If we asked you to design a poster for a music festival and gave you a bunch of names, how do you think you would arrange them in order to maximise visibility for your artists and get people to buy tickets? Alphabetical order? Biggest names at the top and smallest at the bottom?

If you went with the latter, you just opened a huge can of worms. While many of us are familiar with the logistical nightmare involved with arranging festival set times, according to a new report from Billboard, the billing order on the festival poster is an equally stressful proposition.

According to Billboard, the festival industry is rife with arguments over seemingly microscopic differences in font size. While they may seem inconsequential to you, the dimensions and placement of an artist’s name on a festival poster is a matter of extreme importance to talent buyers, acts, and agents.

“We spend considerable time and resources working out the best placement possible,” Windish Agency president Tom Windish tells Billboard. While few agents will admit it, billing is ranked just below fees and time slots as a deal point for talent bookings.

“When you list 50 acts, who goes before who can be a big issue, especially if there are bands who have history. It’s a little like dodgeball in grade school, where you don’t want to be last,” says one industry insider. Often, sorting out the billing order can be like herding cats for promoters.

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“The poster comes out, the artist complains to the manager, the manager complains to the agent, and the agent has to complain to the promoter. It’s all part of the dance we all love,” recounts Jordan Wolowitz, partner in Governor’s Ball/Farmborough producer Founders Entertainment.

“A couple GovBalls ago, I had a very legitimate act formally pull off the festival the day before our announce, because they hated their billing,” Wolowitz adds. “My initial reaction was to tell them to piss off — respectfully — but, luckily, good judgment kicked in and I acquiesced to their wishes.”

The act’s wishes? “To be moved three spots up from where they were.” Yes, just three spots and the act was happy to play the event. “It was kind of hilarious, actually,” admits Wolowitz. “From then on, I have had a line in my offers that clearly states billing is solely at my discretion.”

While arranging names on a music festival poster is not an exact science, there is a certain amount of logic and reasoning involved. Many variables are at play, but generally each act’s placement depends on their ticket-selling ability, which also determined how much each act is paid.

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But things get even more complicated when you factor in multi-genre events like Coachella, which have a diverse range of acts and artists playing on the one bill. “I don’t want three hip-hop acts next to each other, or four hard-rock acts,” Wolowitz points out.

While it may seem petty for an agent to force a stalemate over a font size, a major reason why agents place such importance on the highest possible billing is because an act’s position on one festival could determine how much it is valued by the next and ultimately determine how much money they receive.

Some of the fiercest negotiations take place in the world of EDM, forcing Insomniac/Electric Daisy Carnival founder Pasquale Rotella to come up with a democratic solution: alphabetical order, an approach Wolowitz has adapted as well. “That was a fight, too,” he claims. “But we said, ‘Hey, if this doesn’t work for you, you don’t need to play.'”

Of course, not every agent is as willing to spend time and effort micromanaging a font size. “We argue about lineups, times, and who goes in front of who, but ultimately what has to happen is the festival be successful and [the artists] get to play in front of a ton of people,” says Rob Beckham, co-head of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment’s Nashville office.

“The stars are what drive sales. Outside of that, if you look at the size of the names on the poster, does that really matter? No. You still have to deliver, no matter where you are on the poster,” he adds, and we’re inclined to agree.

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