A rider is the written list of conditions an artist expects on site before taking the stage, and it comes in two parts: the technical rider and the hospitality rider. The technical rider sets out the PA system, monitors, consoles, microphones, backline, stage size and power. The hospitality rider covers dressing rooms, catering, ground transport and hotels. Ask for both documents on the day you ask for the fee, because the organiser rents most of what the list names and that is where the real cost sits. Once the rider is attached to the contract it stops being a wish list and becomes part of what you owe, so anything you cannot deliver has to be renegotiated in writing before signature. Below: what a technical rider contains, how to build the load-in and soundcheck timeline, the contract clauses teams forget, the written permission Turkish law requires before you film a performance, and how the fee is taxed.
What is a rider, and where does it sit in the contract?
The file usually arrives from management as a standard document, which means it was not written for your room. The first job is to put it next to the venue. Does the ceiling clear a follow spot, does the stage hold the line-up once the drum riser is in, does the panel deliver the power asked for, do the backline cases fit through the loading door. Every item you cannot meet has three honest answers: swap it for an equivalent, rent it and add it to the budget, or write an exemption into the contract. The fourth answer, ignoring it, turns into a backstage negotiation on show day. Scale is pushing calendars tighter. Live Nation Entertainment's full-year 2025 results, published on 19 February 2026, report 159 million fans across roughly 55,000 shows worldwide and concerts segment revenue of 20.9 billion dollars. In Türkiye, business daily Dünya reported on 3 July 2026, citing the Forbes Türkiye Concert Rich List research, that 67 artists and bands played 517 venues at home and 61 abroad during 2025 for a combined 173.6 million euros in concert revenue, with Tarkan top of the list at 15.3 million euros from 10 concerts.
What does a technical rider actually contain?
The running order is similar in almost every file. PA: a main system that covers the room, plus delay speakers and subwoofers where the space needs them. Monitors: how many wedges, how many separate mixes, or an in-ear system and how many channels. Consoles: make and model for both front of house and monitors. Most riders leave the door open to an equivalent desk, but the channel count is not negotiable. Then the input list and the stage plot, which say what plugs in where and who stands where. Backline covers the gear that stays on stage: drum kit, bass and guitar amplifiers, keyboard stands, stools. After that come microphone and DI counts, cable runs, stage dimensions, riser heights, a clean power feed, the lighting plan and the follow spot. Two practical notes. The front of house position sits in the middle of the room on the centre line of the stage, and that footprint comes out of your seating plan, so settle it early. And coordinate frequencies: the artist's wireless microphones and in-ear transmitters can collide with simultaneous interpretation receivers and presentation clickers in the same band.
Who sets the load-in and soundcheck times?
Two times belong in the contract, and one of them is usually missing. The first is the artist's stage time. The second is the hour the stage is handed over to the artist's crew. Leave the second one out and the day collapses, because you cannot run a soundcheck with guests in the room. The sequence is fixed: truss and lighting go up first, then the PA flies, then backline lands on stage, then a channel-by-channel line check, and only then the soundcheck with the artist. Once that is done, nothing on stage moves. Host rehearsals, award walk-ons and corporate presentation tests all belong before it. Seated dinners add one more constraint: plate and service noise competes with the stage, so service stops before the act goes on, and that decision shapes the menu timing. The outer limit comes from the venue. Load-in windows, goods lift capacity and permission to work overnight vary from building to building, which is why signing the artist contract in the same week as the venue contract is the safer order.
Which parts of a hospitality rider are negotiable?
The list starts with dressing rooms: a separate room for the lead, a shared one for the band and crew, a door that locks, mirrors, decent lighting and a shower where possible. Catering follows, scaled to crew numbers, with hot food, drinks and sometimes brand-specific requests. Then ground transport and hotels: how many vehicles, which class, how many rooms, how many nights, airport pickups. What usually moves in negotiation is brand preferences, room category and extra vehicles. What does not move is crew headcount, a lockable room and a hot meal. The common mistake is accepting the list without costing it. Accommodation, transfers and meals for a thirty-person touring party look small next to the fee, yet they become fixed cost the moment the document is signed. One more point: check which floor the dressing rooms are on and which corridor leads to the stage. Plan a route that keeps the artist away from guests, or the run of show falls apart backstage.
Which contract clauses get forgotten?
Beyond fee and date, put these in writing: set length and how many sets, stage time and the tolerance you accept around it, which equipment the artist brings, when the deposit and the balance are paid, a tiered cancellation charge, a force majeure definition, and who makes the weather call at an outdoor show. Exclusivity is standard in the industry too: the artist agrees not to play another stage in the same city within a set radius and period. Corporate events add a second exclusivity problem, because the artist's own endorsement deals can clash with your event sponsor. Exchange brand names before signature. Announcement copy and image use belong under written approval as well; most contracts allow the artist's name and photograph to be used only for event promotion and only for a defined period. Stamp duty on the contract is a budget line of its own in Türkiye, so factor it in when you compare offers.
Can you film the performance and post it?
Filming and sharing is a separate permission, and it is not included in the performance fee. Article 80 of Turkish Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works gives the performing artist the exclusive right to authorise the fixation of their performance, the reproduction, sale, distribution and rental of that fixation, and its communication to the public by any device carrying signs, sound or images. The same article requires permissions given by related rights holders to be in writing. There is a further detail: where a performance takes place on the initiative of an enterprise and under a contract, the enterprise's permission is also required. In practice that means you need the artist's written consent for the night's video, and third parties who want to use that footage need yours as the organiser. Write the medium, the term and the territory into the consent: internal archive, social media or advertising are not the same grant. The law waives written permission only in narrow cases, led by non-commercial use for education, scientific research or news; corporate promotion is not among them. Playing recorded music on the night changes the picture again, because Article 80 also requires users who communicate performances fixed on phonograms to the public to pay appropriate remuneration to performers and producers, or their collecting societies, alongside the authors.
How is the fee documented, and what tax and social security apply?
Start by settling who gets paid: the artist's company or the artist personally. Where a company invoices, the document is an invoice and the standard VAT rate applies to the service. Where the payment goes to the individual, it becomes self-employment income, and Article 94 of the Income Tax Law obliges the payers it lists, commercial companies included, to withhold tax on self-employment payments, advances included. The rates sit in the schedule to Decision No. 2009/14592, published in the Official Gazette on 3 February 2009: 17% for self-employment work falling under Article 18 of the Income Tax Law and 20% for everything else. Article 18 is narrower than people assume. It names authors, translators, sculptors, calligraphers, painters, composers, software developers and inventors, and its second paragraph brings fees earned from publishing, staging, performing and exhibiting those works into the exemption. So a musician performing their own composition and a singer performing someone else's material may not sit in the same place, and that call belongs with your tax adviser before payment. On the social security side, Article 4 of Law No. 5510 counts film, theatre, stage, show, vocal and instrumental artists among those working under a service contract. Supplementary Article 6 lets artists who work fewer than 10 days in a month for the person engaging them pay their own premiums over 30 days. An amendment made by Law No. 7566 of 4 December 2025 set that premium rate at 33.5% from 1 January 2026, of which 21% covers invalidity, old age and death insurance and 12.5% general health insurance.
How do you build the budget and the calendar?
The fee is one line among many. Next to it, budget the rented items from the rider, additional sound and lighting, backline, stage and risers, the follow spot, transport, hotels, catering, security, a generator where needed, music licensing and the cost of recording rights. On timing, December is the busiest month in Türkiye, and well-known acts lose their Saturdays over the summer for the year-end party season. When you request a quote, ask management for three things at once: the fee, the current technical rider and the hospitality rider. Lay the rider next to the venue's technical specification and list the gap, because that gap is your second budget. The last step is a technical call that puts the artist's sound engineer, the venue's technical manager and the production team around one table to write the timings together. Treat this article as general guidance and confirm contract and tax questions with your own legal and financial advisers. Tales Event is based in Istanbul and delivers gala nights, dealer meetings, launches and year-end parties across Türkiye with one team covering sound, lighting, stage, LED screens and decor. Send us the rider and we will tell you what it costs and what the venue can actually carry.
Let's talk about your event
Tell us your idea and we will prepare the concept and quote.