Every couple of weeks, it seems like another artist announces a tour, but if I’m honest, I have some complaints about the way they’re being handled. Going to see my favorite artists on tour is amazing, and I’ll always love the experience of hearing their music live. For any fan, the opportunity to see their favorite artists live on tour is a big deal.
Touring is an opportunity for artists to increase revenue, popularity, and success. Despite the exhaustion that comes with touring, for many artists, it’s a rewarding experience. Olivia Rodrigo, reflecting upon her Guts World Tour, commented, “Touring is so, so hard. I had to take care of my body and myself in a way that I’d never had to before.” Guts World Tour lasted from February 2024 to July 2025, with over 100 shows.
Artists use tours as a way to connect with their audience, providing fans with an unforgettable experience. Many artists who reached peak popularity decades ago continue to tour decades later. A notable example is Bruce Springsteen, whose first tour was back in 1975, but he ended his recent tour just this year.
Tour Announcements
As a marketing major and a logical thinker, the way tours are announced makes no sense to me. The first thing being, many artists announce tour dates before the associated album has been released. Even big-name artists such as Sabrina Carpenter do this. While Short n’ Sweet was released on Aug. 23, 2024, the tour was announced on Jun. 20, 2024, over two months before the album was released.
Personally, I think that after an album has been released, announcing tour dates will allow for a continuation of popularity. Carpenter had already released two singles: “Espresso” on April 11, 2024, and “Please Please Please” on June 6, 2024, but two songs don’t equate to an entire album.
I understand that announcing tour dates will provide fans with an additional reason to listen, but I think fans have the right to hear an album before deciding if they’d like to spend money on the tour.
My second flaw in how tours are announced is the lack of time between the announcement and when the sale starts. Not everyone checks Instagram daily or will see the post an artist made about their tour immediately.
I’ve found the new normal to be only three to five days between a tour announcement and when ticket sales start. Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour tickets went on sale only five days after the announcement, and Conan Gray’s Wishbone World Tour had only a four-day gap.
For some, choosing to go to a concert is easy and doesn’t require a lot of planning. But for others, it might require finding time off work or school, finding a hotel to stay at, and driving or flying to the city. Basically, to figure out if one can go to a concert might take more than just three to five days.
The Eras Tour sparked change
After Taylor Swift’s Lover Fest, the tour associated with her album Lover, was cancelled due to COVID-19, and Swift released two albums during quarantine, she announced The Eras Tour. This announcement followed the release of Midnights, making it the fourth album in a row without a proper tour.
Instead of focusing primarily on Midnights, Swift’s tour was centered around all of her albums, choosing her most popular hits from each. Swift’s reputation Stadium Tour, which revolved around the album reputation, played 14 out of the 15 songs on the album.
This is in contrast to The Eras Tour, which only contained seven songs from Midnights, her most recent album at the time. This phenomenon of an artist playing their most popular songs over some songs found on the album associated with that tour was likely due to The Eras Tour.
On Gray’s Found Heaven On Tour, his setlist contained a total of 21 songs. 9 of those songs are from Found Heaven, despite the album having 13 songs in total. Gray elected to leave four songs off the setlist to instead play more of his most popular songs from prior albums. Some other examples are Kesha’s The Tits Out Tour, P!nk’s Summer Carnival Tour, and Hozier’s Unreal Unearth Tour.
From a marketing standpoint, I think this is genius. An artist selecting their most popular songs is kind of for the best; they’re the most popular for a reason, and fans will love hearing them. As a Taylor Swift fan, I heard “Enchanted” live during the Speak Now World Tour when I was just five years old.
Tour locations
In the comments of any tour announcement, there will be plenty of complaints about an artist not going to certain cities. As a Florida girl, believe me, I fully understand. Countless artists skip out on Florida, despite Florida being the third-most populous state. The closest some artists get to Florida is Atlanta, which is several hours away by car from the Florida-Georgia border.
I often joke about the lack of Florida dates being called “The Florida Curse,” with artists leaving a major U.S. state out. While Florida is a peninsula that can’t just be passed through, I think Floridians should be able to see their favorite artists on tour without traveling ridiculously far to do so. Of course, artists can’t go to every single city, but Florida is often ignored.
Now, the touring industry is complex; there are plenty of factors not discussed with the public about why things are done. I think there are plenty of improvements that should be made for the fan experience and marketing in general. Some of these recent changes are great, and others aren’t so great; regardless, I’ll continue to watch my favorite artists on tour.
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