Why StageCut
You landed the gig. Put it in StageCut: the venue, the date, what it pays and who's playing. That's about two minutes. StageCut does the math, so you can spend your time playing instead of doing it in the parking lot.
Our story
We're the GreenHeadBand, a working band out of Bay and Washington County, Florida. For years we paid our band off a spreadsheet. Every gig meant redoing the same math: who played, what came in, what came off the top, what each person got. When somebody asked "what did I make last month?", the answer meant digging through texts and old notes.
So we built the tool we wanted, to help the musician: the leader who handles the money and every player who wants to know what they made. We built it on real gigs, and every time a new situation came up on a real night, a sub, a split tip jar, a broken drum head, a wedding with a deposit, we taught StageCut to handle it.
While we were testing, other bands and entertainers around us started using it too. They brought ideas we never would have thought of, and those ideas are in the app now. StageCut has been running real gigs since early 2026. Built by local musicians, for musicians.
A gig that pays $800 doesn't put $800 in anybody's pocket. Tips come in. Then the real costs come off the top: gas and miles, a PA rental, the band fund. What's left gets split. And some of each share may need to be held back, because a bill comes later whether you planned for it or not.
Most of us have done that math on a napkin at 1 a.m., or not at all. Somebody always walks away thinking they got shorted, and the leader is the one holding the envelope.
StageCut ends that. Every player gets the same honest number, worked out the same way every time.
Venue, date, time, what it pays (check, cash, tips) and who played. Your regulars are already checked.
By your band's own settings: what comes off the top, the band fund, flat pay, the even split, anything held back.
The calendar, each member's phone, your totals by month and by venue. If the venue needs an invoice or the client needs a contract, the details are already filled in.
That's the whole job. About two minutes per gig.
Under the hood
StageCut doesn't guess and doesn't round in anyone's favor. It runs the same steps, in the same order, on every gig. You decide the settings; it does the arithmetic.
Check, cash and tips together make the gig's total.
Anything that belongs to this one gig, like a PA rental or a parking fee, comes off the top first.
Either a flat amount, or a percentage. With a percentage, you choose which money it comes from: check, cash, tips, or any mix. Some bands only fund from tips; some fund from everything.
Mileage is worked out round trip: miles there × 2 × your rate per mile. Costs the whole band shares, like a hotel, come out here too. What's left is the pool everyone splits.
A sub, a sound tech or anyone you set a fixed amount for gets paid first from the pool.
Everyone else who played gets the same share.
If your band holds back a percentage of each share, it comes out here. You choose which money it applies to (check, cash, tips), and anyone you've marked as a 1099 contractor gets their full share.
If something was only for one player, like their new drum head or their hotel upgrade, it comes out of their share, not the whole band's.
Someone playing for the band fund that night? Their share still counts in the split, so nobody else's pay changes, and the money goes to the fund. Already paid someone? Mark them Paid, and their amount stays put even if you edit the gig later.
You can change any of this for a single gig without touching the rest.
Straight talk
This isn't advice. It's just knowing how it usually works, so you can decide for yourself.
When a venue or a client pays the band, the check usually goes to one person. That person's name and number are on the venue's paperwork. If the venue pays them enough in a year, it sends a Form 1099-NEC in that person's name for the whole amount. For payments made in 2026 and later, that line is generally $2,000 a year from one payer; it used to be $600.
So on paper, the whole gig starts out as the income of the person who collected the check, even if most of it went straight to the band. To show it didn't stay with them, many leaders keep records of what they paid out and send their own 1099s to their players. That takes each player's Form W-9 with their taxpayer number. (A W-9 is for contractors. A W-4 is for employees on a payroll, which most bands aren't.)
Not everybody wants to fill out a W-9. When a player won't, the person who collected the money can end up holding the bag for income they handed out. The rules even call for holding back 24% from someone you have to report who won't give you their number.
That's why we built the hold-back into StageCut. Set a percentage aside from each share, and the person who collected the money has it covered, if it's needed. If everyone in your band handles their own, set it to zero, or mark those players as 1099 so their full share goes to them. Solo, you can use it to set aside your own.
Everyone's different, and how you report is your own business. StageCut just does the math your way, so you're not caught short later. For your own situation, talk to a tax professional.
Here's a wedding where everything happens at once:
Every dollar is accounted for, down to the cent. Nobody has to trust the leader's napkin, because everyone can see their own number come out the same way.
Some bands split it right down the middle. Some pay the sub a flat rate and split the rest. Some put a cut in the band fund first, some take the gas money off the top, and some nights one person plays for free so the fund can buy new gear. There's no wrong way, and no two bands do it exactly alike.
We kept adding to StageCut every time a band showed us a new way of doing it, so it covers the scenarios you run into when you're out playing:
The leader keeps the full breakdown. Members see what they need and nothing more.
StageCut isn't only for bands. It's built for anyone who gets paid to play or run the show:
Running more than one act? Set up as many as you want under one account.
Not for the free pay-split calculator. It works right on the site with no sign-up. The full app is free to start: your first 3 gigs cost nothing, and no card is needed.
Almost certainly. Even splits, flat rates, costs off the top, one person's expense, a band fund from only the tips: StageCut handles them, and you can change the setup for a single gig.
No. It's there if you want it. Set it to zero, use it for some players and not others, or use it only for yourself. Your band, your rules.
Yes. StageCut is built for everyone: solo artists, DJs, KJs, bands and sound engineers. The math and the calendar you need to keep up with are the same either way, and your roster can be just you.
Play in more than one band too? One account covers all of them. The Master Calendar puts every band's gigs on one page and warns you when two land on the same day. Double bookings happen; we covered it. And when the leader of every band you play in uses StageCut, your whole schedule is already there, with nobody having to text it to you.
No. Members see their own pay, the calendar and their upcoming gigs. The leader sees the full breakdown.
No. StageCut is a planning tool. It does the math with the numbers and percentages you choose. For advice about your own situation, talk to a tax professional.
Email support@stagecut.net.
Every hour you spend on spreadsheets, group texts and envelopes is an hour you're not booking, rehearsing or playing. Put the gig in once, and the calendar, the split and the totals are done. Your first 3 gigs are free, no card needed.
