Record turnover for Spanish live music business
The tenth edition of the Spanish Association of Music Promoters (APM)’s Live Music Yearbook (Anuario de la música en vivo) has brought good news, reporting a record annual turnover of €334 million for Spain’s live music industry.
The record-breaking revenue follows five consecutive years of growth for the Spanish live music market and represents a 24% increase on 2017. The consistent growth means that the 2018 turnover is the biggest-ever recorded for the Spanish industry, superior even to figures generated before the 2008 financial crisis.
The turnover signals the recovery of the sector following a cut in cultural tax in 2017, from 21% to 10%. The Spanish government had hiked tax on cultural shows in 2012, causing serious problems for the Spanish live industry, which lost €100 million and 27.5% in revenue from ticket sales between 2012 and 2013.
According to APM, the majority of revenue was taken in July and August 2018. Major one-off stadium shows from Guns N’ Roses and Iron Maiden coincided with tours from international Latin artists Luis Miguel (8 dates), Shakira (5 dates) and Alejandro Fernández (8 dates).
The association also indicated a rise in music tourism, the importance of which has now been recognised by institutions, such as the new section dedicated to festivals at the International Tourism Fair (Fitur).
The record-breaking revenue comes following five consecutive years of growth for the Spanish live music market
Bruno Mars attracted the biggest crowds, drawing 110,000 fans across two concerts in Barcelona and Madrid. Latin artists Ricky Martin and Shakira also proved popular, with Martin playing to 79,657 fans over 10 dates and Shakira performing to 71,000 over five shows.
APM announced the results of elections at its AGM in Palma de Mallorca in February. Members re-elected Albert Salmerón as president, with Tito Ramoneda as vice president and Carol Rodríguez, Maricruz Laguna and Julio Martí as board members. Patxi Miranda also joins the board.
The promoters’ association outlined its plans for the coming years, which include the modification of working regulations for musicians and the drawing up of a plan to ensure the recognition of the cultural, social and economic value of the music industry.
APM has now partnered with four main ticketing companies: El Corte Inglés, CTS Eventims’s Spanish operation entradas.com, See Tickets and Ticketmaster. The association maintains Ifema and el Palau Sant Jordi as venue partners.
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Ticketing grows again but Eventim yet to match 2015
CTS Eventim grew revenue from ticket sales 11.6% in the first nine months of 2016, driven primarily by growth in online ticketing, its third-quarter (Q3) results reveal.
Continuing the strong performance seen in quarters one and two, ticketing turnover increased to €240.3 million, up from €215.3m in the same period in 2015, with the “main reason” being an “increase in internet ticket volume”, says a letter to investors.
Despite steady growth in ticketing, a slump in the German ticket agency/promoter’s live entertainment division means it is still lagging behind last year, although not to the same extent as in previous quarters: Overall group revenue now stands at €576.2m, compared to €577.5m in Q3 2015.
“The CTS group still expects a solid performance for the 2016 financial year”
Live entertainment turnover declined to €340.3m from €366.4m. However, Eventim notes it previously predicted a 30% contraction this year due to a “lower number of major tours” than in 2015, and earnings are therefore “above the originally expected trend”.
Revenues were also hit by “ongoing business integration and the expansion into South America“, although the latter, along with a similar new venture in Scandinavia, were also cited as increasing the volume of tickets sold.
“Corporate management of the CTS group still expects a solid performance for the financial year 2016,” the company writes. “Thanks to continuous expansion of the product and service portfolio, ongoing internationalisation and the systematic implementation of the e-commerce strategy, corporate management believes that the CTS Group is excellently positioned to turn opportunities that arise into profitable medium- and long-term growth.”
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Concerts “flywheel” pushes LN revenue to $3.2bn
Live Nation’s president and CEO, Michael Rapino, yesterday hailed the company’s “concerts flywheel” as it celebrated another record-breaking quarter.
Speaking at Live Nation’s third-quarter (Q3) earnings call, Rapino told investors: “Our concerts business is our flywheel” – the persistent, margin-generating heart of the business – “attracting 28 million fans to shows globally in the quarter, which drove record results in our ticketing, advertising and on-site businesses. Our performance demonstrates how Live Nation has created the most unparallelled live platform, leveraging concert scale to drive growth across the full live ecosystem.”
He continued: “Looking at the concerts flywheel in the third quarter, we had 16% more fans attend over 6,000 shows, growing revenue by 27% and AOI [adjusted operating income] by 38% year-on-year at a constant currency. Year to date, we have grown our fan base by 16% to 56 million [and] expect to [see] a record-setting 70 million fans attending Live Nation concerts in 2016.”
Operating income from the concerts sector – or earnings before interest and taxes – grew 94% to £86.5 million.
“Our performance demonstrates how Live Nation has created the most unparallelled live platform, leveraging concert scale to drive growth across the full live ecosystem”
As a whole, Live Nation’s turnover grew to a record US$3.2 billion in Q3 2016 – up 21% year on year – outstripping quarters one (10% growth) and two (14%).
In addition to the concerts sector, the company also saw strong growth in ticketing (Ticketmaster) and sponsorship/advertising, which were up 14% and 11%, respectively. Within Ticketmaster, the gross transaction value (GTV) of its secondary-market platforms – such as Ticketmaster Resale, TicketsNow, Seatwave and Get Me In! – grew 33%, to more than $1bn for the three months ending 30 September.
“We now have good visibility into our full-year 2016 performance, and are confident we will deliver another year of record revenue, AOI and free cash flow,” concluded Rapino. “We continue to rapidly grow our concert fan base, which is demonstrating the effectiveness of our flywheel, driving anticipated double-digit growth in sponsorship AOI and ticketing GTV.
“As we look forward, we see tremendous opportunities to continue global consolidation of our concerts and ticketing businesses, with further growth in advertising and ticketing from the concerts flywheel.”
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