A business manager takes 5% of everything you gross — before the fuel, before the crew, before you. BM does the same work, on every dollar, for a flat fee.
No percentage. Ever.
Four people in a van, a $45 per diem, and a venue that pays at midnight if you're lucky. You're deciding whether the drive to the next city is worth the diesel.
Meanwhile 5% of everything you grossed is already gone. Not 5% of profit — 5% of gross. Charged on the tour that cleared and the tour that didn't. Charged before the crew got paid. Charged while someone sat in an office.
82% of independent artists say they can no longer afford to tour beyond their own city. The percentage didn't move.
Drop in a list of cities and dates — or upload last year's budget and let BM read it. It sequences the run, draws the route, prices the diesel against your van's real loaded mpg, and hands you a budget before you've accepted a single offer.
Feb 19 Seattle, WA Feb 21 Portland, OR Feb 13 Denver, CO Mar 06 Austin, TX Jan 30 Chicago, IL Jan 15 Nashville, TN
A list of cities and dates, or last year's budget spreadsheet.
Sequenced for mileage, with drive times and a warning on any leg that breaks your cap.
Diesel from real miles and your vehicle's mpg. Hotels, per diems, backline from your own rates.
Every line a rule, not a pasted number. Add two shows and the whole thing re-solves.
Everything below is real scope a business-management firm lists — tour budgets, settlements, payroll, 1099s, multi-state tax, royalties. Almost all of it is process, and process is what software is for. You should be spending your time on the part that isn't.
Type the cities or drop in last year's budget. BM routes the run, prices the diesel against your van's real loaded mpg, counts the days, applies your own crew rates and commission structure, and tells you what the tour nets before you accept a single offer.
After the show, photograph the settlement sheet. BM reads the guarantee, the ticket counts, the venue's merch percentage and the walkout, files the original against that date, and reconciles it against the deal you were promised.
Upload bank and credit-card statements and BM turns them into a live picture — every dollar categorised, income separated from spending, and the four states your money is actually in.
Band, side players, crew, vendors, per diems — each on the right basis, with the right tax treatment, and a record everyone can see. The part that quietly goes wrong is the paperwork, so BM watches that too.
This is the one that actually pays for a business manager — and the one nobody tells you about. Tour a dozen states and you owe a return in most of them. Filed properly, with a budget submitted to each authority, you're taxed on the net profit of a performance instead of the gross receipts.
Distribution, publishing, agency, promoters, VIP, merch — each pays on its own cadence. A quarterly publishing cheque that never arrives is invisible for three months. BM knows who owes you what, and when.
Commissions accrue as income lands. Advances pay down monthly. Crew get paid Fridays. BM puts all of it on one calendar so nothing arrives as a surprise.
We're deliberately not holding your money or signing your return. These are the next things worth building once the core is solid.
Read-only feeds so transactions arrive instead of being uploaded, and spending is categorised the moment it happens.
Approve the Friday run and it goes — originated from your own account through a licensed partner. BM never holds your money.
Statements checked against your contracts, so an underpayment gets caught instead of quietly absorbed.
A detailed statement monthly, a digest weekly on tour, and alerts for what matters — a shortfall, a payer gone quiet, a 1099 threshold crossed.
Liability, equipment and non-appearance policies with renewal dates, and a certificate ready for the venue that asks at 4pm.
Six and twelve-month projections from your own history — the conversation a business manager has with you twice a year, available whenever.
BM is in private beta with working bands. Tell us what you play and how you tour, and we'll set you up with your own books.