{
  "slug": "venue-ticket-breakeven",
  "title": "Venue Ticket Pricing Breakeven Calculator",
  "heading": "Ticket Price Breakeven Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/venue-ticket-breakeven",
  "summary": "Find the ticket price and attendance a show needs to break even.",
  "description": "A show's breakeven point depends on fixed costs (venue rental, sound engineer, promotion) versus variable per-ticket costs (ticketing platform fees, artist guarantees paid per head) and your ticket price after fees are deducted. This calculator solves for how many tickets you need to sell at a given price to cover costs, and separately shows what price you'd need to charge to break even at an expected attendance figure.",
  "formula": "Breakeven tickets = fixed costs ÷ (price × (1 − fee %) − variable cost per ticket).",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=venue-ticket-breakeven",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "fixedCosts",
      "label": "Fixed costs (venue, sound, promo)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 2500,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "ticketPrice",
      "label": "Ticket price",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 30,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "platformFee",
      "label": "Ticketing platform fee",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 10,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 0,
      "max": 40
    },
    {
      "id": "variableCost",
      "label": "Variable cost per ticket (guarantee, security)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 3,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "expectedAttendance",
      "label": "Expected attendance",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 150,
      "unit": null,
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "breakevenTickets",
      "label": "Tickets needed to break even",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "priceForBreakeven",
      "label": "Price needed at expected attendance",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "netPerTicket",
      "label": "Net revenue per ticket",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "profitAtExpected",
      "label": "Profit/loss at expected attendance",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Fixed costs (venue, sound, promo): 2500 $",
      "Ticket price: 30 $",
      "Ticketing platform fee: 10 %",
      "Variable cost per ticket (guarantee, security): 3 $",
      "Expected attendance: 150"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Tickets needed to break even: 104",
      "Price needed at expected attendance: $21.85",
      "Net revenue per ticket: $24.00",
      "Profit/loss at expected attendance: $1,100"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter fixed costs (venue, sound, promo) ($).",
      "Enter ticket price ($).",
      "Enter ticketing platform fee (%).",
      "Enter variable cost per ticket (guarantee, security) ($).",
      "Enter expected attendance.",
      "Read your tickets needed to break even on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "fixedCosts": 1500,
        "ticketPrice": 18,
        "platformFee": 6,
        "variableCost": 1.7999999999999998,
        "expectedAttendance": 90
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "fixedCosts": 2500,
        "ticketPrice": 30,
        "platformFee": 10,
        "variableCost": 3,
        "expectedAttendance": 150
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "fixedCosts": 4000,
        "ticketPrice": 48,
        "platformFee": 16,
        "variableCost": 4.800000000000001,
        "expectedAttendance": 240
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "What counts as a fixed cost for a show?",
      "a": "Venue rental or minimum bar spend, sound and lighting tech fees, insurance, promotion/advertising spend, and any flat artist guarantees paid regardless of turnout. These don't change whether 20 people or 200 people show up."
    },
    {
      "q": "What should I do if breakeven attendance looks unrealistic for my draw?",
      "a": "Lower fixed costs first (smaller room, self-run sound, cheaper promo), then look at raising ticket price only if your genre and market can support it — raising price too far often shrinks attendance more than it raises revenue. A support act with its own following can also lower the effective breakeven by splitting promotion reach."
    },
    {
      "q": "How much do ticketing platform fees typically run?",
      "a": "Consumer-facing fees on Ticketmaster-style platforms can hit 20-30% on top of face value, but many are passed to the buyer, not deducted from your payout — check whether your platform quotes fees as buyer-side or seller-side before assuming a 10% deduction like this calculator's default."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/gig-pay-split",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/pa-power-sizing"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Venue Ticket Pricing Breakeven Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/venue-ticket-breakeven)"
}