International Tours: Felipe Julián reports his experiences

Felipe Julián is a producer and member of Axial. With three albums released, he has travelled over Brazil and some countries in Europe with this project. Besides being a musician, Julián also works as a professor of Music Production at the Anhembi
Morumbi University and is the creator of Bagagem, an application that distributes digital music and unites bands to visual artists. He is the first character that opens a series of interviews on international tours here. What did he learn on these trips? Read below!

What is the right time for a Brazilian artist try an international tour?

Hard to say. Now I’m believing he has to generate a good structure in Brazil before traveling. At least need to go with a good portfolio of achievements here and a well-organized presence on web (links, interviews, videos etc. ..) because if he intends to travel again, he must ensure that the people he meets in that first trip continue in touch with his work. With Axial, we decided to set up a series of shows here in São Paulo so could generate sufficient material and arguments to tour in Europe or Latin America better than we did before.

How far in advance do you need to plan the tour? Which are the steps?

If you find out let me know. I’m currently thinking that six months is very short time. And what are the steps? It depends on the prior existence of invitations or not. If a local producer is already helping out there, everything is
easier.

Is there a specific type of financing option to fund a tour like that?

Not that I know. I know there is help for tickets via Culture Ministery. I thought banks could provide credit lines for export cultural goods. But I think it is quite complex because most of this money will be spent outside the country.

What is the greatest difficulty in terms of production? Are there striking differences in relation to the Brazilian market?

I think Brazil is very professional in production of shows. If you know how to produce a show here will be like that out there. The biggest difficulty I see is the gap with Europe and the USA. The distance and makes everything more expensive. If there was a consistent Latin American circuit things would be much easier. And if there is train between the countries here then we would have a cultural phenomenon happening in Latin America. That traffic difficulty here is very serious. In Europe you travel by train very easily, from one place to another, carrying all your equipment without extra cost and in perfect condition. In fact, being in Europe (I only know Germany, Portugal and Czech Republic) the production of a show or more seems easy. The difficulty is to be there.

In general, what is the most difficult point to organize a tour internationally?

Distance. Little access to people and places being so far away.

As usually, the artist is not well knowned out there as here. So, the investment in promotion has to be bigger?

I swear I feel the opposite. It seems that you need to promote outside less than here! Perhaps the fact that being a foreign group arouses more attention.

The internet is an ally in these cases? Does the production plan gets easier because of the web?

Absolutely! But MySpace is not the same. But there are many new tools. I’ve been using Sonicbids, Reverbnation, BandCamp and ArtistData. All very interesting but not very useful in Brazil. I think there should be some equivalent service here that could foment the internal market and help to trip abroad. The ArtistData would be fantastic but it only makes sense to use it when you’re already there.

What kind of precautions must be taken not to throw money away?

My experience is not so big to answer this. But I would say you should never book a show on the same day you will arrive by plane in the city. Anything can go wrong. Also one should not underestimate the distances between cities. Otherwise … do not know what to say.

In which markets there is more space for Brazilian artists today? Are there places where the national music penetrates more easily?

I feel that Germany like Brazilian music. I am sure that Argentina too. But it’s easier to go to Argentina than Germany.

The participation of Brazilian musicians / bands has been growing in international market? It is possible to account for that?

That only you can answer!