Backline Technician

Also called: Backline Tech, Roadie

Sets up, tunes, and maintains the band's instruments and amps, and fixes problems mid-show.

A day in the life

A backline tech unloads guitars and amps, sets up the stage exactly the same each night, and runs out mid-song to fix a dead amp or hand off a fresh guitar.

Pay over a career

Starting
$30k
Typical
$52k
High
$110k

Approximate. Touring crew are usually paid weekly or daily rates while on tour; big arena and stadium tours pay far more than club tours, and work has off-seasons.

Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.

Training

No formal education, about 0 years after high school. No degree; musician skills and lots of practice.

Ways in: On-the-job training, Self-taught. Training cost: Get paid while you train.

Majors to look at: Music Technology, Live Sound Technology.

Outlook

Growing faster than average. Live music touring has hit record revenues since 2022.

Will it last? Our AI estimate

Low risk for 10 years. Setting up and fixing a band's instruments and amps mid-show is hands-on work AI can't do.

Start now, in high school

Classes: Music, Electronics, Shop class, Physics (sound).

Official data: O*NET occupation 27-4011.

More Concert & Touring Production careers

Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.