Dutch venues hosted more concerts in 2024

The Association of Dutch Pop Venues and Festivals (VNPF) has revealed there was an upturn in the number of concerts taking place in the Netherlands last year.

The organisation compared the data from 56 pop venues, which showed concerts were up 4.9% year-on-year from 7,534 in 2023 to 7,903 in 2024.

It also reported a marginal 1.6% decrease in the number of club nights from 2,911 to 2,863 in the same period.

Venues organised 29,043 activities last year (+0.5% y-o-y) in total, with 28,852 performances by artists (+2.8%). Almost half of the programming consisted of non-music activities such as theatre and film, with concerts making up more than a quarter of the output and club nights accounting for almost 10%.

Including support acts, an average of 1.9 performances took place during concerts.  However, the number of performing artists per gig declined for the second year in a row – a downward trend the association had flagged up in the past.

“Venues may have to cut back on more risky programmes due to cost increases”

“The VNPF previously expressed its concerns about this development, in which pop venues may have to cut back on more risky programmes due to cost increases, putting increasing pressure on diversity and talent development,” says the association.

The VNPF plans to share more detailed figures in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed last month that a proposed tax hike for the Dutch cultural and creative market will definitely not go ahead. The government had planned to raise the VAT rate for the sector by 9% to 21% from 2026 as part of broader austerity measures designed to save €2.3 billion.

Industry groups had warned the increase would have a “negative domino effect” on the Dutch business and add more than 10% to the price of tickets.

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