VAT Cut Drives Spanish Concert Industry Growth in 2017

The Spanish live music industry grew 20.6 percent year-on-year to €269.2 million ($331 million) in 2017. It marks the fourth consecutive year of growth for the Spanish industry.

Javier Bragado – Melendi
Spain’s top seller in 2017

According to Spain’s promoters association APM, last year’s reduction of the cultural VAT to ten percent was the main reason for the growth.

The Spanish live music business had been struggling with high cultural taxes since 2012, when they were increased to a whopping 21 percent. When the Canary Islands, which are Spanish territory, reduced their VAT rate at the end of 2016, mainland Spain was hoping for the same, and a half a year later, the Spanish government followed suit.

The association points out that the big tours by the Rolling Stones, U2 and Latin superstars including Ricky Martin and Maluma drove the growth. Margins for small and medium-sized promoters, who make up the majority of the sector, were still meager.

Besides achieving a lower VAT rate, APM counts a new agreement with Spain’s collecting society SGAE and Google’s efforts to restrict secondary market activity as successes in 2017, which also marks the year APM joined the European Live Music Association (ELMA).

The international tours with the biggest audiences in Spain in 2017 were Ricky Martin’s “One World” tour, which attracted 115,806 people to 13 concerts, followed by Guns N’ Roses, who only needed two concerts to bring together 91,200 people, and Maluma, whose nine performances in Spain were seen by 70,914 spectators.

It was a local act, who sold the most tickets in 2017. Melendi played 37 concerts on his “Quítate las gafas” (“Take off your glasses”) tour, in front of 208,972 people in total.

“There are still many challenges to face,” a statement released by the association reads. “One of the main ones is the fight against the resale of online tickets, which harms all the players in the sector, but above all the fans themselves. That is why APM intends to continue pressing on all possible fronts until an adequate legislative solution is reached, since the current law dates from 1982 and has become obsolete.”

APM – APM president Albert Salmeron and chair Maricruz Laguna
Presenting the latest Anuario de la Música en Vivo

APM president Albert Salmeron confirmed that the positive result came mainly from the VAT reduction, but points out that it was still above the value in 2012, when it stood at eight percent.

“The [revenue] increase of the 20,6 percent is also explained by the incremental growth of festivals and the fact that Spain has become a recurring destination for international tours. Among others, Latin American artists have increased their number of concerts, a proof of the growing market, which allows for more performances on bigger platforms than ever before for foreign artists,” he told Pollstar.

The VAT reduction was especially important, as it benefitted “the bigger promoters as much as the medium and little ones, who are as important or more than the others, because they represent the basis of the sector and sustain the business,” according to Salmeron.