Lifecycle at a glance
Cancelled and Archived are not the same thing. Cancelling calls a gig off before it happens and is never gated by close-out. Archiving files away a delivered gig and — when your organization enforces it — is gated by the close-out checklist. See Cancelled vs. Archived below.
States
Draft
A draft gig is still being prepared. Use drafts while details are incomplete, or while you’re reviewing a gig created from a template. You can build the whole thing — crew, fees, schedule, notes, setlists — without anyone being paged, because a draft doesn’t send invitations on its own. Draft is a one-way entry point: a gig publishes forward to Active and never returns to Draft. See Draft and publish.Active
An active gig is live for normal operations. Invitations and notifications can go out, the team can respond, the schedule and finances are in play. A gig becomes active either by being created directly as active or by publishing a draft.An older Unarchived state behaves exactly like Active — a gig that was archived and brought back reads and works as an active gig.
Completed
A gig is Completed once its event date has passed. This is automatic — you don’t mark a gig completed by hand. The moment the date passes, the status pill reads Completed even if the underlying flip is still catching up, and the gig moves out of active operations and into closeout.Settled
Settled is the final state of a healthy gig: the show happened and everyone owed on it has been paid. Settling is a manual step for admins and gig coordinators, and it’s gated — Soundcheck won’t let you close the books early. See What gates settlement. If you settle a gig too soon, you can un-settle it back to Completed as a correction.Cancelled
Cancelled means the gig was called off. You can cancel a gig only while it’s a Draft or Active — a gig that already happened can’t be cancelled. Before you confirm, Soundcheck shows a summary of what cancelling will affect (invitations, offers, payouts in flight). Cancelling cannot be undone, and it is never gated by the close-out checklist.Archived
Archived is a legacy terminal state for filing away a delivered gig. Archived gigs stay viewable in your history. Archiving is not offered as a button on the close-out tab anymore — treat it as a background/historical state rather than a routine action.Template
A template is a reusable gig structure, saved from an existing gig and used to spin up new Draft gigs. Templates are best for recurring formats, repeat clients, and standard production packages. See Templates and duplication.Template save/use depends on the gig templates feature. If you expect templates but don’t see them, contact support.
Transition matrix
What gates settlement
Settling is the one transition with real guardrails, because it closes a gig on the books. To mark a gig Settled, all of the following must be true:1
The event has taken place
Settlement only becomes available after the event date — a gig has to be Completed first.
2
Every payout is settled
All crew payouts on the gig must have cleared. If any are still processing, the option reads “Settle all payouts in Finances first.” See payments.
3
The close-out checklist is complete (if your org enforces it)
When your organization turns on close-out enforcement, the settle-blocking checklist steps must be checked off. Until then, the option reads “Complete N close-out step(s) first.”
Cancelled vs. Archived
Both are terminal, but they mean different things and follow different rules:Permissions
Owners, admins, and gig coordinators manage lifecycle actions. Settling, un-settling, and cancelling need management access; the checklist override needs owner/admin. Template save and use additionally depend on the gig templates feature. Anyone invited to a gig can view its status.What copies from templates and duplicates
When a gig is duplicated or created from a template, Soundcheck can carry over:- Schedule and timing, rebased to the new date
- Setlists and songs
- Task phases and tasks
- Venue and resource details
- Crew invitation structure
- Notes and payment setup where applicable
Draft and publish
Prepare a gig, then set it Active.
Post-event closeout
The checklist, settle gate, and reviews.
Templates and duplication
Reuse gig structures safely.