LOOKPORT / tool
Show & Tour Budget Calculator
Calculate concert profit, event costs and break-even ticket sales. Build a show or tour budget with VAT, ticket categories and merchandise. Free online worksheet.
YOUR SHOW. YOUR NUMBERS.
Build the budget
Know your break-even
A practical budget worksheet for artists and promoters. Start with the example, change the numbers and see what your next show could earn.
01 / Set the scene
Changing country sets the currency and indicative ticket and merchandise VAT rates. You can edit them below. Amounts are not converted; expense VAT stays as entered. Check local rules and exemptions for your event.
For a tour, this worksheet repeats the same ticket mix, prices and per-show costs across all dates. Mark shared costs as Whole tour. Use separate reports for dates with different currencies or economics.
02 / Income
Per show · prices include VAT| Ticket category | Quantity | Price | Income | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £2,500.00 | ||||
| £12,250.00 | ||||
| £3,000.00 |
Merchandise sales scale with attendance. Enter stock costs under Unexpected & other; those costs remain fixed in every sales scenario.
03 / VAT, fees & licences
VAT options are editable planning rates, not a country or tax recommendation. Sales prices include VAT; expense unit costs exclude it. Collecting-society fees apply to ticket revenue excluding VAT. Platform and bank percentages apply to gross ticket sales. Processing assumes one ticket per order. Check your actual contracts and tax treatment.
04 / Expenses
Enter costs before VATOptional all-in cost after any VAT recovery, scaling with ticket sales. All named expense rows above remain fixed even at lower attendance.
BEFORE YOU GO ON SALE
One plan. Four possible nights
See how attendance changes your result. This is a planning model, not a sales forecast.
FROM BUDGET TO BOX OFFICE
Keep your finances
in the same place as your tickets
Lookport Ticketing lets you enter event costs, model an event before launch, monitor revenue and review your event P&L. Take your budget into the show with cost tracking and ticket sales analytics together.
Explore Lookport Ticketing ↗One clear platform commission.
Built for concerts and tours.
This illustrative planning and promotional tool draws on Lookport's event experience. It is not financial, tax or legal advice, an official financial document or a forecast. Example costs, country VAT presets and results may not fit your event. Verify all inputs, rates and calculations independently before making commitments. Lookport does not guarantee accuracy, completeness or profitability and, to the extent permitted by law, accepts no liability for losses arising from use of this tool or report. Nothing excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.
How much profit could your concert make?
Concert profit is ticket and merchandise income after VAT, minus ticketing and payment fees, royalties and event expenses. This free concert profit calculator turns those inputs into a show budget, an estimated break-even ticket count and profit at 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% sales. Artists, promoters and tour managers can compare scenarios before committing to a venue.
For example, 500 tickets at an average gross price of £30 produce £15,000 in ticket revenue. At 20% ticket VAT, that is £12,500 before platform and processing fees. Deduct those charges and your production costs to estimate profit. Gross ticket revenue is not the amount available to spend.
A concert budget worksheet built around the show
Start with the income you can actually sell: early-bird tickets, general admission and VIP releases. Give each ticket category a quantity and price, then add expected merchandise sales. The calculator combines your ticket mix with artist fees, hospitality, marketing, venue costs, licences and a contingency to build an event financial model.
Use the result to compare a confident sell-out with a more cautious 60% attendance scenario. The four scenario cards make the effect of ticket sales visible before you commit to a room or announce the show. Replace every example assumption with your own figures.
How to calculate event break-even
Break-even is the point where income after VAT and sales-related charges covers the costs of the event. This calculator uses the weighted average contribution from your ticket categories and proportional merchandise income, deducts variable attendee costs, and divides fixed expenses by that contribution. It rounds the resulting ticket estimate up.
For example, if a ticket contributes £25 after applicable deductions and your fixed costs are £10,000, the planning threshold is 400 tickets. A different ticket mix, slower VIP sales or a change in merchandise demand can change the actual threshold. A result above capacity means that even selling out would not cover the entered costs.
Tour budgets: per-show costs and shared expenses
Choose the number of shows to repeat the same event economics across a tour. Ticket quantities, merchandise expectations and Each show expenses are multiplied by the number of dates. Whole tour expenses are included once, which is useful for shared creative work, rehearsal costs or a tour-wide campaign.
This is a repeatable-show planning worksheet, not a city-by-city ledger. Use separate budgets where capacity, ticket pricing, taxes or currencies differ. The currency selector changes how amounts are displayed; it does not convert exchange rates.
VAT, ticketing fees and the cost of selling tickets
Enter customer ticket and merchandise prices including VAT. The worksheet extracts the VAT portion rather than multiplying a gross price by the tax rate. Expense unit prices are entered before VAT. You can choose whether all entered expense and platform-fee VAT is recoverable, or include it as a cost.
Lookport is modelled at a 6% platform commission on gross ticket sales. Enter your actual bank processing assumptions; the per-ticket amount assumes one ticket per order. The 10%, 11% and 12% comparison options are illustrative platform rates, not claims about a named competitor. Collecting-society charges use net ticket revenue in this model. Fixed permits belong in the expense worksheet.
VAT choices are planning inputs, not an automatic tax determination. Check the event country, applicable admission rate, your registration status and supplier contracts. Partial VAT recovery, withholding taxes, minimum licence fees, refunds and complex artist settlements need a more detailed model. The profit result is before income or corporation tax.
Take the financial plan into Lookport Ticketing
Lookport Ticketing lets organisers enter event costs, model an event before launch and review profit and loss alongside ticket sales. Keep revenue analytics, cost monitoring and event financial management in the same working view, with a clear 6% platform commission and payment processing charged separately.
Use this free calculator for the first budget conversation. Then bring the financial plan into your ticketing workflow to keep costs and performance connected as your concert or tour goes on sale.
Questions and answers
Does selecting a country set ticket VAT and currency?
Yes. Presets cover the United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Portugal, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland and Sweden. The UK example uses 20% ticket VAT. US sales taxes require local rates entered manually; the zero starting values are placeholders. Ireland and Portugal include event and regional notes. You can override rates; changing country does not convert prices or change expense VAT. Check the rules for your event and tax status.
Is this show and tour budget calculator free?
Yes. The online calculator and all results are free without registration. Emailed PDF reports are available to Lookport subscribers: enter your email and tick the subscription agreement. No separate email confirmation is needed, and you can unsubscribe at any time. A copy of your report is sent to the Lookport team, as explained in the form.
Does the event budget include VAT?
Yes. Selling prices include VAT, while expense unit costs exclude it. The worksheet separates sales VAT, expense VAT and VAT on platform commission, and lets you model full or no recovery of input VAT.
Can I add several ticket categories?
Yes. Add early-bird, standard, VIP or other categories with their own quantities and prices. The model uses the combined ticket mix.
Can I print the budget or share it with my team?
Subscribers can request the PDF by email. It includes your budget summary, profit-versus-sales chart, ticket categories, expenses, assumptions and planning disclaimer, ready to print or share.
What does the 60% sales scenario mean?
It models 60% of each ticket category and 60% of planned merchandise sales. Named expenses remain fixed; additional per-attendee costs scale with sales. It is an estimate, not a forecast.
What is Lookport’s ticketing commission?
The standard Lookport platform commission is 6%. Payment processing and applicable taxes are separate. The calculator makes those assumptions visible so you can plan the event budget.