One question that our fans repeatedly asked us was “what does it feel like to have ‘made it’ as a band?” Though it’s a fair question to ask of a band with a hundred million views on YouTube, the thought of Pomplamoose having “made it” is, to me, ridiculous.
Before I write another sentence, it’s important to note that Nataly and I feel so fortunate to be making music for a living. Having the opportunity to play music as a career is a dream come true. But the phrase “made it” does not properly describe Pomplamoose. Pomplamoose is “making it.” And every day, we bust our asses to continue “making it,” but we most certainly have not “made it.”
Not saying that touring isn't expensive? But these guys were stupid with some of their expenditures.
-Renting a lighting rig is absolutely unnecessary, especially if you're playing places like the Fillmore, which is guaranteed have their own setup and it's probably the tits and dear god do you really need that bank of strobes to make your music awesome.
-I'm not sure why they listed equipment and backline as two separate items. If they really were two separate items, one of them was redundant.
-On top of that, if you're serious about touring, you need to buy a van rather than renting, which blows up your overhead. And don't make it a Sprinter. Buy a bare-bones fifteen passenger Ford workhorse for two thousand dollars. It'll go forever, and it'll be cheap and easy to fix if it breaks.
-And then by the way, sleep in that instead of renting one hotel room per two members, princess. Or if you really want to spring for the hotel (mister "nothing fancy"), you rent one room. For eight fucking people. Just do it, it's only four weeks. Nobody'll call you out on it. Who tours and rents two to a room? Jesus. Seventeen thousand dollars for four weeks. Jesus.
-Per diem? Fuck you, hospitality at the level of venues these guys are playing includes nice dinner and a liver's worth of drinks. They can pay for their other meals on their own. Salaries for bandmates? Really? Really? Howsabout a percentage of nightly sales. You're welcome.
-Insurance is not rock and roll.
-Commissions shouldn't cost this much. Booking agencies charge no more than 10% of ticket sales (which means no more than 9k). You don't need a business manager, you need Quickbooks. Or a better business manager because look at what you're spending money on.
Obviously, there's still not much money to be had in indie musicianship. But reading their breakdown makes me think that they bought into a lot of fripperies, and if they'd bothered to pare down just a little bit, they could have at least come out in the black.