Strong bounceback for Danish concert business

The Danish concert business has bounced back to near pre-pandemic attendance levels according to newly released figures, but several venues say they have suffered a drop in ticket sales.

The latest publication by Statistics Denmark reveals the number of concertgoers reached 7.4 million in 2022 – close to the 7.5m and 8.2m reported in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The total had dipped to 2.8m in the Covid-ravaged years of 2020 and 2021, according to data registered with national collection society KODA.

While trade body Dansk Live welcomes the positive momentum, it notes that several of its members have reported a downturn in ticket sales, with the situation remaining unchanged as of spring 2023.

“It bodes very well for the future in the live sector and shows that we have come back well after a few years which hit the organisers hard”

“It is very good news that the figures for 2022 are so positive,” says Dansk Live director Esben Marcher. “It bodes very well for the future in the live sector and shows that we have come back well after a few years which hit the organisers hard. However, we must not forget that there are still venues that experienced challenges in ticket sales as recently as spring 2023.”

In 2019, Denmark’s regional venues had 700,000 fans for 4,600 concerts, compared to 530,000 guests at 3,900 gigs last year. The same trend applied to the country’s other venues, where there were 850,000 concertgoers at 6,900 shows in 2019, which fell to 630,000 guests at 4,400 concerts in 2022.

The country’s music festivals fared better, however, attracting 1.3m guests in 2022, up slightly from 1.2m in the last pre-pandemic year.

“We hope that the concertgoers really return to the places that have experienced the number of visitors as sluggish”

“We hope that the concertgoers really return to the places that have experienced the number of visitors as sluggish, and that they too can again reach the same level as before corona,” adds Marcher. “In any case, we will follow developments closely.”

A previous Statistics Denmark study indicated the number of young people attending concerts in the country has increased significantly on pre-pandemic levels. The Culture Habit Survey showed that one in four of the population attended a gig in the second quarter of 2022, with 38% coming from the youngest age group (16-24 years) – up from 25% in 2019.

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