I just finished watching Jason Parker give a free live touring seminar on Ustream. Jason plays trumpet and leads his own jazz band in Seattle. I've been following his blog, One Working Musician, for a while. He took his band on their first tour last month: two weeks, down the west coast and back. I saw him play at Dizzy's in San Diego. The band was phenomenal and sent many chills along my spine.

Upon his recent return to Seattle, Jason declared his tour a success, boasting a 55% profit margin above his expenses. I don't have any reference for touring figures, but that's far better than I would hope for on my first tour.

Jason is very active on Twitter and Facebook as well as his blog, and to discuss touring tactics with his online friends, he held an online seminar this evening. He broadcasted live video while viewers typed questions and comments in a chat box. He talked about renting transportation, paying his musicians, approaching bookers, his "pay what you want" CD sales strategy, and a number of other topics requested by viewers, including myself. It was long, over an hour and a half, but really fascinating to pick the brains of a guy fresh off his first tour as a leader.

The entire video is available here.