Market Report: Spain

Few markets are as vibrant or buoyant as Spain right now.

A lot of business comes via the territory’s status as a key market for the huge influx of Latin, trap, and urban music stars from across the Atlantic, plus there are a number of huge, well-established festivals that attract hundreds of thousands of fans annually.

“The surge in events, festivals, concerts, and international acts hitting Spain presents an exhilarating challenge, making it an incredibly exciting time for the market,” says Ana Valdovinos Valentin, GM of Ticketmaster Spain.

“The live music industry in Spain never ceases to amaze us”

“The live music industry in Spain never ceases to amaze us,” adds Sergio Arribas, account management team lead of DICE Spain. “According to the Association of Spanish Music Promoters (APM), in 2023, the live sector made a total income of €578m in ticket sales – a growth of 26% compared to 2022.

This growth seems to have no ceiling – it’s clear that culture and leisure are a fundamental pillar in the lives of Spanish people.”

Primary ticketing
Competition is strong here. The main companies by billing volume are Ticketmaster and entradas.com (acquired by Eventim in 2014), alongside El Corte Inglés – the grand chain of department stores.

Enterticket and Entradas a tu Alcance remain significant, but one important development is the acquisition of Spanish ticketing operator Tecteltic Online – the owner of Entradas a tu Alcance – by Vivaticket, a provider of integrated ticketing software solutions.

DICE also has a presence here. For the electronic scene, the market is shared between event discovery app Xceed, Resident Advisor, and several newer/local companies – Wegow, OneBox, and Tomaticket – which offer a range of digital platforms for promoters.

Distribution of sales
The enduring popularity of El Corte Inglés as a purchase point has helped prolong the life of physical tickets, especially with regard to older fans, but digital has fast become the standard.

“Digital tickets are at 80% across all events, and last year, we launched many digital-only events”

“Digital tickets are at 80% across all events, and last year, we launched many digital-only events,” says Valdovinos Valentin. “Ticket purchases are mostly made digitally, especially through online platforms and mobile applications, which are easy to use and convenient – there is a big trend towards the complete digitisation of the purchasing process,” adds Andrea Calleja, a promoter at Get In.

Secondary ticketing
The resale of tickets continues to worry promoters and fans alike, with Viagogo and StubHub prevalent, particularly with the most in-demand shows. To combat this, several companies have implemented regulated marketplaces and fan-to-fan platforms.

“One of the biggest initiatives we launched was EVENTIM.Pass, our groundbreaking digital ticket format designed to combat ticket fraud and resale,” says Jérôme Delagnes of Eventim. “This way, customers can securely manage their tickets exclusively through the entradas.com app.”

TicketSwap limits resale markups to 20% above face value, while DICE uses unique QR codes. “The user doesn’t get the QR code until two hours before the event to prevent bots from accessing the purchase of multiple tickets and reselling those QRs,” says Arribas

Cultural analysis
Innovation from ticketing companies is prevalent in Spain, no doubt due to the level of competition. “Some ticketing companies, like Ticketmaster, are already using dynamic ticketing and some have integrated diversified payment solutions or are starting to work with AI,” says Calleja.

Innovation from ticketing companies is prevalent in Spain, no doubt due to the level of competition.

Ticketmaster have also teamed up with Live Nation Spain for The Spanish Wave initiative, designed to bring more Spanish talent onto the global stage.

Eventim have introduced Ticket + Hotel + Train packages, enabling customers to book everything in a single, seamless transaction, while See Tickets recently incorporated the Cultural Bonus into their ticket purchasing options.

“This government initiative aims to promote the purchase of entertainment and cultural events among people who have just turned 18,” says the company’s Adriana García-Abril Ruiz. “They receive a bank card with a balance to spend on cultural and entertainment events.”