Music Listening in Finland 2024: Finns already consider gig and concert ticket prices to be too high – has the ceiling been reached?
4.10.2024
In IFPI Finland’s and Teosto’s Music Listening in Finland 2024 survey, more than half of Finns stated that the main reason for not buying music event tickets has been their high price. More than one thousand 13–75-year-olds responded to the survey in Norstat’s consumer panel in August 2024.
This year, the number of attendees in Finnish music events was roughly the same as in 2018 or 2023. However, according to the survey, this year, 56 per cent of Finns decided not to buy a gig, concert or music festival ticket due to its high price. For just over a third (36%), a key reason for not buying the ticket was the total cost of the event, including travel, food and drinks.
The decision not to buy the ticket was especially common among 16–35-year-olds, who did not have enough money to attend as many gigs as they wanted. Approximately one million people of this age group attended at least one music festival or gig during the summer. Lack of money is not only young people’s problem. Also in the age group of 36–45-year-olds who live the busiest years of their life, there are many people who cannot participate in music events due to cost-related issues and ticket prices. The respondent’s own income level did not fully correspond with the willingness to participate as decisions not to attend music events due to high prices were almost equally common among the highest-income respondents.
“A significant proportion of the summer’s music events were sold out or at least nearly sold out at these prices as well, but, according to the news, some festivals made severe losses and did not reach their audience targets. If a lot of tickets were left unsold, staggering their prices and offering lower ticket prices could have boosted demand,” says Kari Tervonen, Roadmap Director at Omnicom Media Group.
The majority of the most expensive concert tickets for summer 2024 were sold in advance. According to Nordea’s payment card statistics, sales of concert tickets decreased in the summer months of 2024 by approximately 20 per cent when compared to the summer 2023. Part of the decline in sales in late summer can be explained by the pre-sales of the tickets for Coldplay’s four Olympic stadium concerts last year.
“It is possible that the ceiling for event ticket prices has now been reached, which is unfortunate from the point of view of event organisation profitability. Even now, festivals and event organisers are struggling with rising costs in general, companies’ cost control is tighter, and the threat of increasing the VAT on tickets does not help the event industry,” Tervonen says.
In addition to ticket prices, other reasons for not attending music events included other events at the same time (25%), failure to get friends to attend (18%), poor artist selection of the event (18%), difficulties in arranging travel (16%), difficulties in arranging accommodation (15%), bad weather (12%), or poor availability of tickets (12%). In addition, 15 per cent stated that they were not interested enough to attend after all and approximately one in ten respondents “just forgot”.
Especially in the oldest age groups, there are still some people who have attended events less frequently since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The money spent on music has not increased because general consumption is stalling
According to data on general consumption, Finns’ purchases have not actually increased at all over the past ten years. In recent years, inflation-adjusted consumption has declined by several percentage points, and this is most reflected in the decreased spending of money by people under the age of 50. During the past ten years, the highest decline in consumption has taken place in consumption by highly educated white-collar employees per person. On the other hand, in the older age groups, consumption has increased quite sharply.
“No wonder that the money spent on music in 2024 is at the same level as in 2018. When it comes to entertainment, Finns spend the most money on concerts and video-on-demand services subject to a charge, both according to our own surveys and the available consumption statistics,” says Kari Tervonen.
The median amount of money spent by Finns on music (gig and concert tickets, streaming, recordings) can be estimated to be about EUR 100 per year and the average about EUR 150. According to the household budget survey (Statistics Finland 2022), Finns spent on average EUR 150 per year on all cultural events, EUR 150 on streaming services, EUR 60 on fiction and approximately EUR 400 per year on computers, telephones, television and audio equipment per person.
“The money spent on entertainment events rose rapidly from the dip caused by the COVID-19 pandemic back to the level of 2018–2019. Many other sectors have suffered much more. There is a great deal of interest in concerts and research has shown that the significance of music for people is higher in difficult times and difficult life situations. Live concerts have special value in a digitalised world,” Tervonen points out.
Teosto’s and IFPI Finland’s Music Listening in Finland 2024 survey provided information about changes in Finns’ music listening habits over the longer term for the 11th time. The lead researcher was Kari Tervonen, Omnicom Media Group’s Roadmap Director, supported by Johanna Laitinen from Teosto and Tommi Kyyrä from IFPI Finland. The results of the survey were presented at the Music x Media event for professionals in Tampere on 4 October 2024.
Additional information
Roadmap Director Kari Tervonen/Omnicom Media Group
tel. +358 (0)50 437 0677
kari.tervonen@omnicommediagroup.com
Communications Manager Johanna Laitinen/Teosto
tel. +358 (0)40 192 1900
johanna.laitinen@teosto.fi
Deputy Director Tommi Kyyrä/IFPI Finland
tel. +358 (0)50 566 422
tommi.kyyra@ifpi.fi