When you book an artist or strike a deal with a venue, the payment structure decides who carries the risk on the night. There are three common ones, and mixing them up — or agreeing to the wrong one for your situation — is how promoters lose money on a busy room or get buried by an empty one.

A guarantee is a fixed fee: the artist gets paid that amount whatever the door takes. It's clean and predictable, but the risk sits entirely with you — a quiet night still costs you the full fee. A door deal pays the artist a cut of ticket revenue (or a percentage after costs), so their pay rises and falls with turnout and you're less exposed on a slow night. You'll also see "guarantee vs door, whichever is greater," which protects the artist while still rewarding a big crowd. A profit split is exactly that — you total the income, subtract agreed costs, and split what's left on a set percentage, usually with a trusted partner or co-promoter rather than a booked act.

Which one's right depends on how confident you are in the numbers and how much risk you can carry. A new night with unproven draw is safer on door deals; an established night might offer a guarantee to land a name. Whatever you agree, write down exactly what counts as a cost before the split, who's paying the artist, and when. The structure isn't the negotiation — the detail underneath it is.