Show dictionary · Production Management
Settlement
Settlement is the financial close-out of a show, usually in the promoter’s office after doors: verified ticket counts, documented show expenses, and the deal terms are worked through to the final number the artist is paid beyond (or against) the guarantee.
In practice
The tour manager or road accountant settles for the artist, the promoter’s rep for the buyer, and the paperwork is the contract plus receipts: box office statements, expense backup for every deductible cost, and the deal memo math. Percentage deals make settlement genuinely adversarial-cooperative; flat guarantees make it a signature.
Production decisions echo into settlement: promoter-provided costs (stagehands, catering, barricade) become documented expenses in the deal math, which is one reason promoters care intensely about crew call sizes the tour requests.
How you’ll hear it
"TM is in settlement; if you need a decision on tomorrow’s truck call, it waits twenty minutes."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.