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In economic terms, these are technically times of stagnation in Germany, with growth, productivity, and innovation flatlining, highlighting decades of underinvestment, heavy debt, and changing demographics.
Euro 2024, meanwhile, took a big chunk of the population’s entertainment budget this summer: of 2.7m tickets sold for the tournament’s 51 matches, 56% of them were sold to Germans, according to Nielsen Sports. As a result, the year has been a trickier one for promoters in Europe’s largest market.
That said, let nobody suggest that there isn’t money to be made in ambitious German shows – of which none was more ambitious than Adele’s residency in Munich, which hit the record books for the highest attendance of any concert residency outside Las Vegas, the world’s biggest temporary arena and the largest continuous LED wall, at 220m long and 4,159.7m2 in area.
“The Adele residency has been the absolute highlight of the year,” says Marek Lieberberg, CEO of Live Nation GSA, which brought 730,000 fans to a specially constructed stadium at the Munich Messe across ten shows in August.
“The Adele residency has been the absolute highlight of the year”
“The unique performances combined perfectly with the special atmosphere of Munich, and her music, the fans, and the city came together in a way that is rarely experienced – a joyful, cheerful, and peaceful pre-Oktoberfest. I believe that
something historic was created here in our fast-moving age that will have a big impact for a long time to come.”
Of Live Nation’s other memorable German moments this year, Lieberberg tips his hat to Coldplay’s three Munich and three Dusseldorf shows, two more Munich shows for Metallica (in the round at the Olympiastadion), and a sold-out run of Travis Scott dates in Frankfurt, Cologne, and Hamburg.
Taylor Swift also came to Germany, of course, for seven shows – in Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, and Munich, with FKP Scorpio and Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion working with AEG Presents on promoting duties – while fellow big-hitters Semmel Concerts racked up stadium shows for Herbert Grönemeyer, outdoor concerts for Roland Kaiser, and, just announced, a new international arena show for Hans Zimmer Live – The Next Level, for 2025 and 2026.
In other words, the big guys – promoters and artists – are doing good business, but they are working hard for it, and there is a sense among established promoters that these are times for new strategies and serious focus.
“Being realistic with expectations and mindful about pricing and production is key.”
Of the corporates, CTS Eventim is behind some of Germany’s (and the world’s) biggest players, including Semmel Concerts, FKP Scorpio, DreamHaus, Peter Rieger Konzertagentur (PRK), and regional promoters ARGO Konzerte, Dirk Becker Entertainment, and Promoters Group Munich.
“The market is strong but there is a lot for people to chose from,” says Semmel Concerts’ Sina Hall. “Being realistic with expectations and mindful about pricing and production is key. It’s harder for newer acts because large numbers of big artist touring is pulling money out of the market.”
She says the firm has been seeing success through “Being able to market to the mainstream but also being more specialised, and driving marketing efforts nationally rather than locally is key. Combining this with a set out return plan to the market has proven successful.”
PRK and DreamHaus announced in September that they were merging to form PRK DreamHaus in order to “create additional synergies, optimise management structures, and drive growth even more effectively.” The new firm will be led jointly by Klaus-Peter Matziol and Matt Schwarz, the current managing directors of Cologne-based PRK and Berlin-based DreamHaus respectively, with Tobi Habla as an additional MD.
“Being able to market to the mainstream but also being more specialised, and driving marketing efforts nationally rather than locally is key.”
Since launching in 2020, DreamHaus has set out its stall not only as a festival heavyweight, with Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, but as a major promoter of German talent, much of it in the hip-hop field.
“Working with domestic talent allows us to contribute on a much deeper level compared to international tours,” says Schwarz. “Often, we take on the role of tour producer, collaborating closely with the artists to design, plan, and execute the tour together, from the show’s concept to its production, which makes the entire experience incredibly exciting.” German rap artists like Apache 207, Kontra K, and Luciano have sold-out arena tours with DreamHaus this year.
The promoter also stages Germany’s Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals, which respectively celebrate 40th and 30th anniversaries next year. Schwarz reports record-breaking presales, with 100,000 weekend passes sold for both events.
“Legacy festivals are increasingly in demand,” he says. “Festivalgoers are drawn to long-established events, appreciating the tradition and familiarity they offer, and Rock am Ring and Rock im Park exemplify this.”
In August, Berlin-based live entertainment giant DEAG delivered a positive financial report for the first half of 2024, with revenue up to €132.7m despite a challenging economic environment in Europe.
“Legacy festivals are increasingly in demand”
DEAG has promoters and festival properties all over Germany, from Frankfurt’s Wizard Live and Munich’s Global Concerts to one of Europe’s most significant EDM promoters, I-Motion. Its festivals here include Nature One in Kastellaun, Mayday in Dortmund, and Ruhr-in-Love in Oberhausen.
Wizard Live (formerly Wizard Promotions) celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, with shows including AC/DC, TOTO, Scorpions, Judas Priest, and Jack Savoretti. The company has also newly divided its operation into four divisions – shows/ touring, marketing, brand/music connector, and artist development – reshaping its approach from pure concert organiser to “all-round, worry-free service provider.” Managing director Oliver Hoppe says promoters can’t simply offer the same response to changing artist needs.
“Some artists need more help in marketing; some just need somebody to take care of logistics for them, like a production team would; some need help with legal or ticketing,” he told IQ this summer. “It depends on where the artist is in their cycle. But I think the full package is not going to be relevant to everyone in the market, moving forward.”
It is clear that things are changing. Traditionally, Germany operated a system of national and local promoters, and while that set-up remains in place, in a globalised world, some of those conventions are rapidly being chipped away.
“Some artists need more help in marketing; some just need somebody to take care of logistics for them, like a production team would; some need help with legal or ticketing.”
“It has become very complex,” DEAG’s Detlef Kornett told IQ’s recent German market report. “More and more, tours go direct without really involving a local promoter, and then there are the local promoters that develop into production and touring companies, and a certain segment are going the other way. This whole industry is in flux and has become a lot more complicated.”
While the groups contain much of the German business, there still remain independents, including Berlin’s MCT Agentur, which bridges everything from clubs to Rammstein and Robbie Williams shows; Hamburg’s Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion, busy this year with Taylor Swift and its annual Stadtpark shows; and Berlin’s Landstreicher Booking, with its great strength in domestic artists.
MCT Agentur, which has tours this year with artists such as Moby, Nadine Shah, and Trentemøller, this summer elevated Asita Sadeghian and Kristin Schulz to co-MDs, working alongside founder and owner Scumeck Sabottka.
Max Wentzler, of Berlin-based indie Z|ART, urges artists not to believe the lament that small shows are hopeless, pointing to successful international shows from 100 to 5,000 tickets.
“If you apply one way of working to so many artists, which is what I would say the big, ticket company-driven promoters do, then it’s difficult to innovatively come up with strategies for different artists,” he recently told IQ. “But that’s where I think we are very fortunate that we are an independent. We are like a speedboat – we can make individual trips. And the others are like the Royal Caribbean, which takes five days to turn around.”
“In Germany, it feels like people are not so into those regular three-day camping festivals”
Another area where market shifts are making the business think differently is that of festivals, where German events demonstrate significant volume but high risks. Goodlive’s 20,000-cap alternative fest MELT was the major casualty of this year, bowing out in July and acknowledging that it “no longer fits into the German festival market.”
“In Germany, it feels like people are not so into those regular three-day camping festivals,” says Karsten Jahnke MD Ben Mitha. “There seems to be a trend that people like a little bit more comfort, so they only buy a day ticket or else they go to city festivals rather than the good old get-super-wasted- and-sleep-in-tents festivals.”
Even if that is the general direction of travel, there is clearly no room for complacency anywhere in the market. Even those with unflagging appeal, including rock monoliths such as Wacken Open Air, Rock am Ring/Rock im Park, and twin FKP festivals Hurricane and Southside, have inevitably found the going tougher in recent years, whether as a result of rising costs or challenging weather.
“Costs are rising, year on year, by at least 10% to 15%,” said Goodlive’s Fruzsina Szép, festival director of Superbloom in Munich and parent company Live Nation’s Lollapalooza Berlin, as the festival season approached. “The challenge, not only for Goodlive but all German festivals, is that we can’t raise the ticket price every year – we simply can’t do it.”
FKP co-CEO Stephan Thanscheidt agrees that keeping music accessible is critical if the industry is to thrive. “Not excluding anyone from live culture for financial reasons is the most important challenge of our time, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult due to the small margins and high risk of our industry.”