by Richard Leigh

Created on: September 22, 2008

In the music industry it is often the case that experience is key, and this is most definitely the situation when it comes to road managers. If you want to become a road manager then you need to learn about the duties of a road manager, how it's all done, and how best to do the job. My personal advice as to how to become a road manager would be to follow the advice of someone that is currently active in this sort of job. The best thing to do is to become their assistant and you can then gain firsthand experience as to what it means to be a road manager.

Look for road managers in your area and ask if you can help them out, assist in what they are doing and follow what it is that they actually do as a road manager. Road managers have a number of jobs to do which often include the following; booking hotels, arranging travel, hiring roadies, collecting post-gig payments from venues, and making sure media events are taken care of and that they do not get scheduled to take place at the same time as the band is due elsewhere. Road managers also have a lot more to do than this, with specific jobs varying from case to case. If you become a road managers assistant then you will get an excellent idea of what's required of road managers and will therefore in the future be able to become a road manager yourself. If you know what tasks are required, can show artists that you've worked as a road managers assistant and know much in the field of road management then artists will be far more inclined to take you on than if you are completely inexperienced in the job.

Experience is most definitely the best thing to have when it comes to becoming a road manager; without experience no one will wish to hire you, and the best and easiest way to gain experience is therefore to assist someone who is already doing the job and already has great experience in it. It's not an easy job to get into, if you can find someone that has been a road manager for a while though and become their assistant then this will definitely help your cause.

Road managers play a very important role in the artist touring process, it's therefore of utmost importance to artists then that they pick people that they know can do the job well, so if you don't have any experience then the chances that artists will acquire your services as a road manager are slim to none. As I say; look to learn from an experienced road manager, see this as invaluable work experience and a step which must first be taken before becoming a road manager for yourself. You don't want to become a road manager clueless as to what to do, you want to be fully clued up in the job and to do this you will therefore need experience. If you can do a good job and prove to artists that you're worth paying good money for; you will be successful as a road manager and have a very happy career in the field. If you don't first gain experience however then if you do gain a road manager job and are on your own with no prior experience; things will more than likely go wrong, and with things having gone wrong with one artist; no one will wish to acquire your services in the future and your road manager career will be over.

Assist first, gain experience, and it is then that you will be able to become a road manager. An absolutely essential requirement to becoming a road manager is to first gain experience. Experience is key, and the way in which to become a road manager is therefore to first gain experience.

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