Play Live And Tour
Know the costs, responsibilities, and break-even point before you say yes.
A workflow for evaluating offers, budgeting the route, advancing each show, and protecting cash flow before the van moves.
Know the break-even point for each show and the route.
Confirm responsibilities before arrival.
Create a repeatable show-day settlement process.
What You Will Learn
- Compare guarantees, door deals, and expenses.
- Recognize route costs that offers hide.
- Advance and settle a show with clear records.
What You Will Create
- Route budget
- Show advance sheet
- Rider
- Settlement and merch tracker
Accounts To Set Up
- Shared routing calendar
- Expense and settlement tracker
Documents To Gather
- Offers and venue agreements
- Routing and travel assumptions
- Tech and hospitality rider
- Merch inventory and settlement sheet
Budget the route
Compare realistic show income with travel, lodging, crew, food, production, fees, and contingency.
Route viable
Conservative revenue covers the costs you are willing to risk.
Actions
- Enter every guarantee and door assumption.
- Estimate route mileage, lodging, crew, food, and production.
- Set a minimum acceptable result and contingency.
Advance every show
Confirm the operational details that keep show day from becoming an expensive guessing game.
Shows advanced
Contacts, schedule, tech, hospitality, parking, and payment are confirmed.
Actions
- Confirm contacts, schedule, load-in, soundcheck, set length, and curfew.
- Confirm parking, backline, hospitality, ticket counts, payment, and settlement.
- Share one current advance sheet with the touring party.
Run and review the shows
Track settlement, merch, expenses, and lessons while the details are still available.
Settlement closed
Cash, merch, fees, and lessons are recorded.
Actions
- Photograph or save the final settlement.
- Count merch before and after each show.
- Record actual costs and update the next route assumption.
Practice This
- Run one show through the tour calculator with conservative attendance.
- Send a complete advance email using a single source of truth.
Before You Move On
- What is the route break-even attendance?
- Which cost grows fastest when the route changes?
- Who is responsible for every show-day detail?
Completion Checklist
- Route budget has conservative assumptions.
- Every show has a written advance.
- Rider and settlement process are ready.
- Merch inventory and margins are recorded.
Common Mistakes
- Routing from gross guarantees instead of net cash.
- Leaving parking, backline, tax, or settlement details unconfirmed.
- Carrying merch without inventory and margin records.