WALK THE MOON: Building A "Baby" Band

Mick Management recently signed and up coming, indie rock act WALK THE MOON from Cincinnati, OH. I had the opportunity to contribute to much of their start up efforts this summer and learned first hand what it takes to launch an artist's career.

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First, I created individual budgets for each of their tours. Then I converged them together in an overall band budget (also constructed by me) that included equipment fees, lodging, travel, merchandise, general expenses and their net profit.

MASTER BUDGET EXCERPT

UK TOUR BUDGET EXCERPT

Along with constructing spreadsheets for the budgets, I drew up invoices to send out to those individuals or companies who owed the band money:

Although budgets are extremely necessary they aren't always the most exciting task. Therefore, to counteract the crunching of numbers, I was able to design the band's press page that has been sent out to promoters, venues, and booking agents.

I pulled press quotes, photos, and videos that contributed the WALK THE MOON brand and designed pages that could be easily interpreted by viewers who don't have the time to sift through content.

Visit the press site here!

Press Site Home Page

So I created a budget and a press page, but what does management tackle next? Answer: WIKIPEDIA.

This task was extremely difficult to complete. I had to use proper encyclopedia language, site all of my sources and remain neutral in all of the content I chose to highlight. I got into argument with editors and had the page deleted numerous times. Visit the WALK THE MOON band Wikipedia page here.


Finally, I filled out a Tour Book for the band to keep track of all of their show advancements, venue policies, lodging and schedule information. The book is essential for the tour manager to keep the band organized and on track because they are far from their management team's headquarters.

Tour Book Cover

The progress made on WALK THE MOON's career while I was an intern this summer was an amazing process to witness. They went from brushing the surface of success to signing a record deal, playing Bonnarroo and Lollapalooza, and landing a huge tour with buzz band, Fitz & the Tantrums.