A—E

Advancing: Running through all production details weeks in advance. Tech overview, marketing plan, etc.

Adv/Dos: “Advance” and “Day of Sale” refer to ticket costs that change based on date of purchase

Agent: An individual officially representing an artist/group; usually with a focus on booking / events

Ages: Who is allowed at an event, by age. AA = All Ages. 18+ = No one under 18, etc.

Announce: The date all parties agree public promotion of an event will begin

Avails: Dates an artist, or sometimes venue, has available for consideration

A/V: Audio / Video. Sometimes shorthand for the technical needs, or staff, of an event

Backend: Profits—usually shared—remaining from sales after guarantees and fees are met

Back of House (BOH): Backstage, green rooms, kitchens, and other staff / artist-only areas

Billing: The specific rules on how an event is described; the order of acts, “A Night with…”, etc

Board: Shorthand for the venue’s main sound mixer

Booking: Planning live events, tours, etc. Agents may say ‘routing,’ venues may say “talent buying”

Box (Office): The physical and/or online point-of-sale for tickets at a venue

Capacity: The legal maximum number of persons allowed in a given location

Challenge: When a venue is holding a date for an event, but a 3rd party inquires about the same date

Cold Call: Contacting someone with no prior introduction; or to an info@, booking@ type address

Comps: People who don’t pay a cover. Could refer to a house Press List, an artist’s Guest List

Contract: A formal agreement outlining terms and conditions between two or more parties

Curfew: When performances need to be over by and/or reduce to a certain volume at

Deposit: A partial payment made to a party in advance of an event or performance

Doors: The time a venue is officially open to the public

Embargo: A restriction on the dissemination of information about an event to the press or public

EPK: “Electronic Press Kit” (artists’ media, press quotes, photos, reviews, etc) Ideally all in one folder

F—K

First Hit: The exact time the first act of an event is scheduled to begin

Food and Beverage (F&B): Usually refers to a venue’s capacity to serve food, drinks, etc

Force Majeure: a common clause in contracts freeing parties from liability under certain conditions

FOH: Front of House; where the public is. May refer to certain staff, to a sound mix, or other things

Guarantee: A pre-agreed upon fee paid to an artist regardless of how much income a venue makes

Green Room: A place for artists to sit, relax, store personal items, etc over the course of an event

Gross Box Office Receipts (GBOR): The total amount of income generated from ticket sales

Gross Potential: The potential amount of income an event could earn from tickets, F&B sales, etc

Ground Transport: How a traveling artist is getting from point A to point B (cab, train, etc)

Guest List: Everyone coming in for free / reduced charge. Pre-approved by arists, mgmt, and venue

Hard Out: The time everyone, except venue staff, must be completely out of the venue by

Holds: A date that is placed “on hold” while parties work on an agreement

Hospitality: The agreed upon food, drink, or other items a venue provides to performers

House Fee (or Take / Cut): The cut of revenue the venue retains, usually off ticket sales alone

Indemnification: A clause regarding potential compensation stemming from third-party claims

Input List: All of the outputs a performer is sending to the venue’s sound mixing board

Kills: The total number of comps / non-sellable holds deducted from legal capacity

L—P

Line Check: A quick test of sound levels and signals, but not a full multi-song run-through

List: Shorthand; see Guest List

Load In: The earliest time an artist / crew can begin entering the venue with equiptment

Lodging: Where an artist is staying / if part of a deal

Management (Mgmt): Different than an artist’s agent; a party who also helps oversee PR, money

Merch: Merchandise. Everything a venue, artist, or other party is selling (shirts, bags, etc)

Merch Split / Percent: Some venues take a cut of artists’ merch sales. It is a generally disliked practice

Monitor Mix: The sound the performers hear when on stage

Offer Letter: Essentially a contract from a venue to an artist outlining the scope of a booking offer

Plus X: When someone on a guest list has permission to bring an additional guest(s)

Points: Another way to describe the Backend Percentage an artist may be entitled to

Presenter: Like a promoter, but sometimes more of an organizational / venue ownership role

Promoter: The person(s) most-responsible for getting the word out about a given event

R—Z

Rental: When a party pays a fixed fee for the full use of a venue; usually for private events

Rider: An official document outlining an artist’s Hospitality and technical requirements

Routing: The process of planning a tour or set of dates including travel time

Run of Show (ROS): A detailed list of what is happening when, where, and who is involved

Security: The people who keep you, venues, and artists safe. Thank them, and don’t argue

Sellable: The number of actual tickets a venue is able to sell for a given event

Set List: The songs / things an artist is doing as part of their performance, in order

Set Times: A list of who is performing when, and for how long

Sound Check: When a performer checks all gear, lights, runs through songs, and dials it in

Sound Engineer: The head tech overseeing all sound mixing

Split: Shorthand for the ways money, usually the backend, is divided among all parties

Stage Plot: An overhead drawing of a band’s on-stage setup with notes on gear

Ticket Fee: An administrative fee, often placed by venues or 3rd parties, on top of ticket costs

Venue: The place where the thing is happening

Walkout Potential: Another term for an artist’s total potential earnings after closeout