What The Advance does
Show advancing software for venues.
Everything between the booking and the last band off stage: the advance, the crew, the night and the money. One record for every show, so the office, the crew and the band all work from the same page.
Before the show
Calendar in, shows out
Tag a booking with its room in the calendar you already use and the show appears with your default schedule, crew places and venue details. Moves and cancellations are flagged, never changed silently.
A band advance that chases itself
Bands and promoters get your advance with a personal link: upload specs, riders and promo, and fill in set times, arrival and vehicles. Anything missing is chased for you, from two weeks out.
Read the guide →Specs read for you
Switch it on and AI reads each spec and rider: inputs, monitor mixes, console, touring crew, changeover, and anything that could be a problem in your room. Nothing reaches your crew until you’ve checked it.
Read the guide →Crew and staff
A rota that fills itself
Engineers and bar staff mark when they’re free and pick the shows they want. Auto-fill shares shifts out fairly by skill and how much each person has had lately, and a decline is offered on to the next best person.
Read the guide →The show advance, three days out
Once the crew is confirmed, everyone working gets the schedule, spec, contacts and parking from the same record the office edits. Change a time once and everyone sees it.
Timesheets and payroll
Timesheets for every shift, supervisors look after their own team’s, and payroll exports weekly, fortnightly or monthly as PDF or CSV.
On the night
A day sheet that writes itself
Schedule, line-up and set times, contacts, crew on duty and venue details on one A4 page, built from the show. Print it or send it as a PDF.
Read the guide →Guest list on the door
Bands, promoters and crew add their own guests, with passes and plus-ones, and you approve crew guests. The door gets one link to tick people in as they arrive, or a printout if you’d rather.
Settled before the lights come up
Set the deal once (hire, flat fee, door split or versus) and the settlement works itself out from ticket sales, comps and costs. Agree it online with the band or promoter, and print it for the night.
Read the guide →After the show
Tech reports
Engineers file a short report after each shift, so faults get fixed before the next show instead of being remembered on the day.
Invoices, matched
Freelancers’ invoices emailed in are matched to the right shift and checked against their rate before you approve them. Nobody who worked gets forgotten.
Students shadow your crew
Colleges and training partners put students forward for the shows you open to shadows. Under-18s finish on time, and crew can leave a note on how each student did.
One show, one version
If it’s in The Advance, it’s true.
Change a load-in time once and the band’s page, the crew’s advance, the rota and the day sheet all say the same thing. No “which version of the spec is this?”, and no checking the group chat to see who’s actually on.
The office
Sees what’s confirmed, what’s missing and what needs a decision, and nothing else.
Crew and bar staff
One login for every venue they work, with their shifts, availability, reports and invoices together.
Bands and promoters
A personal link per show: the schedule, parking and venue spec, and exactly what’s still needed from them.
Your other systems
Website listings and screens can read show details straight from The Advance through its API.
Looking for venue management software?
The Advance does the show side of running a venue: advancing bands, rota and payroll for crew and bar staff, day sheets, guest lists and settlements.
It doesn’t sell tickets or take room bookings. Keep the systems you have for those, and run your shows on The Advance.
Questions
- What does it cost?
- Our 10 founding venues use it free while we iron things out, then about £10 a month. For everyone else it will be about £20 a month. No card needed to start.
- Does it replace my ticketing or booking system?
- No. It runs alongside the calendar and ticketing you already use, so there’s nothing to migrate. It reads your calendar and the ticket sales reports you already get.
- Do crew or bands need an app or a password?
- No. Everything opens in a browser, and people sign in with a link sent to their email.
- Do I have to use the AI?
- No. Reading specs with AI is optional and off unless you switch it on. Nothing it reads reaches your crew until you’ve approved it.
- What happens to our data?
- It’s handled under UK GDPR and never sold. You can download all of it from Settings at any time, and if you leave, we delete it.
- How long does setup take?
- An afternoon. Connect your calendar, add your crew, and I’ll set up each founding venue personally.
Set up in an afternoon.
Questions? hello@theadvance.co.uk