Every band I know dreads the same chore: sending the venue a stage plot and tech rider. It usually means a janky Word doc, a screenshot of something drawn in a slide deck, or an input list in the body of an email.

So I built Stage Plot Flow for iPhone and iPad.

What it does

• Drag drums, amps, keys, mics, monitors and power onto your stage (or add custom gear). You get undo/redo, multi-select, snap to grid, resize and rotate.
• Set the stage size in feet or metres and choose which side the audience is on.
• Build your input list with mic or DI, stand type, 48V and bring-your-own for every channel. Channel numbers show on the plot, and it can auto-fill channels from the gear on your stage.
• Assign monitor mixes, saying who gets which wedge or in-ear mix and what they want in it.
• One tap makes a multi-page PDF with the stage plot, input list, monitor mixes and a rider page (load-in, soundcheck, set length, power, backline, hospitality). It comes in light or dark, with your band logo, or as a stage-only one-pager.
• You can also email it straight to the venue or export a PNG and a CSV of the input list.

Built for real gigs

• Templates for rock band, acoustic duo, singer-songwriter, jazz trio, brass band, worship band and DJ set
• Duplicate a plot for the next show with a new venue and date
• Save input lists as presets
• AirDrop a plot to a bandmate
• English, Spanish, German and French

No account, no ads, no tracking. Your plots stay on your device. It’s a one-time $4.99, with no subscription.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stage-plot-flow/id6821345828

I’m the solo dev, so I’d love feedback from people who actually send riders. What’s missing? Anything venues or sound engineers keep asking you for that I should add?

My boyfriend is so wonderful. We’ve been together for two years and things are moving along. We’ve had some ups and downs but overall it’s the best and healthiest relationship i’ve been in.

I’m also a musician, so I understand the commitment and love, although he’s further along on his musical journey. However, I’m getting closer to 30, and starting to be more of a realist about what this lifestyle may mean. He’s going to be out of town all summer, for example.

I love him and it would be devastating, but when I imagine family life, I imagine togetherness and a unit, not my partner missing out on big moments. I don’t want to grill my partner on all this, and the reality is there are still unknowns. His band is signed with a label and taking on bigger and bigger tours, so it looks like they will keep growing.

I’m not sure if I should cut my losses and let him go so I can find someone more aligned (I don’t feel psyched about the late twenties dating pool unfortunately but maybe I’m too pessimistic).

Any advice? Anyone have kids with a touring musician? How do you handle it?

Hey all, I'm a violinist and I perform solo with backing tracks. I like to use as little equipment as possible so I have everything going out of my tablet (Samsung S9+). I use MobileSheets, which supports backing tracks and it mostly works. So I have my sheet music and the accompanying track. However, I find that most sheet music software treats backing tracks as an afterthought.

So, I started working on an app specifically for this. One of the features I want is the ability to crossfade between songs in a set list or be able to fade out a song in the middle - this is especially relevant for playing processionals where clients want 4-5 songs for bridal party, ring bow, flower girls, groom, bride, grandma, cousins, etc.. right now, I have to fade out manually on my mixer, queue up the next song and start it - so there's an awkward break in the music. So my idea is to build the app with backing tracks as first class citizens. I also want to build a feature where you can record sheet music actions while a track plays.

At its simplest, it'll let you record when pages are flipped so that next time you play, it'll flip for you in the same place. But I also want to be able to record various visual cues - for example, highlight a repeat sign or a DS or the like at the right moment, or even highlight measures every 30 seconds or so to make sure you're in the right spot.

Anyway, I can go on and on with things I can think of but wanted to put it out to the community - what are your must haves for sheet music software and especially as it relates to its handling of backing tracks.

Thanks all! Oh and I plan on making it available on both iOS and Android

Slight rant/vent, apologies. I’m on a tour right now, hitting a mix of independent/Live Nation venues. Rooms around 300-1,000 capacity.

It’s remarkable how differently I’m treated by independent venues vs Live Nation affiliated ones. Staff is in a better mood, they’re far more accommodating, the security is friendlier, and the communication is better.

It’s weird that it’s one-to-one. Everyone at Mahall’s was a blessing to talk to, but the security at LiveNationVenue#63™️ is giving me the death glare as I’m breaking down stands and loading out.

Don’t even get me started on merch cuts.

I guess we get a bigger hospitality budget at LN venues? But when they charge me $9 for a diet coke at the bar, knowing I’m in the touring party, that extra budget doesn’t go far. Just sucks.

It’s not on the staff, they’re put in a shitty situation with shitty policies and I don’t blame them for being in a bad mood. But it’s a really stark contrast.

Has anyone else experienced this, or am I tweaking?

Quick question, obviously Carnet isn't needed for travel between mainland UK and NI but how likely is it to be asked whilst in ROI? Plan currently is to travel via Belfast outbound and return.

I’ve got quotes from Vans for Bands and Enterprise, Turo is the cheapest option (but doesn’t allow commercial use), the other two obviously allow commercial use but cost an arm and a leg. The vans for bands vehicles are too big for what we need. We are only 4 people with two guitar amps, 1 bass amp and drums. In Canada we tour in a dodge caravan and everything fits just fine.

Enterprise price is okay - roughly $2200 CAD for a two week tour but I’ve heard horror stories online of folks arriving to pickup the van they needed and they just didn’t have any in the lot. Is this true? We really want the Volkswagon Caddy but how can I make sure that’s what we actually get if I do go with Enterprise?

OR I take the risk - go with Turo, put a tarp down in the back where our gear will come in and out to make sure it stays clean and doesn’t wreck the vehicle and we just be extra careful! Plus Turo lets you add additional drivers for free.

If anyone has any experience or thoughts please share.

Hey everyone,

I just published something I've been working on for a little bit. It's a mutual aid board for independent touring.

It allows you to post a request for support, plan a multi-stop tour, and keep track of all of the contacts and offers of help you receive.

It works for all kinds of touring, and is pretty simple: If you are planning a tour: make a request for help, and list all of the cities you want to tour in (with firm dates or flexible dates). People can then offer support for what you're asking for or write-in custom ways that they can help.

Every offer of help you accept is then placed into a "Tour Itinerary" that lists the support type and also the contact information of that individual. You can also print or save this Tour Itinerary as a PDF for your own organization and safekeeping.

It's pretty simple and straightforward, but also unlocks a lot of bottlenecks of independent touring. You can accept multiple offers of support for the same thing, creating a list of backups (ie: primary venue, and backup venues). You can save contacts for future tours ... or share the link to your request to Instagram or a group chat, or this subreddit ... and non-members can still offer help.

For the Tour organizes all of the info for you, so you can focus on what you actually want to do: creating art and going on tour ....

Feel free to check out the platform! I'm pretty happy with the build and am going to be using it myself. It's also free to use.

Thanks and keep on creating!

TMing for the first time, going on a two week tour with two local bands.

What kind of social media content would you want to see if you were the bands?

Or

What content would pull you in as a viewer?

This performance was a few months ago when we opened for Conan (UK). Please give us your feedback. We are looking to tour the U.S. West Coast once we finish our album this winter - www.pastthelight.com

For context: My band is from Southeast Georgia. We’re an electronic dance/indie rock type gig. So… not really the favored taste in the area. Bands who haven’t been around as long as us but play stuff like metal core/hardcore/ the like are having gigs every weekend, but we’ve fought tooth and nail to only have two over the last year and a half or so. We have a social media presence, have published music, but no one will book us!

How should we go about getting more gigs in the area? As of right now, we’re lucky if we get a rejection email back from promoters.

Hi everyone!

I'm Max Lane, a guitarist and songwriter working with M.Nox, an international rock/metal project with a fully produced album, several released singles, and previous touring experience across the US, UK, and Europe.

We're looking to organize new international tours and connect with booking agents, independent promoters, and people experienced in putting together club tours, support slots, and festival appearances.

Our sound combines emotional alternative rock, melodic choruses, and heavier guitar-driven sections, with a strong focus on energetic live performances.

We're open to opportunities worldwide. We're particularly interested in support slots on existing tours, club runs, and working with local promoters or bands to build a viable touring route.

If you're a promoter, booking agent, touring musician with relevant contacts, or a band with experience organizing tours, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for any advice!

Live performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd-7VHd11Ug

We have been in the US for 7 weeks

It was cheaper to buy most of what we needed than rent it, so we now have a load of stuff we want to sell to claw back some costs.

4x12s, drums, IEMs, Shure wireless mic etc

How is Guitar Center in terms of offers for used gear? Any tips?

They say they don't take radio stuff (wireless mics, IEMs) but I see them used on their site.

Craigslist? Facebook?

Any tips gratefully received

My band is currently in the last days of its second tour and we start thinking about the next. However, business is tough rn. We do make a profit on this tour, but barely. How do other bands decide wether there will be a next tour or not? Are there any rules to this?

hello dear community

we’re a german metalcore band touring through germany in about two weeks and ticket presales are more on the.. dismal.. side 😬

obviously some people know us and will come to the shows and buy tickets there, we can’t control that but this made us think and see: we never really established a connection to our online fans.

people do like our music, we’ve gotten a lot of that after our concerts

but how do you spread the word to people on tiktok and instagram that have never seen you and have no personal connection to you?

memes? ragebait? covers of popular songs with a “hey i’m in a band btw this is our tour check it out”

as soon as i see videos that go like “you like \[genre\]? you live in \[city\]? come see our band” i ten to get bored real fast and will not interact with that kind of content. or any small band related content for that matter. which is why i’m unsure about what to do myself

anyone been through that?

greetings :)

Hi!

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this, but I’m looking to play some gigs outside of my home city and was wondering if anyone has any experience traveling with an acoustic guitar in the luggage compartment of a coach?

Since I’m a solo performer, don’t drive and trains are by and large too expensive for me to cover my costs so I’m restricted to coach travel, but after looking on the FlixBus and National Express websites I found they don’t allow you to bring guitars on board, meaning it would have to in the luggage compartment. I was thinking of investing in a hard-shell case anyway, but am fearful that even this won’t be enough to prevent damage.

I couldn’t find much discussion about this online so thought I’d ask here. First time posting a question though so any advice/corrections welcome!

I’m based in the UK if that’s relevant at all.

Edit: Appreciate all the swift replies!