Market Report: Luxembourg
Luxembourg is both a market in its own right and also a destination market for concertgoers from neighbouring Belgium, France, Germany, and the nearby Netherlands.
Primary ticketing
Major players in the country are Eventim, Luxembourg Ticket, Fnac, and Ticketmatic. Ticketmaster has an online presence in the market primarily through its Belgian subsidiary. Rockhal is the country’s biggest venue and, via Ticketmatic, handles the lion’s share of its own ticketing, outsourcing some inventory to Digitick, Luxembourg Ticket, Reservix, and Ticketmaster.
Distribution of sales
Olivier Toth, Rockhal’s CEO, says “a high percentage” of ticket sales are now digital, with “a very small percentage, although a persistent percentage” of concertgoers buying physical tickets.
“A high percentage” of ticket sales are now digital, with “a very small percentage, although a persistent percentage” of concertgoers buying physical tickets.
Value of market
Valued at $14.2m in 2024 by Statista, the sector is expected to climb to $14.9m by 2028.
Despite a very high GDP per capita, Toth says Luxembourg is “not a market that would have a strong history with very high ticket prices.” While customers will travel from neighbouring countries, price sensitivity is still a major focus.
“Luxembourg is “not a market that would have a strong history with very high ticket prices.””
“Our average ticket price in the first semester of this year was €46.35,” says Toth. “People pay attention to ticket prices.”
Secondary ticketing
Toth says secondary ticketing happens on a tiny scale.
International/domestic splits & genres
Because the country is small, and because French, Belgian, and German acts will regularly play here (almost as an extension of their home markets), defining “domestic” and “international” is complicated. Toth says that truly domestic Luxembourgish acts make up under 5% of Rockhal’s total headline shows in a year.
Truly domestic Luxembourgish acts make up under 5% of Rockhal’s total headline shows in a year.
For Rockhal, around 20% of acts are metal and around 19% are pop. French-speaking/French-origin pop is counted as its own category and makes up roughly 9% of sales. After that, rock has 16%, clubbing/electronic is 9%, and comedy around 7%.
Cultural analysis
Toth says, “This year, we sold 41.5% of our tickets to people based in Luxembourg.” After that, 28% of sales go to France, 15.5% to Germany, and 14.5% to Belgium.
Taxes & charges
For many years, the VAT rate on concert tickets has been 3%.
Country Profile: Luxembourg
Luxembourg is one of the smaller countries in Europe – both by landmass and population – but its geographical position makes it unique as it works as an extension territory for touring acts from neighbouring France, Germany, and Belgium. It also draws in live music fans from all those markets.
“Our target audience, as we see it, is not the 650,000 people living in Luxembourg – it’s the 11m people living in what we call the greater region, which is neighbouring parts of Germany, neighbouring parts of France, and big neighbouring parts of Belgium,” says Olivier Toth, CEO of the Rockhal venue and one of the country’s main promoters.
As such, the market punches well above its weight, and Toth says major international acts like Sam Smith, Calvin Harris, Simple Minds, MC Solaar, Bob Sinclair, Garbage, and Scorpions all played Rockhal this year.
“Our target audience, as we see it, is not the 650,000 people living in Luxembourg – it’s the 11m people living in what we call the greater region”
The venue has rooms of multiple sizes so it can attract a broad range of acts (both in music and comedy), but its outdoor space was consciously not used this year. Even so, Toth says that “the first part of the year has been very successful” for the company.
Michel Welter, managing partner at A-Promotions (which also operates the 1,200-capacity den Atelier venue in Luxembourg City), has prioritised outdoor concerts in recent years, notably with the Luxexpo Open-Air series of shows, bringing in names like Arctic Monkeys and Robbie Williams.
“The summer open-air shows have growing importance in our business,” he says. “We are always on the lookout for new open-air opportunities. I think festivals will definitely [slide] in importance, but headline open-air shows for me are the go-to format.”
Welter gives an example of how the Luxembourgish live market is growing and why acts should prioritise it on their tours. In late June, Smashing Pumpkins played Luxexpo Open-Air, selling 8,000 tickets. They had originally been booked into Rockhal (with a 6,000 capacity), but sales were so strong the show was moved. “That was a tremendous result given that last time we did 4,000 at the Rockhal was over ten years ago.”
“We are a very small market in the end, but we do have potential.”
Toth says that Luxembourg is a “commuter” market, which means a large percentage of ticket sales are to people who do not live in the country but who work there or who can easily travel there.
Welter adds that this means the market is growing in profile. “Luxembourg is nowhere near an A market, like Frankfurt, Cologne, or Brussels,” he says. “But maybe, I can be so arrogant as to say that we have moved from a C market to a B market.”
Historically, Luxembourg was treated as a “filler” stop on tours when acts were travelling between bigger European markets. It is now, however, becoming a destination in its own right.
“We are a very small market in the end,” says Welter, “but we do have potential.”
Arena Market: Luxembourg
It may be one of the smaller countries in Europe by population but Luxembourg is in a unique position geographically where it can draw in concertgoers from Germany, France, and Belgium (who all touch its borders) and nearby Netherlands.
This means the government-owned Rockhal, which opened in September 2005, has a distinctive and broad catchment area. Olivier Toth, Rockhal’s CEO, says half of all ticket sales for events come from outside of Luxembourg (mainly split between the neighbouring countries listed above).
“Sometimes the big names would [rather] play here in a small-size venue [than in] our big-capacity colleagues,” he says of the appeal for fans to travel to the venue.
This is amplified further by the fact that promoters from neighbouring territories will include Rockhal in their acts’ touring plans (and the venue will also book certain acts directly).
The venue itself is also unique, made up of the Rockhal Café (80), Rockhal Floor (200–250), the Club (1,500), and the main arena (2,700 fully seated, 4,500–4,700 seated/standing, 6,500 fully standing). It also has the option to host events outside with a capacity of 11,000, with acts such as The Killers and Imagine Dragons among those playing there in 2022.
“The range of capabilities of the venue is unique in Europe,” says Toth. “It is a very interesting market and a very eclectic market. And it’s a market where even promoters [in neighbouring countries] have recognised an interest to promote an additional show at Rockhal because it opens their reach to other customers and other fans than it would if just promoting in their country.”
Music is a big part of its business, but it also includes comedy (although if the comedians do their shows in French or German that will affect the size of the potential audience) and family shows. Les Misérables, for example, is booked in for a run of shows in October.
“There’s a cultural mission that comes with what we do, which is to serve different niches of audience and offer our audience the chance to discover new acts at a very early stage of their career.”
Toth says 2023 was a strong year for the venue, despite having fewer high-capacity shows in the main room than normal. More bookings at the Club helped boost numbers, but overall ticket sales were around 260,000 for the year, down by around 10% from the average. He does say, however, that 2024 will reverse that with more acts booked into the main arena, including Simple Minds, Mika, Body Count, Garbage, and Jason Derulo.
The multiple rooms allow Rockhal to have a more eclectic booking policy. “In the small room, quite often we … go after diversity in genres and serve niches,” says Toth. “There’s a cultural mission that comes with what we do, which is to serve different niches of audience and offer our audience the chance to discover new acts at a very early stage of their career.”
That carries over into the RockLab initiative to serve as an incubator for Luxembourgish acts.
As it approaches its 20th anniversary next year, Rockhal has been updating and renovating the different venues within it, including putting a U-shaped balcony in the Club and investing in new sound and lighting systems to ensure it can keep capitalising on its unique offering, both in terms of location and multitude of different rooms.