Los Campesinos! has shared a breakdown of what it actually costs to tour North America.
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In a lengthy newsletter post, the Welsh indie rockers shared their accounts as a means of increasing transparency about the hidden costs of touring. The numbers come from the 11 shows they played for their 2024 North America tour in support of their self-released seventh album, ‘All Hell‘.
Frontman Gareth David prefaced his breakdown by remarking that Los Campesinos! are made up of seven members, with children who often travel with them. He added that they are self-managed and run their own record label, and that they have jobs outside of music, meaning that they can tour using holiday allowance. David concluded: “We are aware that specific ideological decisions we make impact our ability to maximise the money we earn”.
He went on to reveal that it cost the band over £100,000 to tour the US. Over £5,400 was spent on visa costs, while over £9,000 was spent securing tickets to travel across the pond. Meanwhile, the tour bus and driver alone cost nearly £46,000.
Tickets were priced at $27.50, with 5% of tickets priced at $10 for low-income fans. With 10 shows sold out, Los Campesinos! made $127,729.53 (£99,738.05) in ticket sales. Though this technically leaves the band at a loss, David went on to explain that they also made a total of £40,336.54 in merch – leaving them with an overall profit of £38,246.64.
However, David explained that the profits were not shared with band members, but rather put towards future projects and tours, as much of the outgoings were paid before they received any profits.
“A band needs to have access to capital long before the tour (or album recording, or anything else) is going to take place in order to be able to afford to embark on it in the first place,” David wrote. “And who has access to capital? Major label acts that still choose to rip their fans off with exorbitant ticket pricing, and rich kid bands that can always return home to their parents”.
Los Campesinos! have previously spoken about the costs of being a musician. In 2025, they shared the many “financial restrictions” when touring, revealing a significant “loss” from a one-off gig in Dublin.
“Without the backing/protection of wealthy family (and it’s clear to see that UK guitar/pop music is overrun by the middle class and private school rich kids), or being sold a dream by an albatross of a recording advance/management company, what hope does anyone have?” the band wrote.
Meanwhile, they also revealed how much money they made from streaming services in 2025, saying they made £31,940.29 from 9,300,864 streamings from the first year of ‘All Hell’ and its release.
“We are fortunate as a band that we are self-managed and run our own record label, so the £31,940.29 that was generated through streaming flows straight to Los Campesinos! Ltd,” the band explained.
“However, we are in a minority, and most bands will only see money if there is any left over after record labels and management have taken their cuts.”
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