Expenses vs. Transfers
An expense is a type of transaction that gets subtracted from the income to find the net; typically these are production costs, manufacturing, PR, freight, videos, etc.
A transfer is directly credited to or debited from a payee's ledger balance, without regard to a payee split; typically these are for advances, tour support, merch, etc.
If it's not made clear in the contract, typically anytime a transaction involves a payee directly, it's a transfer.
Examples below; the first one shows -$50 as an expense, the second as a transfer:
$100 income
-$50 expense
= $50 net
* 50% payee split
= $25 payee share
no transfers
= $25 payee balance
-$50 expense
= $50 net
* 50% payee split
= $25 payee share
no transfers
= $25 payee balance
vs.
$100 income
no expenses
= $100 net
* 50% payee split
= $50 payee share
-$50 transfer
= $0 payee balance
no expenses
= $100 net
* 50% payee split
= $50 payee share
-$50 transfer
= $0 payee balance