Qualifications & Skills In addition to formal education, practical experience in the music industry is highly valuable. Many tour managers start their career by working in various roles within the industry, such as live sound, venue management, or working closely with artists.
As modern concert touring involves complex financial, legal and technical arrangements, the booking agent or artist manager hire a tour manager to organize the logistics, personnel, communications and schedule. Concert tour managers are usually freelancers working on a tour-by-tour basis.
Kind of in general if it's a solo artist with hired musicians the artist has a bus of their own that maybe their tour manager and assistant are on, band and crew have a separate bus/buses, but a lot of times the artist will fly ahead anyway. If it's a long drive, like a few days, they may fly home in between.
Here are the basic steps you can take to become a tour manager: Pursue relevant education. Some employers may require a bachelor's degree, while others need only a high school diploma or certificate. Gain experience. Develop a professional network. Perfect your social skills. Identify a mentor.