Reset! and Live DMA have joined forces to map who owns what in the live music sector and call for policy action.
Ownership concentration in Europe’s live music ecosystem is not a new phenomenon, but the context in which it unfolds is changing. A diversity of festivals and venues has long been at the core of European culture, yet a new study shows how this plurality is being increasingly affected by the acceleration of mergers and acquisitions by large corporations and investment funds.
The European Mapping Project on Ownership Concentration in Live Music aims to make visible who owns which stages and to situate this evidence within wider cultural and competition policy debates.
The two ownership maps do not claim to be exhaustive, but they make visible a reality that has long been overlooked. They invite institutions, professionals, and citizens to ask a simple question: when we buy a ticket for a festival or a concert, who do we really support, and what kind of ecosystem do we want for live music in Europe?
Map #1: Music Festivals in Europe, Who Owns What?
Key Findings From the Map:
- The European festival ownership map shows that more than 150 of the largest festivals in Europe are linked to just four groups: Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), Live Nation, CTS Eventim, and Superstruct.
- Superstruct, recently acquired by private equity firm KKR with CVC as co-investor, owns and operates more than 80 music festivals across ten countries in Europe and Australia. Live Nation operates around 120 subsidiaries in Europe and reported a turnover of approximately $16.7 billion in 2022. AEG Presents combines concert promotion with ownership of major venues such as the O2 Arena in London and the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin. CTS Eventim generated €1.9 billion in sales in more than 20 countries in 2022, operating major ticketing platforms and arenas across Europe.
- The new festival map confirms and updates earlier findings, integrating recent changes such as the acquisition of Superstruct by KKR and CVC in 2024. Between 2022 and 2025, the number of mapped festivals linked to Live Nation increased from 74 to 78, Superstruct from 34 to 63, CTS Eventim from 42 to 51, and AEG from 5 to 10.
Map #2: Live Music and Stages in Europe, Who Owns What?
Key Findings From the Map:
- The venues map shows that large corporations’ ownership and operations are currently concentrated primarily on arenas and stadiums, with groups such as AEG, Live Nation, and CTS Eventim holding stakes in many of Europe’s largest live music infrastructures.
- At the other end of the spectrum, most small and medium-sized music venues remain independent, associative, municipal, or locally owned.
This research work has been conducted by:
Matthieu Barreira, independent researcher focusing on economic issues in the contemporary music sector. Recurrent lecturer at Sciences Po Grenoble and Lyon 2 University, he has produced the Cartographie des dix plus importants opérateurs privés dans la chaîne de valeur des musiques actuelles en France (Mapping of the ten most important private operators in the contemporary music value chain in France) for the SMA in 2022 and has since updated it in 2025.