Touring: Where the songs live on

- Let's talk about another reason why touring is such an important part of your business. A successful touring artist's live business continues long after record sales have stopped. I think for most great artists, they go through a period of maximum creativity that defines their music in art. For the most part, that period might only last 10 years if you're lucky. If you look at the great successful artists and bands, they typically made three or four really great albums in a relatively short period of time that spawned most of their big hits. Songs that made a deep connection with their audience. The Beatles cranked out all their hits and were done in 10 years. U2's biggest hits came from those first first three or four albums, and a couple after that. Madonna's biggest hits happened earlier in her career. The Rolling Stones have not had a hit in years. After that period of creativity, record sales tend to fall off, and those artists find it more difficult to connect with younger audiences and wind up playing to the fans they made earlier in their career. In lots of cases, even those devoted fans may not even buy that new album from their favorite artist. But those audiences come back time and time again to hear those songs one more time. To relive those memories that those songs represent. Record sales come and go, but a great performer can go on forever.