How Eric Kane Booked His Own Tour as an Independent Musician
For independent artists, booking your own tour isn’t just possible — it might be the most rewarding way to grow your career. Just ask Eric Kane.
The Edmonton-based singer-songwriter booked and headlined his Leave It All Behind Tour across Western Canada — 18 shows in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba — using Side Door to ticket every one. We sat down with Eric to learn how he pulled it off: the hours of research, the cold emails, the countless “no” responses, the venue conversations, the promotional strategies, and the lessons learned.
If you're an artist tired of the industry gatekeeping your live career, you're in the right place.
🎥 Prefer to watch? Check out our condensed chat with Eric — packed with DIY tour advice.
Meet Eric Kane
Eric Kane grew up in Alberta, where music was a constant presence in his family’s life. At 16, his sister gave him his first guitar. Not long after, he found himself drumming in his brother’s band—despite having no experience. Within three months, he was on stage performing.
Everything changed in 2015 when Eric lost his brother. He wrote a tribute song and performed it live on the radio. That moment was a turning point. The overwhelming response encouraged him to keep going, and soon after, he formed Kane Incognito—a band that would go on to earn national radio play, multiple award nominations, and open for international acts like Sum 41.
The pandemic brought that momentum to a halt. But it also marked a new beginning. In the summer of 2020, Eric played 50 outdoor street concerts across Alberta, reconnecting with audiences on a personal level. By 2022, he had rebranded as a solo artist under his own name: Eric Kane.
Planning a DIY Tour as an Artist
Eric had toured before with Kane Incognito in 2019, but discovered a common pain point for many indie bands:
“when you have a big vehicle with four or five people, a trailer full of gear, a full band, like we were paying money to be on the road, basically going broke on the road. so it wasn't sustainable.”
When Eric started performing solo during COVID-19, he was making more money than ever before, which inspired him to believe in the possibility of solo touring.
His first Western Canada solo tour had its challenges—including playing to just five people in Langford. But that experience led to an important realization:
“I realized I was trying to book venues the traditional way, and it wasn’t working… I was finding the main venues in each city that hosts music and hoping they pay me $100, but some of these places are booking 8 to 9 months in advance… But as an independent artist, that's just not realistic.”
So, Eric shifted focus. Instead of chasing established venues in big cities with heavy competition, he looked to alternative spaces in both big cities and smaller towns—places where people were eager for live music.
He tried Sofar Sounds without much luck, describing that time as:
“endless amounts of nos. Just so many nos.”
But he believed in himself and kept going. Then he discovered Side Door.
“Okay, this is exactly what I want. This could completely bridge the gap to these intimate venues that I love playing.”
He signed up and reached out to a few hosts.
“which went really well,” he said.
Eric started booking shows on Side Door and through other avenues. During that period, one show in particular helped everything click: a café in Alberta with 45 attendees. He didn’t know a single person there, but the community simply wanted to hear live music. He played to a silent, attentive room and discovered a key piece for his performances.
“I understood that I need a room in order for my show and my message to get across and really resonate. I need a room that's there to listen. The theatre-style listening room. So all I have to do is find those venues.“
Here’s a clip of Eric performing at a Side Door space with an audience that is there to listen.
Discovering Performance Spaces With Show Calls and Social Media
When Side Door released its Show Call feature—a way for artists to broadcast their interest in performing—things truly came together. Eric realized he could bypass gatekeepers, avoid long booking timelines, and self book shows in intimate spaces.
What’s more, Eric used Show Calls in exactly the way Side Door envisioned. He didn’t just reach out to hosts on the platform—he started making TikToks for each city he wanted to visit, telling his audience he was looking for unique rooms to perform in and sharing his Show Call link.
At first, people kept recommending traditional venues. But he was clear:
“No, no, I want a room that doesn’t usually host music. One that is a really unique room that would benefit from 50-80 people in that room for their own sake.”
He also manually searched for cafés, community halls, and listening rooms that felt like a fit, cold contacting each one.
“I'd rather play all the small towns off the beaten path all the way there because not only is it easier to sell tickets from a business standpoint, but the actual human connection, the shows that I have in these smaller towns connected on a deeper level in every way for myself.”
Booking Venues That Have Never Hosted Music
Once Eric identified a list of potential venues, the next step was convincing them to host a show.
He started with voice memos in social media DMs, which saved time, but many venues didn’t monitor DMs or had different people managing bookings. So he pivoted to email—only to find many went unanswered.
Eventually, he landed on his best strategy:
“So that's when I pick up the phone… because 90% of the conversations or calls ends with something productive and or like an agreement on a date… so what I do now is I send an email and as soon as I send that email I find the number and I call as well. That way when I call, I can say ‘I just sent you an email and here’s what’s up.’”
This method saved Eric hours of back-and-forth and weeks of waiting.
“I honestly hated speaking on the phone but at the end of the day the amount of energy and time that just saved was tenfold.”
His typical email pitch includes:
Subject line: “Eric Kane Performance”
Intro: Music style + a personal advocacy message. For Eric, this is mental health and addiction. This touch often sparks conversation and builds the relationship with the venue.
Show details: Start time, door time, ticketing info
Eric emphasized the importance of showing confidence, especially when pitching to a space unfamiliar with hosting concerts. He outlines how easy it is:
He’ll handle ticketing via Side Door (So they don’t have to)
Payouts happen automatically (So they don’t have to handle cash)
He adjusts to their preferred ticketing style (online, or holding tickets at the door)
As he explained:
“I'm able to see the ticket sales as they accumulate. And then going into the marketing aspect, that is how I determine how much money I put back into ads or how many more posts I have to make in order to sell tickets.”
Even if a space had its own system, most venues agreed to use Side Door after hearing his reasoning. It helped reduce stress for them, and made everything easier for Eric, especially if they needed to split revenue. Not to mention, by keeping everything on Side Door, you can collect reviews and testimonials to display on your profile. Check out Eric’s profile below. 👇
Promotion Tips for Independent Artists on Tour
Remember when we mentioned Eric’s first tour and the night he played to just five people? That humbling experience lit a fire under him to refine his promotional strategy. The next time he returned to that same space, he sold 70 tickets — thanks entirely to his own tactics. So, how did he do it? Eric broke his tour marketing into two clear categories: paid and organic.
Paid Promotion
Eric focused his ad spend on the first three shows, using geo-targeted ads on TikTok and Instagram. He created content for each city—both posters and reels—and spent as little as $5/day.
The idea? Sell out the first few shows, then reinvest that income into promotion for the next batch.
“If I want to put people in these rooms and don’t have a viral social media clip, I have to invest in myself. If you want to sell tickets, spend $200 to make $1,000.”
His key tactic was engaging directly on ads:
“I'm saying comment on this ad if you want the ticket link and then I personally send them a message with the link. Half the tickets are via a comment on the post and then me sending messages… there's so much work to it but I know after trial and error that it works.”
Side Door’s live ticket tracking also helped guide ad spend. If one show was near sold out, he’d shift more budget to another with slower sales.
Organic Promotion
TikTok was Eric’s best-performing channel for organic content. One video hit 100,000+ views and drove 20% of his entire tour’s ticket sales—no ad spend required. That video aligned with the #BuyCanada movement and positioned him as a Canadian artist touring Canada.
Most of his organic content follows a simple formula:
Introduce himself
Say he’s coming to your town
Mention similar sounding artists (Noah Kahan)
He posts daily on TikTok and less frequently on Instagram. While he records new videos daily, it’s now a routine process that only takes a few minutes.
One hiccup he shared… he ended up getting banned from TikTok for a whole week:
“I was flagged as spam in TikTok's system for just sending repetitive links to all these people. So what I found out is now I have to strike a conversation or have them send me a message because as soon as they send the message, I'm able to send a link to them without being flagged as spam.”
On Instagram, he can still send direct links without issues. When we asked about physical promotion, Eric had a great tip for performing in towns where you don’t have a following:
“I make an individual tour poster for every venue which is using the same photo but changing all the text. I send them a poster and encourage them to print it and put it in their cafe as well because they have a lot of traffic obviously that go through.”
This type of in-person promotion is crucial, especially when it’s a new market for you. Cafés and community spaces often don’t have an online audience that follows them for music updates—but the people who love music might be sitting in that café every day. Posters make sure they find out. Think of the host/venue as your street team. They are out there marketing your show to the community it’s happening in.
Need help with designing a poster? Use our free templates here.
The Key to Selling Tickets Without a Booking Agent: Ask, Track, Improve
Eric is constantly learning and refining his approach. He makes a habit of asking every audience:
“How did you hear about this show and why are you here?”
Understanding how people found him helps him double down on what’s working and ditch what’s not.
“There’s a reason why that person is in that room. If they’ve never heard of you before, what is it?” says Kane. “A lot of it for me was TikTok. But the other half? Instagram.”
Eric’s Leave It All Behind tour wasn’t a product of luck — it was the result of consistent, strategic outreach and hard work.
“If you want to sell 50 tickets, you’ve got to message 50 times. You’ve got to create 50 posters. You’ve got to create 50 links and send hundreds of messages to sell those tickets. You’ve got to put in the hours.”
“It’s a lot of work, but at the end of the day, I sold out 97% of my tour — and it was so liberating to know I did all that. Every time, you build a bit more experience, and it gets easier. Then I add a show on top of it. Then I build the tour out farther. And the more money comes in, so you’re able to be on the road longer.”
Use our affiliate links feature to track the source of ticket sales.
Managing Tour Logistics as a Solo Artist
Eric drove solo for the entire tour. Fortunately, he loves road trips and embraced the adventure of the open road. After doing it a few times, he learned to stretch daily to counter the physical toll.
When it came to accommodations, Eric leaned on community. Whether it was friends or venue hosts, he always asked if there was a place he could stay before booking a hotel.
“Don’t be afraid to ask — even if you don’t know anybody. I just say, ‘Hey, I’m coming through, I play music, do you know anybody who might have a guest room?’ And so often they’ll say, ‘Oh, I don’t, but this person might.’ That can be the defining point of whether or not you have money left after the tour.”
Prioritizing Mental Health on Tour
Eric is vocal about his wellness practices — something rooted in the grief of losing his brother. Managing the demands of a self-booked tour as an independent artist is intense, so we asked how he takes care of himself. He told us about his journal.
“It actually started as a way to build my email list,” he chuckled. “But it turned into so much more. A Side Door host gave me the idea — they said, ‘Why don’t you pass around a journal at your shows? Ask people to leave their name, email, and a message.’”
The result was overwhelming.
“I passed the journal around, and after that show, I opened it and just started crying. Some of these messages — people giving me their hearts — it just hit me. If you’ve ever seen my show, you know I give everything. And it’s not like I try to, it’s just what happens. So that journal... that’s been therapy for me.”
Now, Kane sometimes reads these messages on camera, sharing them on social media to show his fans how much they mean to him.
Outside of journaling, Eric also prioritizes working out and nutrition. He’s figured out the foods that fuel him, the workouts that makes his body feel good, his optimal time in nature, and never skips a stretch break.
Key Tour Booking Lessons for Independent Musicians
Self-booking a tour is hard work — but you can do it. We’re so grateful to Eric for taking the time to share his experience and insights, and before we leave you with his closing advice, we wanted to reflect on a few key takeaways for other artists.
One of the biggest lessons from Eric’s story is this: know your audience and know what kind of space your show needs. Eric doesn’t say yes to just any venue. He’s intentional about choosing listening-style rooms — spaces where his performance can land deeply and emotionally. That kind of environment helps create real, lasting fan connections, and it sets the foundation for everything else.
He actively tracks how his audience finds him. Through social media, the journal, and simply asking, he walks away from every show knowing how many people came from TikTok, Instagram, word-of-mouth, or a poster in a coffee shop. That level of attention helps him double down on what’s working — and not just leave audience growth up to chance.
Instead of just asking for emails, he invites people to leave a message in his journal. That moment of shared vulnerability — after a show where he’s given everything — makes people want to connect with him. It turns a merch table exchange into a real relationship.
Eric also understands that every tool is just that — a tool. No one will ever hustle harder for your career than you. He doesn’t rely on “the system,” and that even includes Side Door. He uses Side Door as a tool — especially Show Calls — to make booking easier and to build a clear touring plan, he gets that some venues come through cold outreach or personal connections. The point is: he makes it work.
He gets that rejection is part of the process, and that a couple organic posts won’t cut it — especially in a new city. Sometimes you have to pitch a venue and take on the responsibility of making the show happen.
Eric knows that staying well — mentally and physically — is just as important as selling out a room. Whether it’s going for walks, eating the right foods, or reading through journal entries, he prioritizes the practices that keep him grounded and motivated through the inevitable highs and lows.
Here’s Eric’s bottom line advice to artists:
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Know that there’s a lot of work to be done if you want to do something like this by yourself — but words don’t describe the payoff. It’s liberating. It’s the confidence, the experience — it’s priceless.”
“Don’t rely on the system that’s in place in the music industry. I think that’s the beauty of why Side Door was created — to veer off that beaten path. You don’t have to rely on the system. There are so many other ways to get your music to people who want to hear it.”
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