Clear numbers
MOJO takes the example of a concert with 5,000 visitors. A ticket for the evening costs €39, which results in roughly €195,000 in ticket sales. From that amount not only the artist has to be paid, but also the crew. Of course each person involved in the production has to eat (imagine cooking for a crew of over a hundred), let alone an entire stage that has to be built from scratch.
The biggest expenses
The most expensive part for the concert promoter is the venue rental: almost €28,000. Marketing and promotion takes up a big chunk of the budget (almost €24,000), just like light and sound equipment (another €13,000). Security walking around is worth €7,000, and tickets are scanned by employees for €1,250. The support act is a bargain: only €250! Below is an income/expense summary of the event.
And then divide it up
At the end of the day, roughly €75,000 net profit is left over, usually divided up between the artist and concert promoter. Usually this happens in a 85%/15% split deal, in which the artist takes 85% - that’s nearly €65,000 in one evening!
But imagine the cost for travel, flights, hotel rooms, trucks, tour manager and roadies. Not that much ends up sliding into the artist’s pocket, as 3FM describes accurately.
In the case of Luxembourg?
Although this a very detailed and clear overview of what money flows in and out in one concert night, and the Dutch market is fairly similar to Luxembourg when it comes to hourly wages and equipment rental costs, concert venues in Luxembourg work slightly different. In the case of Rockhal and Den Atelier, for example, they are the in-house promoter, thus many expenses are automatically reduced for things they may not need to rent externally (for example, there is an existing stage, light and sound equipment, and barriers).
If one day the new stadium will be used as an external concert location, then the costs above may come very close to reality!
