Which agencies booked Europe’s festival summer 2023?

Wasserman Music booked the most artists across Europe’s 2023 festival summer and CAA booked the most headliners, according to new analysis of 50 major festivals by music industry directory ROSTR and IQ.

In total, 4,700 artists took to stages across the 50 festivals, with the majority of artists represented by 34 agencies and Wasserman Music, UTA, CAA and WME occupying the top four slots. The same four agencies booked 60% of all headline performances.

A total of 146 headliners performed across the 50 top festivals, with Billie Eilish, Arctic Monkeys, and Rosalía topping the most bills (six each). And just 800 artists appeared on more than one lineup with Nothing but Thieves and Nova Twins appearing on the most (11 each).

In terms of music genres across the 50 European festivals, rock and indie artists accounted for the majority of performances, regardless of whether they were headlining or not. And while the research did not focus on the core of dance/ EDM festivals, the genre still accounts for more than pop and hip-hop combined, showing how popular it remains across mixed-bill events.

According to ROSTR, Wasserman now has the largest music roster of any agency in the world – 2,522 artists compared with 2,131 represented by CAA, 1,861 booked by UTA, and 1,489 represented by WME.

IQ and ROSTR’s full analysis, which includes detail about artist longevity, gender balance across lineups and more, appears in the new issue of IQ 122. You can read the digital edition of IQ 122 here.

ROSTR – a music industry directory, contacts, data and jobs platform – holds artist rosters, people, and company in formation for around 10,000 companies worldwide.

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