Guillaume Brevers, founder of independent Belgian booking agency Hometown Talent, has launched a product called Toury, aimed at connecting touring artists with a worldwide network of music industry providers.
From van, and backline rental companies to tour managers, light and sound engineers, merch printers, and more, musicians are promised to find exactly what and who they need in order to hit the road.
From last-minute needs to detailed arrangements, artists and their teams can make requests through the Toury platform, connect with professionals, compare quotes, and eventually make an informed decision about who to work with on tour.
The professionals and suppliers on the other hand, receive “unprecedented visibility on a global scale,” according to a press release announcing the launch of Toury. Aside from the services mentioned above, publicists, photographers, dancers, ticket sellers, bar staff, catering, and security companies can also create a Toury profile.
Also interesting for touring artists: paperwork assistance. Professionals, who can help with work permits, visas, carnets, and all the other joys of cross-border bureaucracy can also create a Toury profile.
Pollstar reached out to Toury founder Brevers to find out more. He used a US artist touring the EU/UK for the first time, and looking for a van, as an example.
“The artist or their representative will log in to Toury, and make their request by filling in all the details: van size, travel party, start and end date, start and end location, automatic/manual, whether room for the backline is needed, whether you’re driving yourself driving or need a driver, etc. Once reviewed and approved, the request will go online and reach all the service providers registered on Toury under the ‘van rental’ category in both the EU and UK.
“The providers will then have the choice to apply for or decline the request. Once they apply for it, the artist will get a notification mentioning that a provider is interested in fulfilling the request. Once providers agree to apply, they can get in touch with the client/artist, and liaise directly with them using the Toury private chat room. Both the client and provider will also have access to each other’s details, so they’re free to keep the conversation going outside of Toury by mail, phone, etc.”
Brevers emphasized, “Toury is there to create the connection, but is not responsible for the transactions being made between the clients and the providers.” Therefore Toury doesn’t take a commission on transactions made.
The benefit of Toury lies in the verification of the profiles of both artists and touring professionals, “providing a trustworthy environment for collaboration, where artists can confidently connect with professionals knowing that they’ve been vetted by the platform,” Brevers explained.
Toury makes its money through a tiered subscription system. The “Client” tier is aimed at those requiring the services, whether that’s artists or promoters or anyone else no the artist’s team. There’s the “Service Provider” tier, and finally a subscription to both, enabling the subscriber to switch between the client and service provider dashboards as they please.
Clients can access Toury for free, and have one request per month, with the option of paying €5 for every additional request. €20 per month will give clients eight requests per month, and access to more services. Service providers can chose between the basic rate of €20 or premium rate for €25 per month. The subscription to both costs €25 including one request per month, or €35 for the premium offering.
“We made sure to keep this fee as minimal as possible in order to cover the platform’s running costs, and keep Toury as accessible for everyone as possible,” said Brevers.
Touring has become very expensive over the past few years, not just for newcomers, but most small to medium-sized tours. According to Brevers, Toury may alleviate some of the financial pressure by giving artists “access to a larger range of service providers, so they’ll not get stuck with a few expensive options. They’ll be able to compare, and go for what’s best for them in terms of both logistics and budget.”
He also thinks the platform’s efficiency will help artists and their teams save time, which by all modern accounts also meant saving money. Toury’s global reach should prove “particularly advantageous for smaller artists, who may be looking to expand their reach, and tour in new regions, where they couldn’t connect with the right service providers in the past.”
“Toury is worldwide,” Brevers concluded, “It’ll be accessible from anywhere in the world and cover the touring artists needs on each continent. This will also be interesting for a professional based in a certain region, who always dreamed of being active somewhere new. For example, a tour manager based in the UK, who also dreamed of tour managing artists in North America, or Asia, will be able to activate the option of accepting requests for these two regions. So, Toury will provide the gateway to new territories and expanded career horizons.”
