Glossary › Settlement
Settlement
The end-of-night accounting where the artist gets paid what the deal says.
Settlement is the meeting, usually during or right after the headliner's set, where the tour manager and the promoter or venue rep go through the night's numbers and agree what the artist is owed. The paperwork is the settlement sheet.
A settlement normally covers ticket sales and comps from the box office, taxes and fees, the show expenses the promoter is allowed to deduct, the deal calculation (guarantee, versus, or plus a backend), any deposit already paid, and the merch split if the venue sells or takes a cut.
Example
A versus deal pays the greater of a $1,500 guarantee or 80% of net after expenses. Net box office is $9,000 and approved expenses are $6,500, leaving $2,500. 80% of that is $2,000, which beats the guarantee, so the artist settles at $2,000 minus the deposit already paid. (EXAMPLE numbers.)
Tips
Ask for receipts for any expense you don't recognize, check the ticket count against the box office audit, and never sign a settlement you haven't added up yourself.