By journalist Manfred Tari

In our upcoming issue, Radar Magazine offers a sharp look at the shifting state of Europe’s music sector. In this essay, journalist Manfred Tari explores what’s missing in Europe’s music strategy – and what’s at stake if it doesn’t catch up.

We’re publishing a hand-picked selection of previews online in the lead-up to the full issue – stay tuned for more.

Music In The Air, is the title for a musical with a reference to a mountain town in Bavaria. The show celebrated its Broadway debut in 1932. The title was later adopted for the annually published research report by the financial heavyweight Goldman Sachs about the shape and outlook of the global music industry.

In fact, the report is an interesting read, though it now reveals blind spots when it comes to Bavaria and mountains. Statements such as: “Implications for music companies: scale, execution and M&A become even more important” or “rising market share concentration” describe key industry trends. A “clearer industry alignment towards improving music monetisation on a more regular basis, with upside from product innovation and superfan monetisation” also read as meaningful. At least when taking into consideration that compared to the US and UK, the number of superstars out of the European Union remains limited.

For Thomas Venker, Editor-in-Chief of the music magazine Kaput - Magazin für Insolvenz & Pop, the “dominance of Anglo-American corporate structures in live music creates systemic imbalances – not just in visibility, but in how money is distributed and how cultural ecosystems are shaped.” When a financial giant like Goldman Sachs paints the future of the music industry, it signals that the spotlight remains squarely on major US players and their investor-fuelled growth curves.

Laurent Bigarella is the director of the Ideas Department at Lyon-based association Arty Farty and co-coordinator of Reset! network, bringing together independent cultural and media organizations across Europe: “At Reset!, we believe that any form of monopoly poses a problem – and the dominance of US and UK companies in the music industry is not a positive sign for the sector’s overall health.”

Former MEP Iban Garcia del Blanco is the initiator of the EU-Streaming Resolution, a widely adopted legal framework by the European Parliament in January 2024 to address among others the imbalance in the allocation of revenues within the music streaming market. He has since become the Director for International Affairs at the consulting firm Lasker.com. For him, the structural imbalance in the global music industry, particularly in the live sector, is a longstanding challenge. “The dominance of Anglo-Saxon corporations and US/UK superstar culture often leaves limited space for European talent to emerge on equal footing,” he says. This directly affects independent music companies and concert organizers across Europe, who struggle to compete both economically and culturally. What’s missing is a coherent European framework to actively promote local talent and strengthen a Europe-based concert infrastructure. Without targeted action, this imbalance risks deepening, undermining Europe’s rich and diverse music landscape.

This year in July he attended what he describes as a “fine initiative by the music sector itself, the Brussels Music House: it's been more than a year that the European Parliament approved the Streaming Music Market Report, and had to be the sector itself who made the first step on creating a real European music framework scheme – the truth is it's supported by the European Commission, but this is peanuts.”

“The music sector itself is increasingly aware of the need for greater political attention at the European level,” resumes Bigarella, adding: “The recent One Voice for European Music initiative – to which Reset! contributed – shows that stakeholders across Europe are ready to coordinate their efforts, amplify their voices and advocate for dedicated support within EU cultural policies.”

European cultural policy must evolve to better align with and integrate the cultural practices of new generations. For instance, why is the rap music scene – currently the most listened-to genre among young people – almost entirely absent from support schemes at the EU level? Another important area for new programmes is addressing the growing concentration of ownership within the music value chain. In France alone, a dozen billionaires control a large portion of the festival industry, as recently documented by Matthieu Barreira and the SMA (Syndicat des Musiques Actuelles) in an alarming map. This trend raises significant concerns and requires action at the European level, including regulatory measures. At Reset!, together with other networks such as Live DMA, the organization advocates for an Observatory to monitor this concentration and its impacts.

When asked whether EU policies such as the EU-Streaming resolution requires more backing by artists, Garcia del Blanco responds: “Absolutely. Policy momentum depends heavily on political capital – and that capital can be built through visible, sustained engagement from artists themselves. The EU music streaming resolution passed in 2024 is a milestone, but it’s only a first step. Without public pressure and endorsement from the artistic community, implementation risks being diluted. Artists giving voice to these issues – transparency, fair pay, algorithmic impact – transforms a technical debate into a cultural cause. That visibility is critical for pushing through legislative or regulatory action at the European level.”

Perhaps the most likely ringtone of a wake-up call for European music is the announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron at France Music Week in June 2025. Macron declared a commitment of €500 million dedicated towards the support of the French music sector until 2030.