AmaRider. Are Promoters Being Taken for a Ride?

An opinion on riders, contracts, and the knowledge gap killing the South African events industry

The discourse around riders in the South African events industry is loud, messy, and largely uninformed. Creatives argue their rider should fold into their booking fee. Promoters argue they already bleed money running events and a rider is an unnecessary extra cost. Both sides are wrong in different ways, and both sides are arguing about something neither fully understands. So let us start at the beginning.

What Is a Rider, and Why Does It Exist?

A rider is a legal addendum to a performance contract. It “rides” on top of the main agreement and sets out the specific conditions under which the artist will perform. It is not separate from the contract, it is part of it, attached as a numbered annexure. There are two types: the technical rider and the hospitality rider. You cannot have one without the other, and neither is optional if you want a professional event.

The technical rider covers everything the artist needs to perform: sound equipment, stage specifications, DJ gear, monitor setup, input lists, 8 power requirements, and lighting. This is the most operationally critical document in any booking. A Pioneer CDJ-3000 is not a luxury request, it is the instrument. You would not ask a violinist to perform on a broken instrument. The same logic applies here.

The hospitality rider covers what the artist needs off stage: catering, dressing room setup, transport, accommodation, internet access, guest lists, and backstage security. This is where the discourse gets ugly, because this is also where some artists overreach. But the existence of excess in some riders does not make the document itself the problem.

These two riders together form the operational backbone of artist liaison. When Tassiopoulos writes about events operations management¹ and the role of stakeholder² coordination in Events Management: A Developmental and Managerial Approach, this is exactly what he is describing in practice. The rider is not platters and beverages. It is a production management tool.

Can a Rider Be Negotiated?

Yes, and it always should be.

A rider is a starting position, not a final demand. Professional booking agents negotiate every line item. Technical requirements get cross-checked against the venue’s existing setup. Hospitality items get separated into essentials and preferences. What the venue cannot provide in kind, they cover through a buy-out, an agreed cash amount the artist uses to sort their own food and accommodation.

The South African Problem: Two Parties Operating on Vibes

From direct engagement with artists and promoters across the industry, the pattern is consistent. Both sides are negotiating based on what they have heard, not what they know. The artist’s manager heard that a certain fee includes a rider. The promoter heard that riders are for big international acts only. Neither has read a contract template. Neither has opened a book on events management. The industry is running on hearsay, and the damage shows every Monday on social media.

The Twitter(X) threads about who refused to perform because the sound was not up to standard, “Mang mang” who did not pitch, the promoter who withheld payment, these are not random incidents. They are the direct result of agreements made without proper contracts, riders negotiated verbally, and obligations that exist only in someone’s head.

Here is the hard truth: the technical rider is the artist’s responsibility. If an artist agrees to perform at a venue without confirming the technical setup matches their rider, that is a failure of management, not the promoter. And if the promoter books an act without reading the technical rider and confirming what the venue can deliver, that is also a failure of management. Both parties signed, or should have signed, a document that covered this.

The Manager Problem

When you agree to manage an artist, you take on legal and reputational responsibility for every contract signed in their name. That is not a social role. It is a commercial and legal one.

Too many managers in the South African industry operate without a management agreement. There is no document granting them authority to negotiate, sign, or commit on the artist’s behalf. So when a dispute arises, the artist disowns the deal, the promoter has no recourse, and the manager disappears. This is not an industry problem, it is a basic contract law problem.

If you manage an artist, you need:

1. A signed management agreement with a defined commission structure, scope of authority, and term
2. Proxy or power of attorney clauses that confirm you can sign performance contracts on the artist’s behalf
3. A dispute resolution mechanism so that when things go wrong and they will there is a process

Stop agreeing to be someone’s manager via handshake alone. Lawyer up. The Performers’ Protection Act 11 of 1967 and the Copyright Act 98 of 1978 exist.³ Use them.

Are Artists Abusing the System?

Yes – some are. Requesting alcohol at three different gigs in the same city in the same week, from three different small independent promoters who are already running thin margins, is not a professional rider. It is an abuse of a document that exists to protect working conditions, not to fund a lifestyle.

The rider has a legitimate welfare function. An artist touring across provinces, performing late sets, traveling between cities. they need food, water, a clean space to prepare, and reliable transport. That is not excess. That is basic working conditions. But there is a significant difference between a hot meal and a bottle of Hennessy per show.

The question worth asking: if the hospitality rider disappeared tomorrow and folded into the booking fee, would artists manage those funds toward genuine welfare? In some cases, yes. In many cases, the fee would absorb into operational costs and the catering would still not happen. The rider, for all its dysfunction, at least creates accountability. The promoter must provide the agreed items or face a contractual breach.

Think of it this way. Welcome to my house, here is something to eat and drink while you work. That is the original spirit of the document. A host’s obligation to a working guest. The problem is not the concept. The problem is when the guest starts demanding a specific brand of mineral water flown in from another province.

The Advice Nobody Wants to Hear

Stop accepting every booking because you are currently relevant. Being hot is not a business model. Host your own events. Build your own brand equity. Go on tour. An artist who controls their own events controls their own rider and their own revenue.

And for everyone operating in this industry: the information is available. Tassiopoulos wrote it down. The law is written down. Contract templates exist. The reason the South African events industry keeps having the same arguments every Monday morning is not because the answers are missing it is because not enough people are willing to do the reading.

An industry cannot run on vibes alone. Pick up a book.


References: Tassiopoulos, D. et al. Events Management: A Developmental and Managerial Approach (4th ed.). Juta Academic. | Performers’ Protection Act 11 of 1967 | Copyright Act 98 of 1978 | Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008

1. Dimitri Tassiopoulos et al., Events Management: A Developmental and Managerial Approach, 4th ed. (Cape Town: Juta Academic, year), 321–39. ↩︎
2. Dimitri Tassiopoulos et al., Events Management: A Developmental and Managerial Approach, 4th ed. (Cape Town: Juta Academic, year), 67–83. ↩︎
3. South Africa, Performers’ Protection Act 11 of 1967; South Africa, Copyright Act 98 of 1978. ↩︎