Promoter pay models compared.

Worked example

120 tickets at $30.00 with 5% refunded gives gross of $3,420.00 on 114 net tickets. The list is 220 names at a 55% show rate, so 121 check-ins. A: $4.00 a head on check-ins = $484.00. B: 8% of gross plus $0.50 on each net ticket beyond 100 = $280.60. C: 5% of the first $2,000 and 10% above = $242.00. D: 25% of the door after $500 of costs = $730.00. The highest on this night is Door split after costs; change the crowd or the costs and the order can change.

How the calculation works

Gross G = price x tickets x (1 - refunded share). Check-ins = names x show rate. A: rate x check-ins. B: flat % x G + bonus x max(0, net tickets - threshold). C: tier-1 rate x min(G, breakpoint) + tier-2 rate x the rest. D: (1 - venue share) x max(0, G - costs). For each model the page also shows share of gross and payout per person who arrived, so a deal that looks big in dollars can be checked against the work behind it. Leave a model blank and it is skipped.

What a comparison like this can and cannot tell you

Flat percentage deals reward ticket sales, per-head deals reward getting people through the door, tiers reward volume and door splits share the cost risk. A ticketing vendor describes flat percentage, flat fee per ticket and percentage-plus-bonus structures as the common shapes; the figures here are yours, not theirs. Because everything is run on one night, the ranking is not a forecast. Use the tiered calculator for more than two tiers and the door split calculator for the cost line in more detail.

Edge cases

A refund share above 100% is capped. If costs exceed gross, the door split is floored at zero with a warning. Missing price or tickets returns a prompt, and a page with no model filled in asks you to fill one in.

What this does not cover

This page does not cover: ticketing fees, taxes, different rules for comps or guest-list entries, bar or table commission, bonuses for reaching a headcount, minimum payments, or deals that mix several of these models in a way not entered above. It also does not tell you what a fair rate is, what any venue or platform actually pays, or what your results will be. Results vary night to night and deal to deal, and the model only does arithmetic on the assumptions you enter.

Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent or stored.

Sources

Retrieved October 2026. All rates, show rates, percentages, tiers and splits on this page are numbers you type in from your own deal; none comes from a source below.

• Ticket Fairy, promoter and affiliate commission calculator: a ticketing vendor's page, cited only for the common ways commission is structured (flat percentage, flat fee per ticket, percentage plus per-ticket bonus). Its figures are not used here.
• Fourvenues blog on promoter guest-list data: a nightlife software vendor's argument that pay should follow verified check-ins rather than names submitted. A vendor view, not an industry standard.
• IRS: Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee?
• IRS Topic 554: Self-employment tax and About Form 1099-NEC
• Canada Revenue Agency: sole proprietorships and partnerships (for readers outside the US)

FAQ

Which promoter pay model pays the most?

It depends on the night. The comparison runs your own numbers through each model; no model wins in general.

What are the common promoter commission structures?

A flat percentage of ticket sales, a flat fee per ticket or head, a percentage plus a bonus above a threshold, tiers, and door splits.

Why compare share of gross?

It lets you see what fraction of the night's ticket revenue each deal hands to the promoter.

Is this a prediction of my earnings?

No. It is arithmetic on the assumptions you enter for a single night.