Let’s say an electric guitar needs to be shipped from Point A to Point B within a certain amount of time. Are we talking about rock-and-roll tour logistics or supply chain management?
As it turns out, global logistics networks are pretty much the same whether you’re moving gear and merchandise for an overseas show or sending it to a music store for consumers. Supply chain management includes careful planning, production, delivery, and data to make up-to-the-minute decisions. It also includes navigating complex cultural differences and using eco-friendly practices to align with local laws and consumer values.
Let’s dive in and learn more about how rock-and-roll tours put supply chain logistics to work.
Who’s Who in Supply Chain Management
A tour manager manages the supply chain for a band’s summer travels. These managers must tap into a network of airlines, ground transportation, hotels, caterers, venues, merchandise manufacturers, and local labor crews to get people, equipment, and stage gear from one place to another. They use logistics management strategies, which might include:
- Advanced transportation management tracks vehicles in real time to monitor progress and adjust routes as needed.
- Dropshipping sends products directly to fans who order online to reduce wait times on the day of the concert.
- Freight consolidation bundles merchandise into large shipments so it all arrives on one truck and saves transportation costs.
- Just-in-time delivery ensures instruments and gear arrive just when needed and don’t get held up anywhere.
- Third-party outsourcing uses companies at tour destinations that understand how to book venues, promote events, and hire local crews.
Global logistics experts have a more complex job, but the processes are the same. Both tour managers and logistics leaders focus on supply chain efficiency and work hard to avoid disruptions.
Speaking of which…
What are Some Examples of Disruptions to a Supply Chain?
Supply chain disruptions can take many forms, from simple to complex. For summer tours, they can throw a wrench into a performance. For consumers, they can lead to shortages and price increases.
Here are a few examples.
- Cyberattacks can take down your network. A June cyberattack affected car dealerships nationwide, making them unable to do normal business. Imagine how a similar attack on a concert ticketing system would affect a summer tour.
- Geopolitical instability can stop your parts from ever getting started. Conflicts between nations or regions can cancel a tour or prevent companies from accessing critical raw materials supplies.
- Language barriers and cultural differences can slow things down. Third-party relationships can help bands access international resources that centralized promoters cannot.
- Natural disasters and supply chains don’t pair well together. Earthquakes or flood that interfere with boats, planes, or trains can disrupt many other elements of the supply chain.
- Pandemics—well, they’re not great. I’m sure you remember COVID-19, right? When the world stops moving, things don’t get bought or sold—and that means concert tickets to crowded arenas and auditoriums.
Coordination is Key
Tour and supply chain managers must work with their partners to ensure everything runs on time. This is critical and also why proper global supply chain management is needed.
What is global supply chain management? It’s how goods are seamlessly moved from one place to another so retailers, customers, and suppliers can get what they need. To achieve this, you need lots of open dialogue so everyone is on the same page.
When a disruption like some of the ones listed above occurs, both tour and supply chain managers must roll with the punches. Each role has its position-specific challenges, but ultimately, they’re quite similar.
For example, they both have to pay attention to global supply chain trends. If air freight costs increase, then shipping by boat may become a better option. If something becomes more difficult to acquire, you must find alternate suppliers. Keeping on top of how items move throughout the global supply chain is important, whether you’re shredding guitars or sitting in a cubicle.
Working Together
On the surface, tour managers and supply chain experts may appear to have very different roles. But really, they’re both about moving things from one place to another — together, on time, and under budget.
For example, say the tour manager needs to get new cases for their guitars. Their usual supplier is out of stock, so they must find someone else in the supply chain to give them what they need. A global supply manager, maybe? See? It’s all connected.
Sure, their methods differ, and we don’t have roadies in the supply chain (although it would be awesome if we did), but we’re doing the same things and often do them together.
You know, that makes me think: Maybe we should bring some of the glamour into the global supply chain. Get some fans, merch, roadies — all the fixin’s.
I might just have a designer work up some tour posters for me. I think it’d be perfect.
