How Much Should a Support Act Get Paid?

Support acts are routinely paid nothing, or a token, on the theory that the slot itself is the payment. Sometimes that's genuinely true — a local opening for a significant touring act is getting real value. Often it isn't, and the local act is the reason anyone came.

The models that work

• Flat fee. $50 to $200 at small-room level depending on the city and the room. Simple, predictable, and it lets the band decide whether it's worth their night.

• Percentage of the pool. Openers take a stated share after costs. A 40/25/20/15 split across a four-band bill is a normal shape. Fair, and it means a good night pays everyone.

• Paid on their draw. Each act gets a code or an allocation and is paid on tickets attributable to them. The fairest model for mismatched bills, and the most work to administer.

• Costs covered plus a share. Petrol and food covered as a floor, then a percentage. Good for out-of-town openers, where an unpaid slot is a genuine loss rather than a free evening.

What "exposure" is actually worth

Be honest about it, because bands are. Exposure is real when the support slot puts them in front of an audience that wouldn't otherwise hear them — a touring act with a genuine local following, a bigger room than they can fill themselves, industry in attendance.

It's worth nothing when the openers brought the audience. If the local act's forty friends are the room, the touring act got the exposure and the local act paid for it. Paying them nothing in that scenario is the promoter's choice, and it will be remembered.

The rule that costs nothing

Never pay an act nothing without telling them beforehand. Almost all support-act resentment isn't about the amount — it's about finding out at 1am. A band that agreed to play for free is fine. A band that assumed there'd be something and got a handshake is a band that won't play for you again and will say so.

When the night loses money

Pay them something anyway if you possibly can. Twenty pounds each and an honest sheet showing why it isn't more buys more goodwill than the money is worth. The bands who remember being paid on a bad night are the bands who say yes when you need a favour.

If you genuinely can't, show the numbers and offer something concrete instead — a better slot next time, a guarantee on the next booking. A specific promise beats an apology.

The out-of-town opener

Worth its own line. A band driving 90 minutes each way is spending £40 on petrol and five hours. Paying them £30 is asking them to fund your show. Either cover costs as a floor or book locally — both are legitimate, but pretending the drive is free isn't.

Work out what the night can actually afford

The reason openers get paid badly is usually that nobody knows what's affordable until it's too late to plan. Musavise's show break-even calculator tells you, before you make offers, what attendance covers your costs and what's left for the bill at each level — so support pay is a decision you make in advance rather than what happens to be in the tin at the end.

All of it lives in one free Musavise account — free means free, within honest limits, and your data exports whenever you want it. Create your free account; it takes about two minutes.