:

A 7-8 minute presentation illustrated with at least 8 slides covering 2 to 4 of the Planning, Organising, Leading & Controlling (POLC) aspects. It might be good to focus on 2 of the aspects & then briefly cover the other 2 for context.

Select a management role such as artist manager, tour manager, label manager or marketing manager and discuss the POLC frame as it applies to this specific management role.

Maximum of 12 minutes and 12 slides.

Criteria: Criteria (Presentation - 30%) %

Clear structuring of the analysis/presentation 25%

Comprehensiveness & rigour of analysis 25%

Introduction of theoretical concepts & research 25%

Demonstrates rehearsal/preparation 25%