A crew is a group of people besides those on stage hired by the artist or record label to work on a concert tour and travel with the artist from venue to venue.

The New Formula for Success in the Music Business
The old method of promoting a new act in the music business was for a record company to invest at least $500,000 in studio time with a good producer, the cost of a good video, the advertising budget, and the cost of the first promotional road tour.