PALMA De MALLORCA, Spain (CelebrityAccess) — The Spanish Association of Music Promoters’ (APM) tenth annual Live Music Yearbook revealed that 2018 was one for the record book for the nation’s live touring sector.
APM recorded revenue of €33.9 million euros in 2018, up from €269.2 million in 2017, an increase of 24.1%. 2018’s growth represents the best year ever recorded by the Spanish music industry, even topping results from before the financial crisis in 2008.
The recovery was bolstered by a tax cut in 2017 from 21% to 10%, dropping tax rates that had been raised in 2012 as the nation attempted to recover from the global financial crash of 2008. The taxes caused headaches for Spanish promoters who lost €100 million and 27.5% in revenue from ticket sales between 2012 and 2013.
However, since then, the results improved year after year until 2017, when the turnover topped €269.2 million.
According to APM, the low taxes have fostered big tours and festivals, including Bruno Mars, whose 2018 tour in Spain sold more than 110,000 tickets for just two shows.
Mars was followed by Ricky Martin, who enjoyed ticket sales of 79,657 across ten shows and Shakira, who performed five total shows in front of 71,000 fans.
2018 was also saw tours by Luis Miguel, Roger Waters, Morat, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Guns N ‘Roses and Alejandro Fernández all land in Spain.
Domestic artists had a productive year as well. Television phenomenon Operación Triunfo 2017 generated 24 concerts in 2018 with 288,640 tickets sold, and Pablo Alborán, who matched Operación Triunfoin’s ticket sales across 30 shows.
Other domestic artists with successful runs in 2018 included Fito & Fitipaldis, Pablo López, Dani Martín, Manolo García, Love the 90’s, Rozalén, Antonio Orozco and Joan Manuel Serrat.
