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Country Profile: Austria

The world’s leading promoters & the 55 top markets they operate in.
Click the interactive map below to explore the top 55 global markets.

Bordering Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Czechia, Austria is a major European live centre with a prosperous population and a strong pull beyond its own borders.

After many years of notable independence, it now provides a microcosm of the broader corporate battle, as its biggest players have steadily folded into the major groups in recent years.

Arcadia Live was created in 2015 on the foundations of Filip Potocki and Bernhard Kaufmann’s full-service Arcadia operation, with backing from German players FKP, Four Artists Booking Agency, Chimperator Live, and KKT. Trentemøller, Sleaford Mods, and James Blunt are all in the calendar, and Rammstein sold out the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in July, while the new Lido Sounds festival in third city Linz in June featured punk veterans Die Toten Hosen, Florence + the Machine, and German dancehall star Peter Fox.

This year, much like last, Barracuda sold around a million tickets to 350 events, including shows with Pink, Robbie Williams, Muse, Måneskin, Machine Gun Kelly, Bryan Adams, Björk, and Van Morrison.

Through its FKP connection, Arcadia falls under the banner of CTS Eventim, as does Barracuda Music which, having formed in 2016 from leading Austrian indies Skalar, Red Snapper, and NuCoast Entertainment, sold a 71% stake to Eventim in December 2019.

This year, much like last, Barracuda sold around a million tickets to 350 events, including shows with Pink, Robbie Williams, Muse, Måneskin, Machine Gun Kelly, Bryan Adams, Björk, and Van Morrison.

Barracuda also assumes a powerful position in the festival market with its Nova Rock and FM4 Frequency events. The former, Austria’s key rock festival, drew 225,000 to Nickelsdorf over four days in June, with Slipknot, Disturbed, Sum 41 and Incubus on the bill. Frequency, in the north-eastern city of St Pölten, draws around 140,000 a year for a dance, rock, and hip-hop fusion – Imagine Dragons, Die Ärzte, and Macklemore were among the 2023 headliners.

“Especially on the festival market, we are in the very comfortable situation of having solid festival brands in perfect locations at still very comparable ticket prices,” Barracuda Music CEO Ewald Tatar told IQ in March. “Nova Rock and Frequency Festival have some of the best lineups in Europe this year at a very competitive price; same with our smaller festivals that we promote at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt and Clam Castle.”

“Especially on the festival market, we are in the very comfortable situation of having solid festival brands in perfect locations at still very comparable ticket prices.”

Goodlive joined the global Live Nation family in September 2022, alongside its Berlin-based festival, booking, and services-focused parent. Shows this year have included George Ezra, Cigarettes After Sex, Tove Lo, and Paolo Nutini.

Live Nation has its own Austrian presence under the aegis of Live Nation GSA – Harry Styles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (all at the Ernst-Happel- Stadion) and Depeche Mode (at 28 Black Arena in Klagenfurt) have made up some of the highlights of this year’s schedule.

Against such displays of global power, independents are relatively scarce in Austria, though there remain some. Alex Nussbaumer of al-x, long-term promoter of Iggy Pop and The Cure, has consistently decried a globalised, corporatised approach to live music, believing it will ultimately disenfranchise the audience.

“The problem is that the diversity will be gone,” Nussbaumer told IQ earlier this year.

Another staunch independent of a different kind, is boutique artist agency Georg Leitner Productions, which has been in operation for 44 years, with an international footprint and strong line in legends, family shows, exhibitions, and tribute acts.

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