Riders
Technical rider vs hospitality rider
Both documents are called a rider, both get sent to the venue, and they are read by completely different people. Here is what belongs in each, and how to keep them together without mixing them up.
The difference in one line
The technical rider describes what the show needs. The hospitality rider describes what the people need. Everything else follows from that split.
What each document covers
Technical rider
Stage plot, input list, monitoring, backline and equipment, PA and power, stage size and risers, load-in and soundcheck schedule, technical contacts.
Hospitality rider
Dressing rooms, catering and drinks, dietary requirements, parking and load-in access, accommodation where the deal includes it, guest list and passes.
Who reads which
Technical requirements go to the production manager, the sound engineers and the stage crew. Hospitality requirements go to the promoter and the venue manager. These are rarely the same person, and they act on their part at different times — the crew works from the plot on the day, the promoter books catering and parking in advance.
That is the practical reason to label the two halves clearly instead of writing one long document: each reader should be able to find their section in seconds.
Why they should still travel together
Sending two files invites one of them to be lost. A single band rider with a clear technical part and a clear hospitality part is one attachment to forward internally, and the version numbers can never disagree.
It also makes the deal easier to confirm: the venue replies once, saying what they can and cannot provide across both halves.
Common mistakes when splitting them
- Burying a dietary requirement or an allergy in a paragraph of prose, where it gets skim-read
- Putting parking and load-in access only in the hospitality half, when the crew needs it too
- Repeating contacts in both halves with different phone numbers
- Writing hospitality as a list of demands rather than as requirements with a reason
- Updating the technical half for a tour and leaving an old hospitality page attached to it
How ArtistRider keeps both halves in one document
- Technical sections and hospitality requirements live in the same rider
- Hospitality is entered as individual requirement entries rather than one block of text
- Reusable libraries for people, instruments and equipment across projects
- One PDF export, or a share link the promoter can open without an account