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Country Profile: Switzerland

The world’s leading promoters & the 70+ top markets they operate in.
Click the interactive map below to explore these global markets.

Switzerland is a prosperous market and a competitive one, with strong representation from all the major promoting groups. And while there is a strong hint of Germany about its corporate composition – Live Nation counts Switzerland as part of its GSA empire, and German groups CTS Eventim and DEAG are both powerful here – the inter-relationships are perhaps more peaceful.

“If I compare [ourselves] to our German colleagues, the market is very small, but it works very well,” Stefan Matthey, co-managing director of DEAG’s Good News Productions told IQ recently. “We talk to each other, sometimes we co-promote. It’s not a war situation like in Germany.”

For a country of 8.9m, Switzerland certainly packs in a lot of promoters, but then again, it gets a lot of shows. To greater or lesser degrees, German-speaking Zurich, Bern, Basel, and St. Gallen, and French-speaking Geneva, Lausanne, and Montreux are all important stops on the touring and festival circuits.

“If I compare [ourselves] to our German colleagues, the market is very small, but it works very well”

Takk ab Entertainment recently marked its first year as an entity, under a genuinely intriguing pan-generational management trinity of Takk’s Sebastien Vuignier (54) and Théo Quiblier (28), and Swiss concert pioneer André Béchir (75).

With the backing of CTS Eventim, the new company has this year handled two Taylor Swift shows at Zurich’s 50,000-capacity Letzigrund Stadium, sold out AC/DC at the same stadium in just eight minutes, and promoted a further 250 shows with artists such as Sam Smith, Jungle, Aurora, PJ Harvey, and The Last Dinner Party. It also booked acts for key Swiss festivals such as Montreux Jazz, Paléo, and Zurich Openair.

“With Seb and Théo, we can cover the whole field from young bands and young agents to the established bands and agents. We form a dream team,” Béchir recently told IQ. Next year’s shows include two for Ed Sheeran, in early August 2025.

Another leading Swiss promoter is Gadget abc Entertainment Group, a one-time indie, now another Eventim- backed big-hitter. Along with Takk, it was also involved in the two Taylor Swift shows, while its festival portfolio includes Stars In Town festival , OpenAir St. Gallen, Summerdays, Radar, Seaside, and Unique Moments.

“With Seb and Théo, we can cover the whole field from young bands and young agents to the established bands and agents. We form a dream team.”

Sister company act entertainment, meanwhile, runs a widely diversified entertainment business, with big concerts and major festivals alongside exhibitions, motorcycle extravaganzas, circuses, and comedians, in various languages. Its Greenfield Festival in Interlaken was headlined this year by Green Day, Bring Me The Horizon, and The Prodigy.

Live Nation includes Switzerland under its GSA arm – it brings Helene Fischer to Letzigrund next year – and also counts Mainland Music in its stable. Founded in 2012 by a group of independent operators including Christian Gremelmayr, Santosh Aerthott, Marc Lambelet, and Derrick Thomson, Mainland was acquired in 2019, and these days organises more than 650 shows annually from Zurich and Lausanne, with Thomson in charge.

Good News Productions is a longstanding promoter with a new plan. It rebuilt its team this year with the addition of Gremelmayr and Aerthott from Mainland, and positioned itself as Switzerland’s foremost rock specialist, with shows coming up with Slipknot, Pantera, and Sum 41.

Geneva’s Live Music Production, also part-owned by DEAG since 2019, mixes concerts, comedy, and other touring musical shows for the French-speaking part of Switzerland, including the Sion sous les étoiles festival in July.

There are independents in the market, too. Winterthur’s Sheeran-promoting AllBlues Konzert marks 30 years in 2024, on the back of a strong year with shows by José González, Brad Mehldau, and others.

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Take That at Baloise Session, with only 1,500 seats”

Promoter and artist booking agency Soldout Productions remains independent 18 years since it launched, and this year acquired its first outdoor festival, the long-established Caribana, which takes place in Crans on Lake Geneva.

Switzerland has many festivals, from Paléo to Montreux to St. Gallen, and does a good line in refined concert series. Act launched a new boutique music festival in Zurich this summer, the Waterfront Festival at Kongresshaus Zurich, with performers including Stephan Eicher, Katie Melua, and the Gipsy Kings.

Baloise Session in Basel, with its small-scale, supper-club feel, plots a course through pop, rock, jazz, and world music every October and November. “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Take That at Baloise Session, with only 1,500 seats,” says Beatrice Stirnimann, the event’s CEO. “This show will be an absolute blast. As well as the rest of this year’s lineup with shooting star Teddy Swims and superstars Seal, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, St. Vincent, Jacob Collier, and Robert Plant, who presents his new project Saving Grace feat. Suzi Dian. And as things look now, we probably will again reach a 100% sell out this year. As one of the few independent festivals in Switzerland and as a boutique festival, we are very proud of this result.”

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