Do I have to pay super to the musicians I book?

Yes, in most cases. The ATO treats a performer you pay as your employee for super purposes, even if they have an ABN, invoice you, or play for you once. You pay 12% of the performance fee to their fund. The exceptions are companies and partnerships, players under 18 on 30 hours a week or less, private households hiring for a private event, and genuine door deals.

Do venues have to pay super to musicians?

Yes, when the venue is the one paying them. A pub that pays a band $900 owes super on the $900, and a venue that pays each member directly owes super on each fee. When the venue pays an act that then pays its own players, the act owes the super on those players.

The musician has an ABN and invoices me. Does that change it?

No. An ABN, an invoice, a contractor label or a Statement by supplier form makes no difference. A musician who invoices through a company or a partnership is the exception: that entity looks after its own super.

What is payday super, and when is it due?

Since 1 July 2026 the contribution has to be received by the musician's fund within 7 business days of the day you pay their fee, or 20 business days for the first contribution you ever make for that person. Quarterly is gone.

12% of the performance fee, with GST excluded and travel, hire and other non-performance items left out. On a $400 fee that is $48. If the fee was agreed as inclusive of super, $400 is $357.14 to the musician and $42.86 to their fund.

Does Sidefill pay the super for me?

No. It works out what is owed, to whom and by when, and builds the clearing house file for the super and the payment file for the fees. You upload them from your own banking and your own clearing house, so you stay the only one who ever moves money.

Since 1 July you owe super on the musicians you pay. Within 7 business days.

Sidefill is for Australian bandleaders, agencies and venues that book musicians. It works out who, how much and by when, and does the paperwork that goes with it.

The band signs itself up: One link to one member. Everyone enters their own fund and bank details, no accounts.
Every invoice, both ways: The client's and every player's, RCTIs included, raised from one gig. Players approve with a tap.
Super, done properly: Who, how much, by when, the clearing house file and the ledger. You press pay. Nothing else touches the money.

Create your accountFrom $29.99 a month. 30 days free, no card. See the tiers

Take the two-minute tour, every screen in the order the work happens.

Built to the ATO's published guidance for performers. Read the rules. Not advice, and it never touches the money.

A musician's phone: the invoice prepared for them, showing their fee, GST, the super going to their fund and the date it is due, with an approve button below.

One link signs up the whole band

Send it to the one member you actually talk to. They pass it around the group chat, and every player fills in their own fund, member number and bank details. No accounts, no chasing five strangers.

Offer the gig, the band answers

One link to the act's contact. Each member taps in or out and the last answer locks the lineup and the split. When one member takes the whole fee, their single yes books the night.

One plain question decides the super

Who pays whom, asked in your words: I pay each of them, I pay one member, the venue pays them, or it goes through me as agent. Liability, the deadline and the rate follow from the answer, recorded with the date you gave it.

Invoices both ways. Players just approve

The client's invoice and every player's invoice raised from one gig, RCTIs included. Each musician gets a link, checks the figures, presses approve. Nobody waits on a drummer's paperwork.

Lands in Xero as drafts

Same invoice numbers in both systems, the PDF attached to each record, everything waiting as a draft for whoever does your books. Your ledger stays your ledger.

Files your bank already takes

One payment file pays every player from your own internet banking. One clearing house file sends the super. You stay the only one who ever presses pay.

A new band joins. You send one link. That is the whole job.

The person booking a band only ever talks to one member. Sidefill is built around that. You create the act, send its contact a single link, and the band does the rest to itself, on their own phones, without making accounts.

A band member's phone: the act's roster with two members done and one to come, above the form where they enter their own details. — Each member fills in their own details. Fund, member number, bank account, straight from the group chat. The band watches the roster tick over as each person is done.

Details arrive once and are reused on every gig after that. A member away one night comes off that gig only; a dep is added to it the same way. Nobody retypes a bandmate's bank account, ever, and nothing anyone enters can overwrite somebody else's.

The books take care of themselves

Connect Xero and every invoice lands there as a draft, under the same number, with the PDF attached for your bookkeeper to code and approve. Paying is two files: a payment file your internet banking accepts for the fees, and a clearing house file for the super, ticked off from the ledger below. Nothing about your bank, your clearing house or your accountant has to change.

The clearing house file card in Sidefill: a SuperStream alternative file format file for the 12 contributions still due, totalling $749.66, with a link to download it. — Everything still owed, in one file your clearing house ingests. Built from the ledger rather than typed again. Example data.

What changed on 1 July 2026

Super for performers is not new, but the timing is. The contribution now has to be received by the player's fund within 7 business days of the day you pay their fee, and 20 business days for the first contribution you make for that player. Quarterly is gone.

What Sidefill does

It decides who you owe super for and who you do not, works the amount out on the fee with GST excluded, gives you the due date for every payment, and keeps the per-gig ledger and reminders that mean nothing slips past the deadline unnoticed.

What it does not do

It never moves money. It is not a booking marketplace and it will not find you gigs. It is not advice, and it will not tell you whether you are an agent on a particular booking. It shows you the ATO's two situations and records the choice you make.

Work out one fee

A player's fee in, and what they receive, what their fund receives, and the day it has to be there. The same rules that run on every gig in Sidefill. The full calculator adds the rest of the questions.

The answer

Fee to the player: 400.00
GST the player charges you: 40.00
You pay the player: 440.00
Super to their fund: 48.00
Costs you: 488.00

One gig, on one page

This is the money panel from a gig in Sidefill, laid out like the settlement sheet a tour manager hands a promoter at the end of the night. Fee in, fees out, super, net, in a column of figures that adds up down the page.

The Lowline played the Smith wedding at Rosebank Estate on 12 October 2026 for $3,000. Four players at $400 each. Two of them attract super and two do not, and the ledger records why for both.

Walk through this gig

Smith wedding

Mon, 12 Oct 2026, Rosebank Estate

Fee from client: 3,000.00
less GST: 272.73
Fee ex GST: 2,727.27
Fees to players, ex GST: 1,557.14
GST the players charge: 40.00
Super to funds: 90.86
Total outlay: 1,688.00
Net to The Lowline: 1,079.27

The rest of it, shown rather than described

Screens from the running product, not drawings of it. The act, the players and the venues below are invented, but every figure on them was worked out by the same rules that would run on your gigs.

A gig in Sidefill: five players, each with their fee and the super owed, and a settlement sheet adding down to what the act keeps. — Every gig, settledEach player's fee, the super owed on it, and who is liable. The settlement sheet adds down the page from the client fee to what the act actually keeps. Marking a fee paid starts the super clock.

The super ledger, listing each contribution with its payday, due date, amount and status, some overdue and some due soon. — The super ledgerEvery contribution you owe, with the day it has to reach the fund and how many business days are left. Overdue is the loudest thing on the page.

The Sidefill home screen, listing what needs doing: overdue super first, then invoices, then players who have not sent their details. — What needs doingNot a wall of statistics. Super that is overdue or close to it, invoices waiting, and the players whose fund details you still need.

Real screens from the running product, filled with example data. The act, the players and the venues are invented.

Who this is for

The person who pays the band. A bandleader who books a wedding and pays four other players. An act owner with a roster. An agency that signs whole acts and needs every member's details without meeting them. A venue or event that pays performers directly. If you are the one sending the money out, anywhere in Australia, the obligation is yours.

If you are the player being paid, you are the person this makes life easiest for: one link to fill in, one tap to approve, and your super lands in your fund on time.

Questions people ask before they get here

Do I have to pay super to the musicians I book?: Yes, in most cases. The ATO treats a performer you pay as your employee for super purposes, even if they have an ABN, invoice you, or play for you once. You pay 12% of the performance fee to their fund. The exceptions are companies and partnerships, players under 18 on 30 hours a week or less, private households hiring for a private event, and genuine door deals. The rules for performers
Do venues have to pay super to musicians?: Yes, when the venue is the one paying them. A pub that pays a band $900 owes super on the $900, and a venue that pays each member directly owes super on each fee. When the venue pays an act that then pays its own players, the act owes the super on those players. Super for venues
The musician has an ABN and invoices me. Does that change it?: No. An ABN, an invoice, a contractor label or a Statement by supplier form makes no difference. A musician who invoices through a company or a partnership is the exception: that entity looks after its own super. Sole traders with an ABN
What is payday super, and when is it due?: Since 1 July 2026 the contribution has to be received by the musician's fund within 7 business days of the day you pay their fee, or 20 business days for the first contribution you ever make for that person. Quarterly is gone. What changed on 1 July 2026
How much is it?: 12% of the performance fee, with GST excluded and travel, hire and other non-performance items left out. On a $400 fee that is $48. If the fee was agreed as inclusive of super, $400 is $357.14 to the musician and $42.86 to their fund. Work out a fee
Does Sidefill pay the super for me?: No. It works out what is owed, to whom and by when, and builds the clearing house file for the super and the payment file for the fees. You upload them from your own banking and your own clearing house, so you stay the only one who ever moves money.

Pricing

Bandleader1 act, 10 players$29.99 a month
Collective1 act, 20 players$39.99 a month
Small Roster5 acts, 30 players$69.99 a month
Small Agency15 acts, 100 players$129.99 a month
Large Agency30 acts, 140 players$199.99 a month
UnlimitedUnlimited acts and players$399.99 a month

Every tier has every feature; only the roster size changes. Subs come and go gig by gig on all of them. 30 days free first, no card, and yearly is ten months. Compare the tiers

Start your trial

Set your act up once, send one link, and the super works itself out from there. It runs in any browser and installs to a phone's home screen from there, so there is nothing to go and download first.

Create your account