The music festival industry is now dominated by the giants AEG and Live Nation, threatening the cultural diversity and independence of smaller festivals based essentially on associative models. This concentration of power creates major economic and security challenges. Faced with inflation and economic uncertainty, small festivals are struggling to survive.
The music festival landscape is gradually darkening, marked by the growing dominance of two giants: AEG and Live Nation. While revenues from record sales and streaming are eroding, live music has become increasingly important to artists and record companies alike. The concentration of economic power at work with the arrival of the American behemoths raises major challenges for small independent festivals, faced with galloping inflation and growing economic uncertainty.
AEG (for Anschutz Entertainment Group) and Live Nation, with their vast financial and logistical resources, dominate the music festival market. Their strategy of acquiring and partnering with established festivals enables them to consolidate their hold on the sector.
These companies, owned by billionaires, wage a fierce battle through their subsidiaries, aiming to dominate the music industry by monopolizing artists, ticketing, venues and festivals. However, the results achieved by these festivals are mixed.
“In France, we can’t talk about a dominant position, because festivals are rather complex objects for the big groups. If we take Live Nation as an example, its recent acquisitions are rare, if not non-existent in the festival sector”, points out Emmanuel Négrier, director of research at the CNRS and author of several works on the festival question.
Festival expansion
AEG has strengthened its presence in France by including major events such as Rock en Seine, founded in 2003, in its portfolio. This expansion enables them to benefit from economies of scale and impose their conditions on the market, creating a dynamic that is unfavorable to smaller players.
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