Chart Topper
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Playing live

The steadiest money, and the one place your back catalogue still counts.

Guide 05 · 3 min read

A packed stadium show lit in red, the crowd filling the frame
The Hometown Stadium Seven rooms up from a Tuesday night

Shows pay on your Performance and the rooms you can get into. You work up from open mics through clubs, theatres and arenas to world tours, each step needing a bigger name than the last.

Tuesday Open Mic
The Back Room
The Sticky Floor
The Old Majestic
The Almost-Arena
The Hometown Stadium
The Sold-Out World Tour
The whole ladder, first night to last

Your setlist counts

  • Your own songs draw better than covers, so a set built from your catalogue is worth more than a set of other people’s material.
  • A set you have not changed in a long time pays like it. Swapping songs in keeps the night worth more.

There is a second reason to rotate. Playing a song live keeps it warm on the charts, so a track that was fading gets a second life from the road.

Stress is real

Recording, releasing and promoting all add stress, and touring hard on top of them will burn you out. Resting costs time you would rather spend elsewhere, which is what makes it a decision.