“Sometimes, dropping everything in your life and going on tour is simply a bad business decision,”
drummer Corrado Rizzi said. “Is that what we’d love to do for the rest of our lives? Of course it is. But
we weren’t willing to sacrifice our ethos of always making good business decisions as a band to take
such a massive risk in an increasingly murky and unstable music industry. On the flip side, we know
our music deserves to be heard around the world. That is where The Mobile Tour came from.”
When a new band heads out on the road for the first time it’s really tough to grab the attention of
promoters in other states let alone getting people to come out and see a band they never heard of. There
are thousands of bands who share the same dream of being on the road and we wanted to find a way to
stand out, a way for people to give this band a chance. “Im not claiming myself a seasoned veteran in
any way or a road dog of sorts. I did a bunch of DIY tours along with some tours backed by labels and
larger booking agencies and had the time of my life but, from a business perspective it wasn’t exactly
ideal no matter the situation and no matter “who had our backs”. It was never about the money until
the student loans, rent, car payments and other responsibilities that come with getting older started
pouring in” Costa said. “I started to be observant with how many people came through the door when
we stopped in a new city (minus members of the other bands) and I noticed that on a good night maybe
10-15 people came to see their friend’s band and we just happened to be on the bill? That’s 10-15 new
potential fans. Now, why couldn’t we have the same effect reaching these 10-15 potential new fans by
successfully using social media and digital advertising in a smart/creative way?”
For 32 days Franchise is set to target 32 different cities bringing their live show to smartphones and
computers of potential fans. Through digital advertising the band is able to distribute their live set
to these potential fans, who share the same interest in style of music within a 25 mile radius of the
targeted city of that day. “Digital Advertising can be a very powerful tool for musicians, if it’s used
properly. It’s all about knowing which audience to target and how to target them. Through conversion
pixels we even see who is watching us and who likes what we’re doing. This confirms which audience
is delivering the most impressions deeming that individual ad a success or failure,” Costa said. With the
power of social media, Franchise is also getting interest from individuals in other markets across the
country. “Just by using hashtags on twitter and Instagram related to whatever city we are targeting that
day we are getting positive responses from new fans even promoters in these other markets which is
huge for this project,” Costa said. The band isn’t expecting a million views on their video either. “If we
get the 10-15 new potential fans to check it out each day, it’s a success in our book, it will just prove
that this works,” Rizzi said. The Mobile Tour was put in place to build a fan base in other markets
before the band physically gets there. The goal is to be able to prove to promoters that there are people
in their area who are interested in the band and that the draw could be promising.
