I'm booking concerts for a non-profit organization. There's a question of how to split payments when you have two different groups on the same night. The formula is such that the organization takes 15% of the door receipts, and the remainder goes to the performers.

It's simple when there is only one group performing - it is then up to the group as to how to split it up between all its members.

But if you have two different groups, each doing a 45 min set for example, is it customary to give each group half of the proceeds, regardless of the number of performers in each group. Or do you split the proceeds proportional to the number of performers in each group (for example group A has 4 performers, and group B has 2 performers - so group A gets 2/3 of the proceeds and group B gets 1/3).

One could argue that splitting the proceeds proportional to the number of performers in each group is fair since each performer gets the same amount. On the other hand, if one group is very large, and the other is a solo performer, the solo performer gets a poor break even though he/she provided half of the evening's music.

Is there a customary way of dividing the proceeds?

S. in Seattle