Music Industry in Germany 2020

In 2020, DIW Econ was commissioned by the relevant music industry associations and the two most important collecting societies to conduct a new edition of the study “Music Industry in Germany”, which quantifies the importance of the industry comprehensively and in all its sub-sectors. The study was funded by the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and by the Initiative Musik gemeinnützige Projektgesellschaft mbH with project funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

Supported by the clients, an online survey of companies and self-employed persons in the German music industry was conducted in the second quarter of 2020. Through the data collection and by supplementing the information from the official economic statistics, it was then possible to estimate the current economic situation of the German music industry.

The result shows that the music industry has experienced remarkable growth between 2014 and 2019. Total revenues grew by 18 per cent from around 11.5 billion euros to approximately 13.6 billion euros, while gross value added increased by 29 per cent from around 4 billion euros to around 5.2 billion euros. The total number of people employed in the music industry also grew by about 25 per cent to almost 158,000. Of these, 64,000 were self-employed or working proprietors and about 93,000 were employees.

Furthermore, the music industry not only adds value to the national economy through its direct demand. Music content also forms an essential basis for the economic activities of other sectors, as it is used as an input factor (e.g. in broadcasting) and as a complementary good for music consumers (e.g. music tourism). These so-called spillover effects amounted to a total of 28 billion euros for 2019 and were thus at least 3 billion euros higher than in 2014.

However, the music industry, which has been growing steadily until recently, finds itself in a precarious situation full of uncertainty and loss of revenue in 2020, as the distance regulations and bans on large events make it very difficult for music promoters in particular to generate revenue. This is reflected in the industry’s revenue expectations, which have dropped significantly due to the corona pandemic. After the start of the corona pandemic, the players expect a drop in turnover of almost 29 per cent for 2020. This means that the turnover expectations for 2020 are nearly 7 billion euros below the original expectations.

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