Study: 82% of indie artists can’t afford to tour anymore

January 28, 2025 Alan Cross 0 Comments 0 min read

Few artists are selling significant numbers of CDs and vinyl records. Streaming doesn’t pay the bills. What’s left? Playing live and selling merch. But what if you can’t afford to tour?

Results from a new global study by Ditto Music (a music research company) are pretty grim. It surveyed 1,500 musicians worldwide and found out that on average, 82.1% believe that touring has just become too expensive. They can’t afford to play live beyond their immediate geographic area. The number for Canada is about 79%.

It gets worse. The survey also says that 58.3% have turned down a chance to tour because the financials just didn’t make sense. And about 75% have never bothered to tour at all. They somehow manage to fund their music ambitions by tapping their personal savings.

Here are a few more sobering numbers.

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Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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