Going Deutsche: Germany Dominates In European Festival Space, But Infrastructure And Talent Pipeline Issues Remain

Germany, by some considerable distance, dominated 2024’s European festival market, with the five biggest festivals by ticket gross all taking place in the country.

Rock am Ring, held in Nürburg, sold just shy of a quarter of a million tickets (240k) and grossed $19,556,671, largely down to its strong reputation and a solid international and domestic lineup, including Avenged Sevenfold, Green Day, Die Ärzte and Queens Of The Stone Age.
Close behind it was Hurricane in Scheeßel, the “sister” event to Southside Festival, which sold 215,112 tickets and grossed $19,036,284 in 2024. The event featured headliners, similar to Rock am Ring, that straddle domestic and international (notably Deichkind, Ed Sheeran and Avril Lavigne), although it has a broader genre mix.

Rock im Park, in third place with a gross of $19,016,171, is the parallel festival of Rock am Ring and the two sites alternate acts over the same weekend, akin to the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK.
Southside was fourth in terms of gross ($17,816,978) but third in terms of total ticket sales (198,469 compared to Rock im Park’s 176,195).

Southside’s 2024 lineup mixed hard rock (Bring Me The Horizon), electropunk (Deichkind), alternative (The National) and huge pop names (Ed Sheeran).

SonneMondSterne Festival ($11,141,635 gross on 40,000 tickets sold) shows there is a booming EDM market in Germany beyond the dominance of rock, with Hardwell, Calvin Harris and Steve Aoki all playing last year.

Austria also had a strong showing, with FM4 Frequency Festival and Nova Rock Festival taking sixth and seven places in terms of total grosses. Switzerland (OpenAir St. Gallen), Ireland (All Together Now) and the Netherlands (Best Kept Secret Festival) made up the rest of the top 10.

Matt Schwarz is CEO of PRK DreamHaus, which was created in 2024 when Peter Rieger Konzertagentur and DreamHaus (both subsidiaries of CTS Eventim) merged in Germany. He cites “strong international as well as national signings” as being the drivers behind the company’s “excellent year” in 2024.

He warns, however, that “rising costs and skilled labor shortages posed major challenges across both the festival and touring sectors” – an issue everyone here is grappling with.
“We tackled these issues with cost-efficient production strategies, stronger supplier partnerships, and sustainable practices to manage expenses and reduce environmental impact,” he says. “Collaboration across the industry, including shared resources, was essential in overcoming these obstacles.”

Folkert Koopmans, CEO of FKP Scorpio, the company behind Hurricane and others, says the market in 2024 was highly buoyant. “Our festival business performed exceptionally well,” he reveals. “Four out of our five major festivals in Germany were either sold out or nearly sold out, and the ticket sales launches for Hurricane, Southside, Deichbrand and M’era Luna saw unprecedented demand, with the first two alone selling 60,000 tickets within just 24 hours.”

That said, he feels “the rising costs across all areas of event production continue to be a significant issue” for the whole live business. “Simply put, it’s often no longer enough to just be successful – you often need to sell out to achieve any kind of margin.”

This, however, is not a homogenizing dynamic that can be explained in simple terms, according to Koopmans. “This challenge does not affect all types and sizes of events to the same extent,” he says. “While some big shows continue to draw large crowds, not all events are performing equally well. The festival sector is also under pressure, with closures no longer limited to smaller brands but now affecting well-established names as well.”

Finding and nurturing the potential headliners of tomorrow remains a perennial challenge for festivals, a situation exacerbated by the fact that more festivals are competing to book the same acts.
“The challenges in developing the big acts of tomorrow stem from an increasingly competitive landscape and the rapid pace of digital consumption,” proposes Schwarz. “Building a sustainable talent pipeline requires long-term investment in emerging artists, offering them opportunities to grow their fanbase through live performances.”

The festivals themselves have a critical role to play here in creating stepping stones for acts to grow up through the festivals’ stages, from the smallest to the largest.

“We are committed to spotlighting these [emerging] artists and helping newcomers become the next headliners,” says Schwarz of his festivals. “However, it has become increasingly difficult to retain emerging talent due to the intense competition from global deals, which often draw promising acts away early in their careers.”

Koopmans is confident there is still plenty of new talent out there for festivals to help to develop. “In my opinion, two main factors contribute to this,” he says. “First, social media platforms, including YouTube, have diversified the ways artists can grow to a critical degree of popularity. Second, the shift from recording to live performances as the primary source of income provides a strong incentive for artists to hit the road.”

With Rock am Ring celebrating its 40th anniversary and Rock im Park celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, thoughts are very much on the future of festivals and how they can evolve in line with changing consumer expectations.

“Fans are seeking more personalized and immersive experiences, driving innovation in how events are designed and delivered,” says Schwarz. “We’ve observed this trend across our own festivals and tours, with a significant rise in demand for premium packages. At our festivals, glamping categories sold out within weeks, showcasing the audience’s strong preference for elevated and customized experiences.”

While the biggest names in live music had a strong 2024, those further down the pecking order are finding things incredibly challenging – and this should be a concern for the sector as a whole.
“Not all companies are able to withstand today’s financial pressures to remain successful,” argues Koopmans.

He adds, “Operating in an economically viable way is significantly more challenging without a diversified portfolio across several business areas that act as a buffer. “Smaller players are, therefore, more likely to be forced out of the market, which is disheartening because, despite the competition, we are all colleagues working toward the same goal.

Subscribe to Pollstar HERE