Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual hit shelves—and the music business’ consciousness—in 2023. This year, the much-needed audiobook for the 600+ page book was released. Edited by award-winning psychotherapist and music industry health consultant Tamsin Embleton, who founded the nonprofit Music Industry Therapist Collective in 2018, the longtime music professional contributed the introduction and seven of the book’s 30 chapters. She brought in specialist mental health experts for the others from her extensive network cultivated over years of working as a talent booker, promoter, tour manager, and manager, and of course, therapist.
The book is divided into six sections: Background; Relationships; Anxiety, Depression and Crisis Management; Stress, Trauma, Addiction and Eating Disorders; Bodily Health; and Self-Care, Preparation and Recovery. Additionally, the audiobook includes an epigraph by Nick Cave and meditation exercises by DJ/producer/entrepreneur Rob da Bank. If those topic areas sound intense, listening to them is even more so, which only emphasizes the need for a reference book like this for touring musicians and their extended teams.
At times, listening to the audiobook feels like being in a therapy session, particularly during the chapter “The Development of Mental Health” and its emphasis on adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. Many parts of the book, such as the chapters on romantic relationships, anger management and conflict resolution, stress, and coping and resilience, as well as the section on bodily health and self-care, are applicable to everyone. This is not to gloss over how difficult it is to listen to a list of mental health disorders and their descriptions. Same goes for the chapters on eating disorders and sex and porn addiction. And yes, there are extended stretches when it feels like you’re listening to a medical handbook, which, in a way, it is, but that only makes its content all the more necessary to become educated on.
The real question is: How prepared are musicians to listen to and apply the practices in this book? In the present time, there is much more awareness about mental health—although not about the useful practices put forth in this book, most of which cost money and time. Still, the anecdotes and personal experiences shared by a cross-section of music industry workers from established musicians such as Nile Rodgers and Taylor Hanson to touring personnel who have been in the game for decades working for everyone from the Rolling Stones to Black Sabbath and Guns N’ Roses are invaluable.
While the audiobook is likely (slightly) quicker to get through, the print version works better as a handy reference, especially for the extensive sources and resources it offers for every topic it brings up. And speaking for music journalists everywhere, I highly recommend all musicians and their teams, particularly their publicists, listen or read the chapter “Deal With the Media” by Peter Robinson.
Here Embleton shares some insights from her decades of experience in the music industry.
Are you finding that artists are a bit savvier when it comes to the drawbacks and the pitfalls of touring?
There’s definitely more awareness now. Artists and the press aren’t using euphemisms like “exhaustion” anymore. When tours are cancelled now, it’s common to see an artist saying they’re burnt out, or their mental health has suffered. That’s partly because there’s been a broader cultural shift and a normalizing of mental health discourse.
The music business operates under a unique set of pressures. When opportunities arise, there’s internal and external pressure to seize them. The sense that these opportunities might not come around again, the interest in you might wane, and it’s competitive, others are hot on your heels. Artists who are inexperienced in touring aren’t usually well-versed in knowing where their physical and psychological limits are. They’re ambitious and excited to live the dream. Touring has so many rewarding elements to it, people don’t consider the toll it can take, and so they don’t prepare for it.
Artists might be taught performance techniques but they’re often not how to take care of themselves on the road. Most learn through experience by hitting a wall and then the conversations happen around pacing with their agents and managers. Many artists (particularly young or “newer” artists) aren’t always confident in advocating for themselves. They don’t like letting people down. That’s why they have people like managers who work on their behalf saying no for them. But it can mean they’re alone pushing against the machine around them who are all invested in them working relentlessly.
There’s no regulation around what constitutes safe routing or scheduling, and rarely someone on the artist’s team whose explicit role is to advocate for welfare. So while artists tend to be more mental health savvy, the systems surrounding them haven’t caught up and they’re still faced with competing demands.
This is subjective of course, but how prepared do you think musicians are to hear what your book has to say and apply the practices suggested?
Many have said they felt seen reading other people’s accounts. It might be the first time they’ve realized they’re not alone in struggling on tour. That’s exactly why I wrote the book. When I was touring and found it affected my mood and morale, I thought it was just me. Then I started speaking to friends who toured a lot and I realized how widespread the problem was, and how little support existed. I began researching the psychological impact of touring around 10 years ago, and the deeper I went, the clearer it became that this was an industry-wide issue.
Since the book came out, I’ve been working with artists, promoters, tour managers, and production managers to design bespoke tour health and welfare services with the organization I run, the Music Industry Therapist Collective. We’ve now delivered tour health services across multiple tours working with the likes of Dua Lipa and the Script and the response has been hugely positive. Sometimes we’re brought in when there’s been a trauma on the road, such as a death on the team, or when morale is low. Sometimes it’s more about prevention.
One thing that I’ve been really pleased to see is artists take up their duty of care for those they employ by facilitating therapeutic services through our touring welfare officer, our online mental health platform, or backstage therapy, or workshops. That’s a very new and long overdue development.
It’s important to remember that it’s not just artists who struggle, crew do too. They’re often under enormous pressure, with long hours and high job insecurity, but because they’re not in the limelight, their needs are easily overlooked. The willingness to engage with tour health as a whole is definitely growing, though, and that gives me a lot of hope for the future of the live music industry.
What do you suggest is the best way for a musician, and music industry workers, particularly tour-related entities, to take maximum advantage of what your book offers?
The book’s designed to be used, not just read, whether that’s by individuals or groups. It’s been really encouraging to see some organizations, like Clair Global, set up reading groups to digest the material together. When everyone understands the pressures involved and everyone takes up responsibility for welfare, it changes how the team functions. People start looking out for one another in a more intentional way.
Different chapters speak to different parts of the industry. When agents, managers, and promoters read Chapter 5 “Healthier Touring,” they can learn how to plan healthy tours, from routing to rock docs. Tour managers, production managers, and crew chiefs often connect with Chapter 6 “Group Dynamics and Mindset,” which explores how teams form and function under pressure, the importance of visible leadership, and the dynamics that can arise between artists and managers. Bands tend to get a lot from Chapter 7 “Why Successful Bands Fail,” and I hear that loved ones get a lot from the “Romantic Relationships” and “Post-Tour Recovery” chapters.
You don’t have to tackle it all at once. Dip in and out, and take what you need. Whether that’s learning about stress, crisis response, anger and conflict, sexual health, sleep science or meditation, and mindset.
How much more difficult is it for bands who aren’t established to institute some of the practices suggested that involve time and resources, both of which cost money?
Good health isn’t necessarily expensive, though of course, money can help. A lot of the book is really about helping people develop a healthier relationship with themselves, their art, and the people around them. It’s about learning to tune out the noise, listen to your own needs, and notice what’s going unmet.
Some of that comes from simple, accessible things: getting enough rest, stepping outside, using nature to reset, developing self-awareness, and using healthy coping skills wherever possible. You don’t need a big budget to build good habits.
That said, it’s definitely tougher for emerging and mid-level artists due to a number of factors and we, at MITC, really want to address barriers that prevent people accessing the help they need. That’s why we created a Pay it Forward fund. When a tour or organization buys online mental health sessions for their teams, unused sessions go back in the pool, and packages are offered in support of tours who need help but don’t have the means to afford it.
What are some standards, practices, and supports you feel should be put in place on the part of the music industry where touring is concerned?
At a minimum, I would like to see a dedicated welfare role on each tour. Someone advocating for the health and welfare of performers and crew from the planning stage to delivering shows on tour (like we do for health and safety). I would love to see regulation around schedules including off days so that they are ringfenced and not turned into travel days or press days. Pre-tour preparation and post-tour recovery should be built in as standard. Team leaders should have mental health training to recognize red flags and warning signs so that early warning signs aren’t missed. We provide a lot of this at MITC, but it’s not industry standard. We’re working with really innovative teams. Many see health and welfare as a luxury or optional extra. Maybe sponsors could help foot the bill?
We really need agents and managers on board for this to work. Maybe if they were required to undergo a substantial international tour themselves as part of their own training, they’d get it.
