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A SACEM study on the royalties generated by live entertainment since 2003 highlights the dynamism of this sector as well as the very random, fluctuating nature of its income.

Live music: a constantly growing activity sector Since 2003, the share of live entertainment in SACEM’s overall collections rose from 7% to more than 10%. Its share in terms of royalties in 2009 was almost equivalent to that of records and video (representing 12% of collections).

This growth can be explained in particular by a constantly progressing number of performances, 23% from 2003 to 2009. Thus, over 150,000 live performances were identified by SACEM staff in French territory in 2009, ranging from shows put on by small associations to huge concerts that fill stadiums. Despite this relatively healthy situation, the sector remains very strongly concentrated with extremely irregular revenues.

These tours include large-scale shows that represent only 3 to 4% of the performances every year, but account for 30-40% of revenues in the sector. “What these figures clearly show, in addition to concentration, is the considerable volatility of revenues from live entertainment, which are irregular by nature. The cancellation of a few dates for a well-known artist is enough to change the year’s results completely,” notes Claire Giraudin, in charge of studies at Sacem.

The corollary of the significant concentration on major tours is extreme dispersion of the remaining revenues among a myriad of small and medium-size performances. In the category of associations, which includes many festivals, the mean level of royalties is approximately €260 per performance.

This “atomisation” is both positive for diversity and the renewal of repertoires and very negative for the sector’s financial stability. “If the best known artists experience great fluctuations in their income from one year to the next, imagine the situation for artists and creators performing in small and medium-size venues!

They are the ones most affected by the vicissitudes of attendance,” adds Claire Giraudin.

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Live entertainment in France in 2009 Overview and prospects Sacem

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