The performing arts market in France

Live performance, often referred to as the performing arts, refers to any form of entertainment presented to a live audience, in a variety of venues such as theaters, concert halls or even outdoors. This category includes a wide variety of artistic disciplines and performances, such as theater, dance, music, opera, circus, magic and street arts. The main characteristics of live performance are the real-time interaction between artists and audiences, and the ephemeral nature of performances, which exist only for the moment of their execution.

The live entertainment market in France is structured around the production and distribution of live shows. This market covers a variety of segments (comedy, song, opera, instrumental music, theater, circus, etc.) which, while they do not necessarily share the same customers (the same audience), do share, at least for the most part, the same values.while they don't necessarily share the same customers (the same audience), they do share, at least in part, the same production resources (venues, lighting, sound and set design, make-up, security, ticketing, advertising and promotion, entertainment workers, production, staging).

The live performance business involves a large number of players, with very different roles and sizes. While some very large operators, such as Live Nation or Stage Entertainment, cover the entire value chain, there are many smaller players focused on a specific link in the chain: venue managers, record majors, ticketing operators, production companies. Above all, this market relies on a vast, highly fragmented economic fabric, grouping together independent venues, festivals, technical assistance methese include independent venues, festivals, technical assistance companies, intermittent workers and groups of intermittent workers, artists, stage directors, security companies and more.

We note in particular that 6% of performances account for 49% of admissions and 65% of box-office receipts. Conversely, 60% of performances are given in small venues with fewer than 200 admissions, and account for 5% of box-office receipts. As a result, while this market may appear concentrated in terms of box-office receipts and admissions, it is absolutely atomized in terms of the number of performances and jobs.

Performances are also geographically concentrated in France, with the Ile-de-France region and Paris in particular occupying a predominant position, both in terms of number of performances and attendance, and in terms of box-office receipts.

In 2023, the Ministry of Culture estimated that the level of performing arts activity had increased by 19% between 2023 and 2022, to reach 1.99 billion euros in revenues, and recorded a 31% increase in revenues compared to the pre-covid period of 2019. In 2022, there were over 200,000 live performances, attracting 53 million spectators.