Industry urges opening: concert organizers hope for the 2G rule

Summer concerts in the open air brought the industry back to revenue. Could events soon be reserved for vaccinated and convalescent people – then without any distance rules?

Helge Schneider continues to sing about the litter box. But his planned beach chair concerts also fell into this. Helge Schneider canceled the performances. On his homepage it says that the format is unfortunately not right for him personally. It is rare for artists to cancel. Most of the time, the concert organizers would have to do this themselves, according to Jan Kalbfleisch, managing director of fwd: the Federal Association for Event Management.

“We still have a planning horizon of four weeks – always bound by state regulations,” he says. “But in our industry we need a lead time of four to six months. Nobody starts planning an event now if they don’t know whether they can hold the event as planned.”

Thousands of jobs lost

The industry has been badly hit. Around 158,000 people worked in the music industry in 2019, including around 93,000 employees and 64,000 self-employed. In addition to the media industry, the music industry is the largest branch of industry in culture. Thousands of jobs have already been lost, and many are at risk. This is why self-employed people in particular are looking for new jobs.

Meanwhile, there is a lot of discussion about who is allowed to go to concerts – only vaccinated people or genesis? So will there be a 2G rule? After all, autumn is just around the corner and the outdoor concerts have to give way.

Industry for 2G rule without distance rules

Jens Michow from the Federal Association of the Concert and Event Industry calls for more planning security for the organizers and artists: “For the concert organizers, it would now be the right path for the time being: We are now opening up to those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered. And then we hope that a way will be found quickly that those who have not been vaccinated will soon be able to come back. Mind you, without distance rules. “

This is because the distance rules severely reduce income, but the costs for halls and catering, for example, remain. So that means lost profits again.

Billions lost in the crisis

The event industry was a real growth industry before Corona. One record year followed the next. And now? Sales slump in the billions, so Michow. “We carried out the last market study in 2018. We came up with six billion euros from the German cultural industry,” he says. “These have completely disappeared, so that a loss of four to five billion can be assumed.”

This also affects giants in the industry such as CTS Eventim: a globally operating company, listed in the MDAX. The group earns its money as a platform for ticket sales and as a partner in concert promoters. In 2020, CTS Eventim received EUR 102 million in corona aid after sales had fallen by more than 80 percent. In the second quarter this was again at 45.7 million euros, as the company announced. But that is still a long way from the pre-crisis level: In 2019, the group generated sales of more than 400 million euros between April and the end of June.

Long way to the pre-crisis level

CTS Eventim also posted a profit again in the second quarter. The bottom line was the plus of 52 million euros – after a loss of almost 41 million euros a year ago. The corporate strategy now seems to be pointing towards the future. In the coming year, the company wants to build and operate Italy’s largest multifunctional arena in Milan.

Is that a sign for the entire industry? Veal industry connoisseur is cautious. In terms of sales, it will certainly take two years before the pre-Corona level is reached again. “But we firmly expect that we will be able to start working in our mode again from the first quarter of next year,” he says. Until then, it will probably continue to be: Beach chair, meadow and in autumn dress thickly.