Touring is expensive.

Choosing cities because they “feel right” can become very expensive indeed.

Streaming data gives independent artists a much better starting point.

Ditto’s current artist app specifically promotes country, city and listener-demographic data as a way to understand audiences, while ONErpm makes analytics a central part of its artist proposition.

Start with cities, not countries

Knowing you have listeners in the United States isn’t particularly useful.

Knowing you have clusters in:

  • Chicago
  • Austin
  • Denver

is much more actionable.

Look for concentration

Raw listener numbers aren’t enough.

Compare a city’s audience with its population and neighbouring markets.

A small city with surprisingly high engagement can be a stronger show opportunity than an enormous city where you barely register.

Look at engagement

Check:

  • Repeat listening
  • Followers
  • Saves
  • Catalogue depth
  • Mailing-list signups
  • Social followers
  • Smart-link clicks

Streams alone can be misleading.

Check consistency

One playlist can temporarily create thousands of listeners in a city.

Before booking a venue, ask whether the interest continues after the playlist disappears.

Look at several months.

Compare social data

Cross-reference streaming geography with:

  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
  • Mailing lists
  • Merchandise orders
  • Previous ticket sales

Several independent signals pointing towards one city are much stronger than one Spotify spike.

Start small

If data suggests demand from 200 genuinely engaged fans, don’t book a 2,000-capacity venue.

A sold-out small room creates:

  • Better atmosphere
  • Better content
  • Scarcity
  • Stronger promoter relationships
  • Lower financial risk

Grow venue size with evidence.

Build regional routes

Cities rarely need to be considered in isolation.

If you see demand in several nearby locations, build a route where travel costs can be shared across multiple shows.

Advertise before committing

Run a small geo-targeted campaign announcing interest in a possible show.

Measure:

  • Landing-page visits
  • Email registrations
  • Ticket-interest signups

You can use PUSH.fm or another landing-page tool to create a simple demand test.

Streaming data can’t guarantee ticket sales.

But it can turn touring from a guess into a much better-informed experiment.