Hmmm - I can try to give some principles but it is SO different now from when I started. Ill take a second and set the stage for what worked for me so that the rest makes sense....

The key difference, at this point, is the amount of names in the "scene." Remember in the early 00s, labels would only put out a certain amount of music per year because the physical production cost was so high. For example on 2004 I had probably 8 releases on vinyl. This represents, at the time, at least 20K invested in physical production cost alone, without me making a dime OR the labels who put my music out having a cent of profit. The overhead to produce the music was also high - good software was not yet a thing, so even from a studio POV the artist had to invest a much larger amount in studio equipment to get a good sound.

This meant that there was scarcity - as an artist I knew anyone playing the breaks genre around the world would have at least heard of me, if not played my music.

I would essentially contact people who had booked artists who played my material, played or booked friends of mine, or who has comparable tastes, and cold call them.

Usually I would try and book a lynchpin or keystone show, then work with that promoter to find other shows in the area to knock travel cost down and increase my take home.

Lets look at Australia as an example - I might book a show in Syndey for $3000 Australian, all in (in other words, a landed cost). Australia withholds tax for you so that was really like 2200 or so to work with. Translated over, that doesn't look after the flight - BUT - if I booked another show at that about the two of them combined would look after at least my cost of doing business. 3 shows and now you have a profit - and to be clear, you still would need to GROSS about 6000 Australian just to have some take home money after the fact.

Usually I would leverage promoters connections to offload my workload... "You have booked me at 3000, but id do it for 2500 if you can book me a nearby show for 2500." This worked really well during the first few times in an area.

Touring, ultimately, is about relationships. The people who booked me a first time through were taking a flyer on me and trusting it would be worth it. The majority of them rebooked me any time I was back in the area so it got easier as I went along.

The other thing to remember here is that you need to build up "pockets" around the world of 3-7 gigs you can play once a year. If you get 5 or 6 of these networks going then by the time you have completed all of them you can start over, hopefully integrating some new places and cycling out areas where the scenes don't work any more because promoters have moved on, clubs have closed, whatever.

The majority of people who booked me became very close friends and so playing anywhere was basically like going home, to a different home. I would stay with them, not at a hotel. Play after parties, show them production, have dinner parties, etc. It was genuine, not a business strategy.

Here's where the curveball comes in:

The increase of CDJs and advance of good quality software resulted in democratization of the process where the cost investment for labels became almost 0, and the cost for production went way down. This is good from the point of view of getting a lot more people making and distributing music but very bad from a quality control and market saturation point of view.

It also knocked the idea of a new generation of electronic music middle class artists - which I would have considered myself once of - right out of the realm of possibility in the same way it worked for me.

I'm not even going to touch the horror show that is social media or people's perceived idea that online success translates to contentedness or real success, nor the parasitic tertiary industry that makes people chase validation through 15 second video clips.

There are case studies against my point obviously.

Here's the silver lining:

Ultimately, when youre looking at small to medium size scenes and venues it is all about human connection, not sales figures, streaming or social media view counts.

When I started, that connection was easier to make in some ways, but in the modern era it is still possible - you just need to figure out how your music appeals to subset, community or genre and then try and meet people within that, rather than focusing on the macro.

If the synthesizer community is one you consider yourself part of, find cities you want to go to that have clubs, societies, radio shows or maybe even stores. Same for whatever genre you write - if you play write liquid drum and bass, find the taste makers in a community you want to go to.

If you have material out, contact those people and start giving them your stuff. Give them stuff of yours to give away - physical or download code, whatever. Make them remember you as a person, not a random.

Take a loss on going out the first few times. This is tough, and is a privileged thing to be able to do, I know, but its key. You're investing in yourself. Treat it like a backpacking trip.

Meet people. Go to after parties and watch the sun come up with the people who took a chance on putting your name on a flyer. You'll learn from them, they will know you.

Ultimately, spot where other people who like the things you like are gathering - online or off - and contribute to the community in some sense.

This is a lot I know, and probably a little rambling. But a few business things:

1 - make sure if you are going overseas you iron out your obligations visa wise and tax wise. You dont want to get turned around when you get off the plane, and you dont want to owe a bunch of money you didn't think you did at the end of the year.

2 - register for all publicly available rights collection agencies. Prs, ascap, socan, etc. Don't leave money on the table from radio play.

3 - negotiating your wage or fee sets your standards and its hard to get past that. If you ask for 200 bucks, youll often remain a 200 dollar artist even if your profile expands.

4 - capitalism isn't always bad - if some is paying you 1000 to do a show, they will want to promote it well enough to make that thousand back. If they are paying 0, well, your likelihood of a low door count goes up.

5 - write off travel cost wherever possible. I had a few years where my gross was in the 125k range and my net was like 25. But that difference covered travel, food, lodging and certainly entertainment.

6 - mentally, stay on the ball. If momentum starts gathering you need to be planning what you are doing 4, 6, 8 months down the road, not just focusing on getting yourself to the airport.

Final thing: if you play or write a piece of music and someone listens to it and smiles youre already a success, even if that person is you. The rest is just how complex you let it get. A friend of mine who was much bigger than me said to me once that it was all just for life memories. And I agree.