Headliner

What is a headliner?

The headliner is the main draw of an event: the artist whose name sells the tickets. On a flyer the headliner sits at the top of the line-up in the biggest letters, and in the timetable they usually get the peak slot. At a club night that often means somewhere between 2 and 4 in the morning; at a festival it is usually the last set on the main stage.

A night can have one headliner or several co-headliners billed at the same level. The word is about billing and draw rather than quality. The same DJ can headline a small club on Friday and play a mid-afternoon slot at a large festival on Saturday.

How headliners are booked and billed

The headliner is usually the first booking, because the date, the budget and the ticket price depend on it. Their DJ fee is often the largest single cost of the night. Once the contract is signed, the headliner announcement is the biggest moment in the promotion: presale jumps, and it is the one post every promoter and every DJ on the bill shares.

Contracts often decide how the headliner is billed: name first, the largest type, sometimes a rule that no other name appears at the same size. A radius clause usually keeps them from playing nearby in the weeks around the date, so the announcement keeps its pull.

Example: an open air with one big name

Say an open air near Munich plans for 1,200 guests. The organizer books one international headliner for €6,000 plus travel and announces them eight weeks before the date. In this example, the week of the announcement brings in about a third of all presale, and each later phase (the support acts, then the timetable) brings a smaller jump.

The lesson from numbers like these is to treat the headliner announcement as the main event of the campaign: have the flyer, the story asset and the ticket link ready before it goes out, so every post that day points somewhere people can buy.

Tips for organizers

• Book the headliner first, and announce them as soon as the contract allows.
• Send promoters and support acts the announcement asset on the same day, so the news lands everywhere at once.
• Do not rely on the headliner alone. A strong local bill keeps the room full before and after the peak.
• Check the contract for billing rules before the flyer goes out.

Headliners on Parmo

Parmo has no separate headliner field. The line-up in the event wizard keeps names in the order you type them, shows them in that order on the event page and passes them to search engines as the night's performers. So put the headliner first.

Common questions

What does headliner mean?

The headliner is the main act of an event: the name that draws the most people, billed first and usually playing the peak slot.

Does the headliner play first or last?

At club nights the headliner usually plays the peak slot, often between 2 and 4 in the morning. At concerts and festivals the headliner typically plays last.

What is a co-headliner?

An act billed at the same level as the headliner, usually when two names draw a similar crowd.