Safeguarding Independence in the Festival Scene: Regulating Market Concentration?

Across Europe, a handful of powerful corporations are buying up festivals, venues, ticketing services, booking agencies, and more in the live music scene. This concentration of ownership raises urgent questions: how can independent actors survive, and what policies are needed to prevent a few major players from taking over the entire live music ecosystem? If nothing is done, what might the landscape look like in ten years?

This discussion brings together voices from the European music scene to exchange about the role of institutions in safeguarding independence and cultural diversity in today’s music festival scene. The first part of the conversation will feature a preview of new maps created for Live DMA, the Reset! network, and the SMA (Syndicat des Musiques Actuelles).

Produced by French researcher Matthieu Barreira, they reveal how ownership concentration is reshaping the festival scene across Europe. These insights underline the need for collective action to protect the future of live music in Europe.