The Live Events Dictionary / Touring and hospitality

A per diem is a daily allowance for specified travel-related living expenses. A meal buyout is a payment replacing an agreed meal provision. They can exist on the same tour, but one does not automatically cancel or reduce the other.

The amount, eligible days, covered expenses and treatment of provided meals belong in the agreement. Neither label establishes a universal rate or tax treatment.

Write down what each payment covers

The Musicians’ Union describes touring per diems as subsistence payments and publishes guidance for particular working contexts. MusicNSW also includes daily allowances among tour-budget costs. Those sources explain the category; they do not make one rate appropriate for every country, engagement or member of a touring party.

Before departure, confirm:

• Who receives the allowance and which currency applies.

• Whether show days, travel days and days off are included.

• What meals or incidental expenses it covers.

• When and how it is paid, and what acknowledgment is required.

• How any provided catering or meal buyout affects it, if at all.

• Which costs are separately reimbursable and require receipts.

A fictional four-day example

Assume an agreement provides $45 per eligible day for six people over four days. The planned per diem total is 6 × 4 × $45 = $1,080. On one show day, the promoter provides a separate $20 dinner buyout for each of those six people, totaling $120.

If the agreement says the dinner buyout is additional, the two totals remain separate. If it expressly provides an offset, record that rule and the calculation. Do not invent a deduction on show day because food happened to be available.

These amounts are fictional arithmetic, not suggested pay rates.

Track entitlement and payment separately

A useful log has the person, eligible date range, agreed rate, currency, amount due, amount paid, payment date and any agreed adjustment. This catches both an omitted travel day and a duplicate cash payment. Keep the approval or acknowledgment with the record rather than writing a vague note such as “PDs handled.”

If an extra travel day is added, recalculate before distributing the next payment. Keep a pending amount visible when a person has not yet received it.

Do not treat the allowance as wages

Performance fees, wages, per diems, reimbursements and rights buyouts serve different purposes. A meal buyout does not purchase recording or publicity rights. Ask the appropriate payroll or tax adviser about the treatment for the actual engagement rather than assuming that a payment called “per diem” is automatically tax-free.

Next: hospitality riders and the tour budget template.

References

Musicians’ Union: Performing and touring with featured artists; MusicNSW: How to build a tour budget.