Concerts in Italy passed €1 billion in public spending for the first time in 2025: €1,162,064,376.7, up 17.5% on the previous year. The same report that records this, presented in Rome on 26 June 2026, shows active venues down 8.8% and organisers down 10.9%.
What happened
The Rapporto SIAE 2025, in its 90th edition, puts the number of events held in Italy during 2025 at 3,343,656, with 253,067,237 attendees and €4,299,846,591 in public spending, up 7% on 2024. Events fell 0.8% and audiences held steady (−0.1%): almost the same number of events, the same audience, and more money. Average spending per attendee rose to €16.99 (+7%). SIAE's press release puts average annual inflation at 1.5% and argues on that basis that the growth is not purely nominal.
Concerts are the sector pulling the numbers up: 67,890 events (+3.6%), 31,512,325 attendees (+8.7%) and €1,162,064,376.7 in spending (+17.5%), with average revenue per event of €17,117. With barely 2% of the country's events, that macro-sector accounts for 12.5% of attendees and 27% of spending across the whole system. Within that total, Pop, Rock and Light Music make up 57.7% of supply and 91.6% of spending.
For context, in the same report: theatre drew 29,747,210 attendees (+5.3%) and €641,172,118 (+10.8%); cinema lost audience (−2.3%) with flat spending (+0.1%). Lombardy, Lazio and Emilia-Romagna account for 44.2% of attendees and around 49% of national spending.
The figure that didn't make headlines is in the same press release: "diminuiscono i locali attivi (−8.8%) e gli organizzatori (−10.9%)". SIAE presents this as a rationalisation of the organisational fabric, with higher average productivity, and stresses that geographic reach remains wide: 6,629 active municipalities, 84% of Italian municipalities. The assessments are signed by SIAE's president, Salvatore Nastasi, and its general director, Matteo Fedeli. The press release does not give a cause for the fall in venues and organisers. The same figures were reported by Spettakolo on that same 26 June.
Why it matters
Our own reading, not SIAE's: average revenue per venue grew 17.3%, to €78,334, while 8.8% of active venues and 10.9% of organisers disappeared. More money, shared among fewer venues and fewer businesses. In concerts, attendees are growing faster than events (+8.7% versus +3.6%), and spending is growing faster than attendees (+17.5% versus +8.7%). On the report's own figures, the growth is not coming from putting on more shows.
Worth marking the boundary here: this is not comparable with the APM Yearbook. SIAE measures public "spesa del pubblico" across its whole concerts macro-sector; the APM measures live-music ticket sales in Spain. Different scopes, different methods: no ranking to be drawn.
What to do with this
- Budget using the sector figure. Average spending per attendee at concerts was €36.88; across the whole system, €16.99.
- Plan for fewer counterparts. There are 8.8% fewer active venues and 10.9% fewer organisers: a venue or local partner may close before a date does.
- Before selling, review ticket issuance: the biglietteria and SIAE regime and the exposure on resale, capped at €5,000 per event.