Tech Rider
The section of a performance contract that specifies an artist's production requirements — input channels, monitor mixes, backline, staging, and lighting — that the venue must supply or rent to meet the show's technical spec.
Definition
A tech rider (also called a technical rider) is the section of a performance agreement that specifies the production a show requires. It sets the input channel count, the number of monitor mixes, the backline the artist expects the venue to provide, stage dimensions, lighting, power, and usually a stage plot and input list. The document exists so the artist's production team and the venue agree, in writing, on what the room has to deliver before load-in.
The spec is written to the artist's touring standard, not to your room. A rider built for 1,500-cap theaters lands unchanged in the inbox of a 500-cap club, and the gap between what it asks for and what the room already owns is the promoter's to close — by providing the gear, renting it, or negotiating the line down.
In Context
An offer is on the table for a 500-cap room at a $6,000 guarantee. Before you send it, read the tech rider against what the room already carries. Four lines move money: the input channel count (does your console cover it), the monitor-mix count (do your board and your monitor engineer), the backline (are you renting a drum kit, bass rig, and amps), and the stage size (are you building out).
Say the rider calls for a full backline you do not stock and a second monitor engineer. In your market that is roughly $900 for the night. Read at the offer stage, that $900 goes into the guarantee math and the offer reflects it. Read three weeks out during the advance, it comes straight off your margin.
Why It Matters
A tech rider only becomes a cost once you measure it against your own room — the gear already on your inventory list next to the gear the rider takes for granted. That read belongs at the offer stage, while the guarantee is still yours to set. The production spec lands somewhere regardless — priced into the number you offer, or absorbed at settlement — and the rider is where you find out which.
The lines that matter in a small room are narrow and predictable: channel count, monitor mixes, backline, staging. Pricing those four at the offer stage is the difference between a guarantee you can defend and one that is short by the amount of gear nobody budgeted. The rest of the rider is worth reading; those four are where the money is.
Related Terms
The umbrella document attached to a performance contract that sets out everything an artist requires to play the show — combining the technical and hospitality riders into one set of obligations the promoter accepts by signing.
The section of a performance contract covering an artist's off-stage needs — catering, dressing rooms, a buyout, hotel rooms, and ground transportation — that the promoter is contractually responsible for providing.
The logistical coordination process that occurs in the weeks before a performance — confirming production requirements, hospitality, schedules, and operational details between the venue, promoter, and artist's touring team.
The formal written proposal a promoter submits to an agent to secure an artist's performance — documenting the deal terms, date, venue, and financial structure before contracts are drawn.
The fixed minimum payment an artist receives for a performance, regardless of ticket sales — the core financial commitment a promoter makes when contracting a show.
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