Türkiye market report: Part 1

With a population of more than 85 million, the prospects for growing Türkiye’s concerts and event sector are enormous. But as IQ discovers, inflation, taxes, currency exchange, and a lack of indoor venues are hindering progress for the nation’s live entertainment professionals.

Türkiye isn’t necessarily living its very best life in 2025. Exchange rates are weak, inflation high – though far lower than a couple of years ago – and regional and global geopolitics turbulent and troubling.

Striking, however, is the resilience, shrewdness, and pragmatically hopeful outlook of its live sector, which felt the post-Covid benefit and is now surveying the opportunity and keeping a smart eye on its risk exposure after a mixed 2024.

“I believe 2026 is going to be a good year – I’m hearing a lot of touring plans,” says Zeynep Boyner, head of international event bookings at BKM, the live division of the powerful film and TV production group that is behind one of the few large-scale international headline shows of this year: Guns N’ Roses at Istanbul’s BJK Tüpraş Stadium, home of Beşiktaş football club, in June.

“For this year, we are happy. We are kind of laying low and watching, but I can still book something if something comes up,” she says.

Such is the thinking in Türkiye, where better times are not so far behind and could yet be around the corner. Clearly, there are challenges in the market right now, but equally, anything is possible.

“Local promoters in Türkiye generally have mixed feelings about the current state of the Turkish music scene,” says Burak Çekiç, booking and programming manager at key venue Blind Istanbul. “On one hand, there’s a growing sense of optimism due to the increasing attention on international alternative, indie, and electronic music and concerts, especially in cities like Istanbul, where a thriving underground scene exists.

“On the other hand, rising operational costs, inflation, and currency fluctuations make ticket pricing a constant challenge.”

“It used to be a rock country back in the day, but now it’s more of an electronic/pop/hip-hop/rap market”

Türkiye is, of course, no stranger to international tours, but home-runs have lately been a little scarce. Scorpions had a notable smash last year at KüçükÇiftlik Park, selling out two shows at the 12,000-cap outdoor space in June for Live Nation and local partner Epifoni Events, while Bryan Adams, Andrea Bocelli, Bruce Dickinson, Louis Tomlinson, Judas Priest, and Ludovico Einaudi all filed through.

This year, things are undoubtedly quieter from an international perspective, while certainly not at a standstill. Both BKM’s Guns N’ Roses show and DBL Entertainment/Akademi Organizasyon’s Robbie Williams concert at the Festival Park in October report pretty good initial sales, with the expectation of a late surge. Plenty of touring artists still include Istanbul on itineraries – particularly electronic ones, with David Guetta, Massive Attack, and Black Coffee among those to have recently passed through.

“Electronic music is doing very well in Türkiye,” says Boyner. “It used to be a rock country back in the day, but now it’s more of an electronic/pop/hip-hop/rap market.”

But there’s no avoiding the fact that Türkiye today is a complicated live music market. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarian populist regime, cultural activities are not well supported, and alcohol licences, curfews, LGBTQ+ rights, and taxes – 20% VAT plus 25% withholding tax for international productions – present frequent complications.

For example in April this year, Muse postponed a show in Istanbul after the boss of promoter DBL Entertainment criticised some anti-government protesters, leading to an online backlash.

Famously poised between east and west, in 2025, Türkiye finds itself in a diplomatic position of some significance. Neither exactly a friend nor a foe to many of its European neighbours, having been rebuffed for membership of the European Union over many decades, Türkiye has latterly emerged as a well-placed potential intermediary between Russia and its adversaries – though Türkiye’s interest in peace in Ukraine and Syria is set against a chequered human rights record of its own.

“We do shows in London and in Istanbul, and the cost is higher in Istanbul compared to London, but the average ticket price is less in Istanbul”

But for all the upheaval in the broader region and on its own soil, the biggest barrier to Turkish touring volumes is largely of the economic kind: a painfully weak exchange rate, galloping inflation, and several years of tough conditions that may or may not be beginning to turn around.

“Türkiye is in a slow-burn economic crisis that has been going on, really, since about 2016,” says Nick Hobbs, founder of Istanbul-based booking agency group and promoter

Charmenko. “We have a very high inflation rate, so people have less purchasing power, and at a certain point, that really starts to hit the entertainment market.

“The country trundles on and life goes on as usual – people go to the shops and they go to work. Unemployment isn’t particularly high, but it’s more that salaries have been eaten into.”

This cocktail of soft spending and rising costs makes international bookings a tricky – and sometimes impossible – balancing act.

“When we look at the artists we presented ten years ago,” says Piu Entertainment managing partner Cemil Demirok, “let’s say we paid 400k for an artist, and we did that show in a 2,000-capacity venue, and it worked. Now, there’s no way. Even if you sell out a 10,000-capacity venue, it’s not going to work financially because the buying power is getting worse, but production costs, venue rentals, flights, hotels have all gone up.

“We do shows in London and in Istanbul, and the cost is higher in Istanbul compared to London, but the average ticket price is less in Istanbul.”

“The political and social unbalance affects people, especially for international bookings”

Disasters have also been frequent in recent years, from the devastating earthquake in southern and central Türkiye two years ago to the hotel fire at the Kartalkaya Ski Resort in January, and national days of mourning for such events also necessitate show cancellations.

“The political and social unbalance affects people, especially for international bookings,” says Hatice Arıcı, programmer at Istanbul’s Zorlu Performing Arts Centre (Zorlu PSM). “When you announce a festival or a big event that you put so much money and time and effort and hope into, there is no guarantee that it’s not going to be cancelled by a bomb threat or by something happening 3,000 km away. You just never know.”

There are, at least, some signs of macroeconomic improvement. While inflation stood at 39% in early March, that was its lowest level in almost two years, Türkiye’s economy grew by an encouraging 3.2% last year, ahead of expectations. Regime change in Syria and the possibility of an end to long-running hostilities with Kurdish separatists in the southeast of the country also give an impression of a country that may be due an upswing.

And given a calmer geopolitical climate and a few positive moves elsewhere, it is easy to picture Türkiye’s unique geographical positioning – one foot in Europe, where half of Istanbul resides, and one significantly larger one in West Asia, where its Anatolian expanse borders Georgia, Syria, Armenia, and Iraq – becoming a formidable asset to its live business, as it has periodically been in the past.

“Right now, the problem is Türkiye is in the middle: it’s not Europe, it’s not the Middle East, but it’s a good place to pass by,” says Boyner. “[Tour schedules] cannot really put us in the Middle East because the weather conditions don’t match. But if we can create a Central Asia touring route – Azerbaijan, Georgia, coming to Türkiye and Greece – then I’m sure lots of bigger acts are going to come every year, and there’s going to be a great market here.”

“If we can get those big tours coming through and figure out a way to set reasonable ticket prices for the young people… Türkiye is going to be big”

As promoters are quick to point out, Türkiye has a population of 85m people, with 16m in Istanbul alone. It is also notably youthful – 44.2% of Turks are under the age of 30, and 22.7% between 15-29, with a median age of around 34, giving it the youngest population in Europe (source: Eurostat).

“There’s a huge young population,” says Ugur Aydin, CEO of promoter iTicket Production. “The ratio is higher than a lot of other countries, and I think that is one of the reasons why the Turkish market will continue to grow.”

“If we can get those big tours coming through and figure out a way to set reasonable ticket prices for the young people, I think Türkiye is going to be big,” Boyner concurs. “There’s a lot of potential here.”

Promoters
Türkiye has a broad swathe of capable, independent promoters, most of them currently focused largely on local acts while picking up international names when fees and exchange rates permit. Among the leading names are BKM, Pozitif, GNL Entertainment, DBL Entertainment, Akademi Organizasyon, Epifoni Events, Piu Entertainment, İKSV (the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts), People Entertainment, and BWO Entertainment.

The major Western corporates, meanwhile, are yet to make an impact beyond Live Nation’s local Ticketmaster operation.

“I believe that independent promoters can be better for a country like us, because bigger companies’ expectations are bigger,” says People Entertainment country manager Kemal Erdine, a former head of Ticketmaster Türkiye and another major ticketer, Biletix. “They can easily find local partners; there are lots of good ones, including us. And these local partners can handle some of the risk.”

With 30 years in the market, BKM is a stalwart, and formidably diversified, with international shows just one string to its bow.

“Local acts are our main thing,” says Boyner. “Theatre is our main thing. 70% of our company is a movie company, so we have a big umbrella that is connected together. So last year was great, I have to say. Whatever we promoted, we sold. It was a nice year.”

“The Turkish audience is not like in London or Holland. We buy tickets last-minute”

This year, Guns N’ Roses is BKM’s big punt, and Boyner reports that sales are healthy if idiosyncratic. “70% sold just like that,” she says. “And we are like, ‘Okay, this is going to be a sell-out.’ But then it stopped. It’s like, ‘Okay, what’s going on right now?’ But because of Ramadan, because of Eid, people aren’t thinking about these kinds of things.

“So our expectation is, around April, people will go back. The Turkish audience is not like in London or Holland. We buy tickets last-minute. I think it’s going to be a sell-out show, but it’s going to be maybe one week before. Banks are giving 40% interest rates, so people are keeping their money in the bank as much as they can.”

Inflation and currency fluctuations are an everyday peril for Turkish promoters, as are agents’ unrealistic expectations of consumer spending power.

“When agents are thinking about Türkiye, they say, ‘Okay, [the act] is doing a concert in Dubai for $2m and the Dubai population is 3m,’” says Hakan Özgül of Akademi Organizasyon. “But when they come to Türkiye, and Istanbul has 16m people, we have to pay more. But the Dubai currency is stable. Our currency, we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

All promoters agree that the exchange rate is a standard hurdle. “I cannot send them the real costings because the ticket prices are always changing,” says Aydin. “They want to see the ticket prices, but I’m always explaining to them, ‘Listen, I’m sending you these ticket prices, but it’s going to change. Eventually, the dollar will change. Everything’s going to change.’ So sometimes they have a problem understanding that.”

Istanbul-based Piu, founded in 2010, has operated in London since 2016, handling concerts, theatres, and musicals in both markets, with a strong line in bringing international IP to the Turkish market and good instinct for tailoring its costs to the buying power of local consumers. Piu has a plan to open two theatres of its own in Istanbul over the next two years to help mitigate the costs of longer runs, but its operations are nationwide.

“We produce and we promote,” says Demirok. “We have Amadeus and Equus by Peter Shaffer, and we have Shakespeare in Love. We produce them in Turkish, and we tour with them – not only in Istanbul but also the other cities. We would love to bring Amadeus from the National Theatre, but it’s very expensive, so we got the title rights, and we produce it in Turkish, and it’s selling out. I think that is the best-selling play in Turkish history. We reached 500,000 tickets in five years.”

“This year we’re going to do Gipsy Kings with nine cities. That’s going to be our biggest tour in Türkiye”

While many international artists don’t go much farther afield than Istanbul, there are ten metropolitan municipalities in Türkiye with a population of over 2m – including the capital Ankara, İzmir, Bursa, and Adana – plus at least ten more with a million-plus. As a result, Turkish acts and Turkish-language productions can tour widely.

“We have operations in 23, 24 different cities in Türkiye,” says Demirok. “We can go to the small cities with these local productions, but for international artists, when we do concerts, we can go to five or six cities, the big cities. This year we’re going to do Gipsy Kings with nine cities. That’s going to be our biggest tour in Türkiye. It is the first time some of the cities will have had any international artists in town, so we are going to see the reaction.”

It goes without saying, of course, that Istanbul remains the key attraction for most international shows.

“That’s where the market is,” says Arıcı. “There are some other venues, like in Ankara or İzmir, or sometimes during the summer in the Aegean or Mediterranean seaside cities or cities where festivals are happening for university students, but everything goes from Istanbul, and everything is run by people in Istanbul.”

As a great city on the cusp of several distinct regions, Istanbul also has a strong appeal to travelling fans, according to Özgül at Akademi, whose shows this year include Robbie Williams, as well as Trevor Noah at the Volkswagen Arena in April – both in partnership with DBL Entertainment.

“Last year, most of the Turkish people I know went to Greece for the Coldplay concert because we weren’t able to do it,” says Özgül, who has high hopes for further, as-yet-unannounced superstar shows this summer.

“When you do get those big shows [in this region], you bring a lot of tourists to your country – from Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, as well as Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait. Istanbul is located between Asia and Europe, and when you do these events in Istanbul, these people will come to watch; Russian people will come to Türkiye to watch these events also.”

“The deals are structured in such a way that if a show is successful, it doesn’t necessarily cover the money you lose when a show is not successful”

Yelda Kelly, of booking agency Vibe United Talent International, whose forthcoming shows include Sasha & John Digweed at Istanbul’s Klein Phönix club in June, confirms the free movement of regional audiences.

“Türkiye has a lot of potential for international touring companies,” she says. “When we have artists downplaying for festivals, we have a lot of people travelling from close territories.”

Charm Music Türkiye focuses on booking and connecting festivals and promoters with international acts. In 2022, Charm brought Måneskin to KüçükÇiftlik Park as a promoter, but Nick Hobbs has little appetite for this year’s market, with both ticket sales and sponsorships hard to find.

“As far as Türkiye is concerned, we had a terrible year last year,” he says, with impressive candour. “We managed to lose money on everything we did, except Einaudi [at Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theatre in September], where we broke even. But everything else lost money, and quite a lot of money.

“The risk is so high, and the deals are structured in such a way that if a show is successful, it doesn’t necessarily cover the money you lose when a show is not successful. So we have drawn in our horns this year, and we are being more conservative because our estimated ticket sales were optimistic, and our sponsorship expectations were wildly optimistic, as it turns out.”

iTicket Production is the newly launched promoting arm of the ticketing platform of the same name, which also operates in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.

“The whole concept is 2–3,000-capacity shows,” says Aydin. “We are bringing [Italian tenor] Alessandro Safina – more classical music, where other promoters don’t pay attention to this field. We had two shows with Blue [at the Istanbul Congress Centre] in March. There’s a Russian community in Türkiye, too, so we do Russian superstar concerts in Istanbul, like Valeriy Meladze.”

People Entertainment, meanwhile, has Chicago the Musical ready to go and Lord of the Rings later this year or early next.

“We are happy to bring top-quality musicals back to Türkiye,” says Erdine. “We are really proud of it, and we want to continue to do it, because years ago, there were lots of high-level musicals in Türkiye. But after that, as a result of, again, some devaluation problems, it stopped for a while, just like the foreign artist concerts in Istanbul and Ankara and in Türkiye generally, because covering their costs was a little bit difficult.”

Part two of our Türkiye market report can be read here.

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