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For a decade, touring was Tracey Barnett's "bread and butter" as she played music in countless venues and towns across Australia.
But the West Australian singer-songwriter said nowadays she would be lucky just to break even on a tour.
"I need to be very selective about when and where I tour," she said.
"I have fallen out of love with it a little bit."
Hailing from Bridgetown, in WA's South West, the 39-year-old said the pandemic had hit the regional music scene particularly hard.
"The cost of travel is astronomical now," she said.
"A lot of venues suffered through that time, as well. They don't have the money and the resources to be able to hire musicians at decent fees anymore.”
Ms Barnett said she had looked at doing ticketed shows to earn additional revenue, but she did not feel comfortable passing on the cost.
"I can't ask that of the general population," she said.
"Nor can I ask that of venues that have been struggling to keep their doors open."
ARIA local list stuck in a Riptide
Ms Barnett said she had noticed waning interest in seeing smaller homegrown acts live as preferences shifted towards internationally-known artists.
"We've got a heap of American acts coming over to tour into Perth this year," she said.
"Like, in the metal scene, we have fantastic thrash and metal bands in Perth, but nobody gets excited to go out and see them because it's like … it's just the local band.
"But then you've got, you know, someone coming over like [American metal band] Coal Chamber, and it's sold out within minutes."
2023 was the worst year for Australian artists on the ARIA singles chart since the list began in 1988, with less than a dozen local artists making it onto the chart.
The Australian song that had the most entries on the chart was Vance Joy's hit Riptide, which was now more than a decade old.
Ms Barnett said she would love to see more people making the conscious decision to support smaller local acts and regional venues.
The importance of being strategic
Artist manager Nathan Farrell has been sending musicians to the regions for more than 15 years.
He said the benefits of regional touring still outweighed the rising costs, but it was important to be strategic about it.
The Calibre Music Management founder said while the growth in popularity of streaming platforms had its downsides.
It had helped musicians and their managers be more targeted with regional tours by revealing where in Australia they had strong fan bases.
Mr Farrell said timing was also key, and there were specific points in an artist's career when regional touring made more sense.
"You kind of want to make sure there's a bit of a national presence before you take that leap," he said.
"And some acts maybe leave it for too long, and then the show develops, the expectation develops, and the idea of going and playing to a 300 or 400 capacity venue in the regions is a bit daunting in itself."
Mr Farrell said there was still a place for less established artists in the regions, but he would usually advise them to get booked as a support act first before attempting a headline tour.
He said while it was not easy, if a new artist could crack the regions it could go a long way to launching a sustainable career.
"[The regions] seem to not follow any market, or the same micro trends that might happen in the city where one thing is cool, one thing's not," Mr Farrell said.
"If they saw it, and they loved it, and they still like it, they're going to stay with it.
"You don't get that sense of discovery in the cities as much."