If the pandemic and confinement were the hardest blow for the music sector, the return of artists to the stage has also occurred with greater force than ever, with record numbers for the year 2022, as stated in the Music Yearbook, presented this Wednesday by the Professional Association of Representatives, Promoters and Managers of Catalonia (ARC) and the Enderrock group, with a detailed analysis of the sector's figures in the Catalan-speaking territories.
Live music has been the engine that has pushed the sector, with 15 million viewers and a record turnover of 188 million euros, a figure 59% higher than that of 2021 and 34% higher than that of 2019. " We have overcome the pandemic" stressed the president of ARC, Raquel Bassas, recalling that in addition "we are also above the 151.3 million of 2008, before the economic crisis".
These numbers are explained by the 230% increase in audiences, as well as concerts (30%) compared to the previous year, which has resulted in an increase in the number of permanent workers in the sector, which currently employs 50% more than people than four years ago, while 60% more royalties were distributed among artists than in 2022.
43% of the Catalan population attended a concert last year, figures similar to the pre-pandemic. Although the large festivals, those for more than 50,000 people, are the ones that increased the most, gaining 22% in spectators since the pandemic while the rest of the sector has lost 20%.
Continuing with the records, 2022 will be remembered for Rosalía and her Motomami, becoming the most listened to album by a Catalan artist in all of history, with her songs exceeding 1,343 million listens on Spotify, followed by far away by Rigoberta Bandini, with 147 million listeners to The Empress. This happens when the presence of women and mixed groups at festivals reaches 45%, “the highest figure in history”, with 34% female soloists and 11% mixed groups. Thus, events such as Primavera Sound have had 51% women on their line-up, or 45% in the case of Sónar.
The only negative note is the drop in the posters of Catalan musicians, which had reached a share of 70% in 2020, during the pandemic. Two years later the figure has fallen drastically to 26%, while the Catalan language has fallen from 43% of performances scheduled in this language to 17%.
Record companies also closed the year positively, billing 15.7 million in sales, an increase of 7% with a digital market that already represents 85.3% of the total, while the physical format has fallen by 17% and only represents two million euros of total turnover.
The Anuari also highlights the 24% drop in public investment by the Generalitat of Catalonia, "a cut caused largely by the decrease in aid that was delivered in the Covid-19 period." This decrease is "the opposite of what has happened in the rest" of Catalan-speaking territories, since the Institut Valencià de Cultura has increased aid to the sector by 12%; the Government of the Balearic Islands, 27%; and the Government of Andorra, 9%.
