Santigold says touring for middle level artists is “rough”

completemusicupdate.com:

Santigold has further discussed her recent decision to cancel a US tour on the basis that – now that it has become possible to play live again following all the various COVID lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 – “some of us are finding ourselves simply unable to make it work”.“We were met with the height of inflation”, she said in a statement confirming the cancellations last month. “Gas, tour buses, hotels and flight costs skyrocketed – many of our tried-and-true venues unavailable due to a flooded market of artists trying to book shows in the same cities, and positive [COVID] test results constantly halting schedules with devastating financial consequences”.“All of that on top of the already-tapped mental, spiritual, physical and emotional resources of just having made it through the past few years”, her statement added.In a new interview with Variety, Santigold expands on that theme, explaining that: “Touring has never been great.

It’s always been really, really hard. At the very top level, it works out fine. But at my level – somewhere in the middle – it’s fucking rough”.“Even before COVID”, she adds, “the only time it was really profitable is when I could anchor tours with a bunch of festivals and some private [usually corporate] gigs.

And if you get a tour support from a label or other company – I never have – then you’re in debt even more because that’s a loan.

Nowadays, even people touring at high levels are taking deals, because they can’t make it work either”.As a result, she says, prior to the pandemic “I was making some money but not enough to live off.