Show dictionary · Production Management
Guarantee
A guarantee is the fixed performance fee a promoter is contractually obligated to pay the artist whether or not the show sells. It contrasts with a door deal (a percentage of ticket revenue) and commonly combines with one: a guarantee versus or plus a percentage of net after costs.
In practice
The guarantee allocates risk: the promoter bets on selling enough tickets to cover the fee, production costs, and margin. "Guarantee plus backend" structures give the artist upside once the promoter recoups defined expenses, all of which gets reconciled at settlement on show night.
Production crews feel the guarantee indirectly: it defines the budget gravity of the show. A soft-ticket event with a large guarantee behaves differently at the production table than a door-deal club night, in everything from crew calls to what "we cannot afford that" means.
How you’ll hear it
"They are into the promoter for a big guarantee, so the extra truss ask is going to be a fight."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.