A tour manager may have started as a friend of the band who was along for the ride. These kinds of tour managers often take on a workhorse, everyman kind of role, reacting to whatever comes up, solving problems, and putting out fires.

On big-budget tours, the role of tour manager is a lot more formal. There may be a team of people in place running the tour, and the tour manager's job and responsibilities become more defined. For instance, if there is a full road crew in place, the tour manager makes sure they are doing their job and are where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there. ­But, on well-financed concert tours, they don't have to look after the gear themselves. These tour managers act more as supervisors to the team working for the band.

The booking agent or artist manager hire a tour manager to organise the logistics, personnel, communications and schedule. Concert tour managers are usually freelancers working on a tour-by-tour basis.