The heads of the biggest gig agencies told RBC how their business had changed in the context of SVO, and what had influenced the most – the coronavirus or geopolitics.
In March 2022, the share of concerts by foreign artists fell below 1%, although even during the pandemic in 2020 this figure was 3%, in 2019 – 20%. For the canceled shows, the organizers had debts to the audience in the amount of more than 8 billion rubles.
Against the background of geopolitical events, a number of Russian artists refused to perform. Some performers have been recognized as foreign agents and banned from performing. This led organizers to include restrictions on political statements in treaties.
- According to preliminary estimates, Moscow lost about 700,000 “quality people”: not only concert industry employees or performers, but also the target audience, who regularly visited concerts. We have made the decision to stay and continue to entertain people in every way in the honest way possible that we have,” said the head of the TCI agency, Eduard Ratnikov.
PMI chief Evgeny Finkelstein noted that the industry is going through tough times. He explained that not only artists who did not support the SVO, but also Ukrainian artists stopped performing in Russia. Finkelstein said the remaining Russian bands and artists on stage “feel good”. He added that now the industry is focusing on other creative formats: shows, exhibitions, symphony orchestras.
According to experts, the consequences of the departure of foreign artists have caused more damage to the industry than the coronavirus. However, company representatives expressed hope that they would be able to adapt to the new circumstances.
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