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www.musicweek.com <strong>29.08.14</strong> Music Week 19<br />
PROFILE ARENAS<br />
A BUSY YEAR AHEAD<br />
FOR ARENAS IN EUROPE<br />
The wide choice of venues means artists can play to huge crowds in most European cities<br />
LIVE<br />
n BY MURRAY STASSEN<br />
The European arena market is booming. In<br />
2013, members of the European Arenas<br />
Association (EAA) saw more than 20<br />
million visitors attend 2,500 events at their arenas -<br />
a 3% increase on the previous year.<br />
And according to results from a survey carried<br />
out by the EAA, live music played a key role in<br />
the overall growth in 2013, accounting for more<br />
than 40% of total arena activity. In five of the EAA<br />
arenas, live music accounted for over 55% of total<br />
events held there, compared to just two arenas the<br />
year before.<br />
These results indicate that the demand for<br />
European arena shows is getting bigger each year,<br />
in spite of competition from an expanding open-air<br />
festival market. It seems that Twitter is flooded<br />
with demands from fans for their favourite artists to<br />
perform in their countries.<br />
Ticket prices have also increased year-on-year,<br />
perhaps not the best news for consumers but, for<br />
those in the arena business, it suggests that fans are<br />
willing to pay more to attend large-scale events.<br />
Around half of the tickets sold for live music events<br />
in 2013 were priced at €50 or more compared to<br />
30% last year, while 16% of arenas sold tickets at an<br />
average price of over €65 compared to just 8%<br />
last year.<br />
The survey also revealed that several EAA<br />
arenas invested heavily in refurbishment projects<br />
in recent years, with 76% stating they have<br />
made substantial upgrades to their facilities.<br />
Improvements to VIP facilities in particular are<br />
making these arenas more appealing for highprofile<br />
events.<br />
Commenting on the results, EAA president,<br />
Juan Ignacio Carbonel said: “These results are<br />
encouraging, especially for live music and sports<br />
events. We seem to have turned the corner.<br />
“The high level of investments by our members<br />
shows that arenas continue to work towards offering<br />
the best quality entertainment for its audiences in<br />
the safest surroundings. We look forward to a busy<br />
year ahead.”<br />
In light of the recent growth seen by the<br />
European arena market in the past year, Music<br />
Week spoke to representatives from five major<br />
multipurpose European arenas in order to find<br />
ABOVE<br />
European<br />
Arenas: 20<br />
million visitors<br />
attended 2,500<br />
events at<br />
EAA member<br />
arenas last year<br />
including the<br />
MEO Arena (top<br />
left) in Lisbon,<br />
the Wiener<br />
Stadthalle (top<br />
right) in Vienna,<br />
Sweden’s<br />
Malmö Arena<br />
(bottom<br />
left) and the<br />
Scandinavium<br />
(bottom right),<br />
in Gothenburg<br />
out what challenges they are facing in their<br />
respective countries and what unique selling points<br />
their arenas have to offer.<br />
CONTENTS:<br />
Page 21<br />
Scandinavium<br />
Gothenburg, Sweden<br />
Page 23<br />
Ahoy Arena<br />
Rotterdam, the Netherlands<br />
Page 25<br />
MEO Arena<br />
Lisbon, Portugual<br />
Page 27<br />
Wiener Stadthalle<br />
Vienna, Austria<br />
Page 29<br />
Malmö Arena<br />
Malmö, Sweden
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