Concerts: the truth, please, about cancelled tours and fake sell-outs

A mechanism that would work something like this: there is a promoter who offers a young artist a big venue. If he fills it, no problem. If he doesn't fill it, he will be forced to leave the steering wheel to the event organiser who will do as he can ('Free tickets, one euro, 10 euro, we invite all the employees of banks, insurance companies, companies close to us', the cynical impresario points out).

It will be the singer who will pay: 'A good part of the costs to fill the stadium, which is empty at the moment, you will pay for it,' the manager tells him. 'From now on you go and do (for years) only what I tell you and everything you earn for a good 85% is mine, because I have to come back,' Zampaglione continues. Who, by complete coincidence, is speaking on the eve of the release of the celebration edition of La descrizione di un attimo, the biggest hit of his career.

But has the concert bubble really burst? Let's start with the numbers, which rarely betray: the total turnover of the sector, in 2023 (last available year), according to Siae reached 967.4 million, thanks to an increase over the previous year of 33.5 per cent. Again, a peak never before reached in the history of the industry. Thanks to what Anglo-Saxon observers call the 'hedonistic impatience' of the post-Covid era. Thanks to big international tours such as that of Coldplay, the usual Vasco Rossi, of course, but also to some game changers such as the Nuclear Tactical Penguins, two years ago touring stadiums for the first time, a one million tickets sold phenomenon in one year.

The combination of the industry boom and the advent of new artists in the big venues must have convinced even the most cautious managers and sceptical promoters to dare, to try touring arenas or stadium dates for their artist. The reasoning was more or less this: you have 3.7 million followers on Instagram and 4 million average monthly listeners on Spotify? You can do San Siro. The trouble is that live is a sport in itself, that followers and streaming listeners don't immediately translate into concert tickets sold, that a career on stage is built step by step, from Arci circles to the top. A career on stage is built through work, a concept that appears rather rarely in the 'bars' of our urban artists. Some, with the post Covid hangover, may have forgotten this and, in recent weeks, may have had a rude awakening.

In any case, no, the bubble has not burst: in July, as it does every year, Siae will in fact release the Yearbook of Shows and the first rumours circulating refer to further growth (!) in audience spending. The sentiment of the ticketing platforms, then, even on 2025 is positive. Cancellations, rescheduling and fake sell-outs are there, as they always have been, but they do not impact on the overall trend. Ticket prices have nothing to do with it, neither does purchasing power. The truth, as is often the case, is much more banal than we might be led to believe.

The truth is that not everyone has the 'shot' to reach certain heights. As it always has been and, probably, always will be. And on this point, it would be a good idea for all of us in the industry to clarify our ideas. Lathering them up with a bit of numbers and a lot of intellectual honesty.