Structured settlements

Amid the current financial crisis, at least one thing is going up in value: the U.S. dollar.

For American artists on the road overseas, the dollar's sudden strength against the euro, the British pound and the Canadian and Australian dollars means that local costs like food and lodging are cheaper. But depending on how they structured their deals with promoters, artists could wind up taking home less than they would have months ago.

They can protect themselves from the dollar's surge to some extent by negotiating tour guarantees in dollars rather than in local currency. But they'll still lose money to currency fluctuations if their percentage of tour profits is calculated in local currency, as is common.

For promoters, currency fluctuations inject an additional level of uncertainty to an already risky game. Bill Zysblat, partner at RZO Productions and co-producer of the worldwide Police reunion tour, warns that "anyone who put tickets on sale in Europe and the U.K. a couple of months ago, and then budgeted their tours accordingly, is in for conversion shock." read more