Country Profile: Serbia

EXIT Festival in Novi Sad marks its 25th anniversary next year and has most assuredly put Serbia on the international touring map. EXIT’s management calls itself “the most influential national promoter” in the country, which has “grown significantly over the years.” It is hard to argue against the enormous impact it has had.

Dmitry Zaretsky is co-founder of Honeycomb Live and has put on shows recently by international acts such as La Femme, Yungblud, and Bombay Bicycle Club, but by far the biggest was Ed Sheeran, who played Ušće Park in August 2024.

He says Serbia not being part of the EU makes it difficult for large trucks crossing the border with production equipment (with border checks being time-consuming), meaning many acts will skip the country. He also says there are few venues in between the 800-capacity and 20,000, so only small or huge acts can play there. However, he says the new 4,000-capacity Sava Centar (which opened in September 2024) is a much- needed addition, even if it is all seated.

“Most tours have been avoiding Serbia in the last two decades, but we feel it is very open to new music and new business.”

“Serbia is a great bridge between Hungary, Croatia, and Greece, especially in the summer,” Zaretsky says. “Most tours have been avoiding Serbia in the last two decades, but we feel it is very open to new music and new business.”

Sara Gigante, general manager at Charm Music Belgrade, agrees – to a point. “When I arrived in Serbia in 2018, the situation was a little bit healthier than nowadays, because Serbia was not so geopolitically isolated as today – meaning there was no hard border from all the sides,” she says.

She has brought acts like Dead Can Dance and Iron Maiden into the country but admits “as an independent promoter, it is becoming harder and harder” to operate. The government is more interested in sports and sports venues than music, and this is a constant challenge. “So we are left with two or three venues in total,” she says. “And with the wrong capacity.”

Zaretsky says Serbia has “one of the fastest growing economies in mainland Europe,” and ticket prices have gone up by 15-20% in recent years, but this is not pushing attendees away.

“Millennials are gradually representing a smaller percentage of event attendees, while Generation Z is starting to dominate – and soon, Generation Alpha will also come into play,”

“Millennials are gradually representing a smaller percentage of event attendees, while Generation Z is starting to dominate – and soon, Generation Alpha will also come into play,” says EXIT management. “As a result, we can expect the rise of new artists, genres, formats, and standards.”

The biggest change, however, is the growing number of Russians, many leaving their home country in protest at its political system and the war in Ukraine, moving to Serbia.

“This has created a new trend, which is promoting Russian bands in Serbia for Russian audiences, with considerably higher ticket prices,” says Gigante. “Generally, the coming of the Russians has also encouraged us as promoters to raise the ticket prices for the acts that appeal to Russians.”

Key genres in Serbia include electronic music, long-standing rock and pop, hip-hop (which is rising sharply, with lots of local acts blending Balkan sounds with hip-hop beats), and a local genre called turbo-folk (which mixes traditional Serbian folk music with pop and electronica).