The Global Promoters Report, a first-of-its-kind resource that highlights the world’s leading promoters and the 40 top markets they operate in, is now available to subscribers of IQ.

In an excerpt from the guide, IQ delves into one of Europe’s most influential markets: France.

As one of Europe’s major international touring markets, trends in France have repercussions across the continent. The market prognosis in 2022 is very much a mixed bag. Recovery from Covid after long periods of shutdown was beginning to happen only to crash headfirst into growing energy costs and a mounting economic crisis in the country. There are plenty of things to be optimistic about in the sector, but the severe challenges impacting live music cannot be ignored.

As in most European markets, the international heavyweights in France are Live Nation and AEG Presents. Live Nation runs Lollapalooza and Afropunk festivals in the capital, as well as I Love Techno Europe and Main Square. International touring acts it brought in during 2022 included The Rolling Stones, Jack Harlow, Sting, Chainsmokers, and Lil Nas X, with Bring Me The Horizon, You Me At Six, The Vamps, Lizzo, and Sam Smith booked for 2023 as well as stadium shows in Paris with Beyoncé, Metallica and The Weeknd.

AEG Presents runs the Rock en Seine festival, and acts it booked for 2022 included Suede and Olivia Rodrigo. Acts confirmed for 2023 include Tom Brennan, Yungblud, and Celine Dion.

Take Me Out is a new local entrant in the French market, launching in February 2022. Bookings this year include The Amazons, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, and The Libertines, with We Are Scientists, North Mississippi Allstars, Circa Waves, and The Slow Readers Club booked for next year.

Corida Group (incorporating Corida, Super!, The Talent Boutique. and Pi-Pôle) is the live music arm of the Because Group and acquired a 50% stake in the Pitchfork Paris festival promoter Super! in 2018. Super! also runs the Villette Sonique festival.

“Unlike other countries, we were lucky enough to benefit from government subsidies during most of the pandemic”

Alias Production brought acts such as Courtney Barnett, Mogwai, Confidence Man, Franz Ferdinand, and Youssou N’Dour to play in 2022. Its bookings for 2023 include dEUS, The War on Drugs, Yo La Tengo, Lewis Capaldi, and Robbie Willims.

“Unlike other countries, we were lucky enough to benefit from government subsidies during most of the pandemic, which has protected companies and saved many jobs, so there hasn’t been too much damage across the industry,” says Emma Greco, promoter at AEG Presents in Paris.

“However, the French political climate is heated as we’re facing new challenges with the rise of energy prices, shortages of gas, and the high cost of living, all causing new waves of protest and strikes.”

She says touring costs are shooting up, with transportation costs in particular up 20% this year. There is also a skills and equipment shortage, caused in part by the pandemic, as infrastructure companies closed/downscaled and skilled workers were forced to leave the business and seek work elsewhere. As more acts race to get back on the road in France, there is still not enough staff or enough equipment to go around.

“All the sound and lighting providers were out of stock in recent months, meaning we have sometimes had to turn to our EU neighbours,” explains Greco.

“All the sound and lighting providers were out of stock in recent months, meaning we have had to turn to our EU neighbours”

Jean-Louis Schell, promoter at Take Me Out, believes there is also an oversaturation in the market. He says that 20 years ago, around 150 international acts were touring in France each year; now it is over 1,000.

“We have the same number of venues, maybe more small clubs with free entry, but there are the same number of people buying tickets and inflation is increasing; even if it is less than in other territories, 5.6% is still huge,” he says. “Students and young people generally have less money.”

Arnaud Meersseman, general manager of AEG Presents and programmer at Rock en Seine, says increases in ticket prices and acts touring too frequently are causing severe problems in the market.

“Large venues with more than 5,000 capacity have seen ticketing go up by 19% compared to 2019, but small venues have seen a drop of 38%, and medium venues have seen a drop of 26%,” he says. “Those medium and small bands that are in the middle, they’re all touring at the same time. They are probably not that new, they’ve probably been around for a while, people have seen them, and they’re on their second or third record. If you miss them this time around, well, that’s fine; you can see them the next time they come around.”

Pascal Bernardin of Encore Productions lays out the scale of the challenges as he sees them. “I’m lucky that my business is outside France,” he says of the state of the domestic market. “If I look at promoters, it’s been hard, and I’m not sure when it will come back. Festivals did okay, and the big ones did very, very well. A lot of smaller festivals did not do so well. A lot of people complain about the cost, which is getting higher.”

The average ticket price for major shows in France is €120-130 so consumers cannot afford to go to more shows more frequently

What this all means is that smaller acts and acts in the middle are struggling the most, with Schell suggesting audiences are increasingly waiting until the last minute to buy tickets. “It forces the promoters to increase their promo expenses, so the breaking point becomes more difficult to reach,” he says. “Stadiums and arenas are filling – or at least most of them are.”

And, of course, the impact of Brexit on British acts touring in France (and elsewhere in Europe) remains an issue. “The ATA carnets are a pain for young bands,” says Schell, “so we mainly look for venues and festivals providing backline.”

For the biggest acts, their popularity insulates them to an extent. Meersseman points to Blackpink and other K-pop superstars as creating their own centre of gravity in the French market. “We find that it is doing exceptionally well with very high ticket prices,” he says, especially with regard to upsell options. “If you get the full VIP package and you’re two people, you can be spending up to €2,000 on the show.”

Meersseman also suggests the average ticket price for major shows in France is €120-130, and that means big acts scoop most of the money, and consumers cannot afford to go to more shows more frequently. “Once you spend that times two, you’re not going to be spending much on tickets for the rest of the month,” he says.

Meersseman also feels there is something of a touring arms race happening at the upper levels at the moment that will greatly impact on the future shape of the market.

“To bring in a bigger show costs a fortune, therefore you raise ticket prices”

“The competition is so intense because of the volume of touring that acts need to bring in bigger and bigger shows – but everything costs more and more,” he says. “To bring in a bigger show costs a fortune, therefore you raise ticket prices. Other acts think they should raise ticket prices and bring in a bigger show. It’s a vicious circle, and I don’t think it’s leading to anything very good.”

The processes of breaking acts across France are, however, beginning to change, even amid the market uncertainty outlined above. “We start off with a club show or a tastemaker event,” says Meersseman. “Agents love putting all their acts through Primavera and then having a soft launch for all the acts at the same time in June. We try to avoid that if we can. From there on, we’ll usually give them a good slot at our festival, Rock en Seine, to try to build them up from there. Then we’ll try to get them back in for a bigger Paris show. After that we will try to get them back for some regional shows and regional festivals. France is such a centralised country, that if you don’t break Paris, you’ll never be able to venture into the regions. Paris is the key to opening up everything.”

Greco says that breaking Paris is only the start and that promoters really need to be thinking and acting locally. “I think it’s important to build an artist outside of Paris – whether it’s through festivals or regional shows,” she says. “There’s not always time for it, but I believe it’s an important step when building an artist in our market.”

“If you don’t break Paris, you’ll never be able to venture into the regions”

International acts that have performed well in terms of touring are varied. Schell mentions Peter Doherty and Kasabian as recent successes, adding that French hip-hop acts are now selling tickets on a par with some of the biggest international acts, suggesting an interesting domestic/foreign split in the live market.

Greco points to Fred Again, who sold 1,600 tickets in two minutes for his show at Elysée Montmartre, and Olivia Rodrigo’s first show in France at the Zenith in June 2022 exceeded expectations.

Meersseman says, beyond a range of K-pop acts and major international stars like Robbie Williams and Tyler, The Creator doing well, there is a revival of interest in pop-punk from the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Hella Mega Tour (featuring Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer) sold out the 35,000-capacity La Défense Arena in July 2022. Meanwhile, The Offspring have sold out the Zenith in Nantes and were already close to selling out the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, with both shows not happening until May 2023.

Parts of the market are struggling and other parts of the market are over-indexing. This dynamic looks unlikely to change for a while, with suggestions that, with many postponed shows running into next year, it might not be until 2023 that the live market in France fully recalibrates itself.

The Global Promoters Report is published in print, digitally, and all content is also available as a year-round resource on the IQ site. The Global Promoters Report includes key summaries of the major promoters working across 40+ markets, unique interviews and editorial on key trends and developments across the global live music business.

To access all content from the current Global Promoters Report, please click here.

French promoter Take Me Out has launched new indie night They’re Gonna Be Big (TGBB), which is dedicated to giving emerging international acts their first show in Paris and securing them a place on the company’s roster.

Take Me Out officially launched in early 2022 as a collaboration between concert organiser Speakeasy and Paris rock club Supersonic, which hosts the recurring theme night.

Run by live music industry veteran Jean-Louis Schell, Speakeasy worked with acts such as The Libertines and Kasabian, while Supersonic has welcomed the likes of Yungblud, The Warlocks, Nick Olivieri and Soccer Mommy.

“The idea behind Take Me out is to build on the strengths of both companies to spot talent early on and book their gigs on French territory,” Schell told IQ earlier this year. “The plan is to take artists way beyond small-sized venues such as the Supersonic.”

“The plans are to organise five to six nights a year”

TGBB hosts five bands over two stages: the 300-cap club and 140-cap Supersonic record store two doors down. Recent acts have included English Teacher, Memes, Courting, Pale Blue Eyes and Honeyglaze.

The club night returns on 24 August with Jaws The Shark, Hallan and The Rills, with more names to be announced.

“The plans are to organise five to six nights a year, depending on the opportunities,” says Schell. “The Supersonic and Take Me Out warmly welcome suggestions.”

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French concert organiser Speakeasy has joined forces with Paris rock club Supersonic to launch new national promoter, Take Me Out, with a focus on breaking emerging artists.

Run by live music industry veteran Jean-Louis Schell, Speakeasy worked with acts such as The Libertines and Kasabian, while the 300-cap Supersonic in Bastille has welcomed the likes of Yungblud, The Warlocks, Nick Olivieri and Soccer Mommy, along with DJ sets by Peter Hook, Anton Newcombe and Carl Barat, among others.

“The idea behind Take Me out is to build on the strengths of both companies to spot talent early on and book their gigs on French territory,” Schell tells IQ.

“The Supersonic has been attracting crowds for the past six years with three free shows a night, a strong programme of up and coming international acts and indie nights. The next step for them was obvious – to become a concert promoter – but they needed the skills and a team. I know how to contribute to an artist’s career and I have a strong network of agents, festivals and venues.

“Supersonic wanted to team up with Speakeasy because before the pandemic they would book an artist with Speakeasy at least once a month, and also appreciated the fact that I went to the shows to see the artist play. I began to know the team quite well and value their dedication to live music.”

“Business is coming back and things are looking good, but more difficult than in the past”

Schell explains the idea to launch Take Me Out was formulated last summer.

“It all came together very quickly, at a time when standing shows were allowed but problems with international tours would still arise because of travelling difficulties,” he recalls. “As far as the organisation goes, it was mostly administrative issues since I just moved my roster from my own company to the new one.

“We want to take the artists as far as we can while remaining independent. We believe there is a lot of potential for international rock and pop artists in France.”

Take Me Out plans to run venues of all sizes, with upcoming dates already in the diary at Supersonic, Maroquinerie, Trianon and Elysée Montmartre, with shows at Zénith also set to be confirmed soon.

“The plan is to take artists way beyond small-sized venues such as the Supersonic,” he notes.

France has announced a gradual easing of restrictions on live events, with audience capacity limits for seated events already lifted and standing events permitted from 16 February.

“Business is coming back and things are looking good, but more difficult than in the past,” adds Schell. “The pandemic crisis has turned into a systemic one. So the only way for us is to find how to bring people back in small and medium venues, which are the core of our business. Let’s say it’s a bet on a brighter future.”

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