Pollstar (03/16/23) Borba, Ryan

Road crews must contend with labor shortages, price hikes, and other macro-economic challenges in the post-COVID environment. "Everything now in Master Tour is looking like it's going to be as busy or busier than 2022," says Eventric CEO Paul Bradley, whose company provides the tour management software Master Tour. "There's huge, stadium-level real 'world tours' going out. That's a challenge, being a big stadium-level global tour for the first time in a couple years and figuring out the logistical structure to it." While increasing costs may be largely handed to consumers through ticket costs, cutting corners in other areas can have a significant impact. "Now that we're in 2023, unfortunately, I think these tours that are going to go out are gonna do it with less people," Bradley notes. "Those people on the tour are gonna do more of the work, sometimes the work of two or three people that they had previously, and they're not gonna get paid for those extra roles they're taking on. Then, of the three roles, of the three hats that they're wearing now, two of the three are gonna suffer, which is gonna trickle down into other elements of the show." Bradley calls the shortage of available and qualified crew members the biggest hurdle of late, with younger, less experienced talent filling the void. "I think the production value is going to be brought down a little bit, but the costs are gonna be offset and not reduced because of the supply and demand and inflation and just getting here and moving stuff," he predicts. One benefit is that some bands have hired production managers or tour managers full time, which can increase overall stability.

Read the full story from Pollstar.