Know if the show can pay for itself before your board says yes.
Plug in your ticket prices, your costs, and the artist's deal. Get one number: how many tickets you have to sell before you stop losing money.
Try the free calculatorRun your show's numbers
Type in capacity and comps, your ticket tiers, your costs, and the artist's guarantee and percentage. It tells you how many tickets you need to sell, and what share of the house that is. Works on a phone at a board meeting.
Event (optional)
Tickets
Expenses
Deal
The formula: tickets to break even equals (costs plus guarantee) divided by your average ticket price. You can check it with a pencil.
Two shows, same room
Numbers are made up to show the math. Same 400-seat room, 20 comps, 380 sellable seats, $2,500 in costs, tickets at $25, $35 and $45 (40, 170 and 170 seats), which averages about $38.
| Measure | Show A | Show B |
|---|---|---|
| Artist guarantee | $2,500 | $6,000 |
| Artist share of net | 60% | 80% |
| Tickets to break even | 131 | 222 |
| Share of sellable seats | 34% | 58% |
| Left over if you sell out | $4,840 | $2,420 |
| Left over if you sell only half | $1,920 | -$1,200 |
Show B looks fine until you sell half the house. Then you are out $1,200 and the artist is still paid in full. This is the question the board should ask before the yes.
Get the free calculator by email
Keep a copy for your next booking meeting. No spreadsheet skills needed.
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Full toolkit coming soon
We are building a fuller set of tools for the same job: helping a booker and a board look at a show's numbers together before anyone signs. Join the list above to hear when it is ready.
Built by operators with 20+ years of booking and buying experience.