Settlement Sheets
A settlement sheet is the show-night arithmetic record.
Start with attendance
Capacity, paid tickets, comps, refunds, discounts, and ticket price categories establish the revenue base.
Counts should reconcile with the platform.
A settlement sheet should let you reproduce the check with a calculator.
Guarantees
A guarantee protects the minimum fee, but the real value depends on what you must spend to earn it.
Read the guarantee in context
A $1,000 local guarantee and a $1,000 fly date are not economically equal. Travel, lodging, baggage, food, and ground transportation can consume the difference.
Calculate net before celebrating gross.
A guarantee is only as strong as the surrounding contract.
Door Splits
Door splits trade certainty for participation in ticket sales.
Define the door
Gross ticket sales, net ticket sales, cash door, online sales, and revenue after fees are not interchangeable terms.
The deal needs one definition.
Percentages without definitions are arguments waiting to happen.
Percentages
Percentage deals become clear only when you know the base, deductions, thresholds, and settlement method.
Ask percentage of what
Ten percent of gross merchandise is different from ten percent after tax and card fees. Eighty percent of net ticket revenue may be worse than sixty percent of gross after large deductions.
Never negotiate only the headline percentage.
Always reduce a percentage deal to arithmetic before saying yes.
Guarantees
Guarantees belong in the contract as exact money, exact currency, exact due dates, and exact inclusions.
State the amount clearly
Avoid contradictory fee numbers across the face page, rider, invoice, and email.
One agreement should control.
Put the fee where nobody can misunderstand it.
