Original article published on Pollstar (03/26/18) by Gideon Gottfried

Spain's live music industry expanded 20.6 percent year-on-year to $331 million in 2017, mainly on account of the reduction of the cultural value-added tax (VAT) to 10 percent, according to APM. The Spanish live music business had been struggling with high cultural taxes since their 2012 hike to 21 percent. APM president Albert Salmeron says the VAT reduction was particularly effective because it benefited “the bigger promoters as much as the medium and little ones, who are as important or more than the others, because they represent the basis of the sector and sustain the business.” APM notes major tours by the Rolling Stones, U2 and Latin headliners drove industry growth, while margins for small and medium-sized promoters remained meager. Ricky Martin's “One World” tour, Guns N' Roses and Maluma were the international tours with the largest audiences in Spain last year. The most tickets were sold by a local act, Melendi, who played 37 concerts before a total of 208,972 people. APM also credits the success of a new accord with Spain's collecting society SGAE and Google's initiatives to curtail secondary market activity. “One of the main [challenges to address] is the fight against the resale of online tickets, which harms all the players in the sector, but above all the fans themselves,” the association says.

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