Invisible Giant: The Austrian Music Industry

photo of we stand with ukraine benefit concert
Photo (c) vienna.at

A wide-ranging new study on the Austrian music business has delivered astonishing results: the industry is worth €7.5 billion annually, accounting for 2.8% of Austria’s GDP. A single musician creates 16 additional jobs…but until now, all this has remained unknown. More investment in Austrian music would be valuable investment in the entire economy.

According to a new study entitled “The Added Value of the Music Industry in Austria 2024”, roughly 117,000 jobs are directly or indirectly connected with the domestic music industry – as many jobs as the mechanical engineering branch, and significantly more than IT or finance. Music has an impact of about €4.35 billion per year, accounting for approximately 2.8% of Austria’s gross domestic product (GDP).

For the first time: Concrete numbers

The study was commissioned by the Film and Music Industry Trade Association, the Austrian Music Industry Association (IFPI) and the copyright agency AKM, with the purpose of rectifying a massive problem: the economic and political position of the music industry in Austrian has never before been clearly defined. Music exerts a major influence on numerous sectors of the Austrian economy, but no concrete data for the industry itself had ever been collected. Austria has no definition for the music industry, and significant portions of it have previously simply been omitted from economic statistics. These omissions include basic elements like recording, publishing, and music events, but also areas such as entertainment electronics and the use of music in museums. The new study solves this problem by creating a “satellite account” for the music industry, a specialized form of accounting focusing on the direct, indirect, and induced effects of the music industry on the economy. 

Gross Added Value: €7.5 billion

The results are impressive: Austria is home to about 7,000 “creatives” and musicians – persons directly employed in making music. However, that’s only a small part of a much larger picture. Including related fields like distribution, licensing, and music tourism, the music industry contributes €7.5 billion to the economy every year. According to IFPI director Franz Medwenitsch, “A relatively small creative core generates a value-added chain with enormous effects.”

Properly separated from other areas, the music business is one of the largest industries in Austria. Roughly 117,000 jobs are dependent on it, making it second only to retail. That core of creative workers powers a branch directly employing 95,000 workers, with a further 20,000 owing their jobs indirectly to music. In terms of gross value added, the music industry is the 3rd most profitable in the country, after health services and transportation but ahead of traditional leaders like energy, construction, food retail and restaurants. In addition, the music business is majority female (56.6%), and only 17.7% of music workers are self-employed. The singer-songwriter Ina Regen remarks: “It would be wonderful if these results would elicit not just a brief round of applause for the value the music industry creates, but real support – yes, political support as well.”

1 Musician = 16 additional jobs

“Statistically, every musician in Austria is connected with an average of 16 additional jobs in Austria,” explains Anna Kleissner, director of the Austrian Economic Institute. “These jobs are often less visible, but they make the complex music ecosystem in Austria possible.” Hannes Tschürtz, chairman of the trade association’s labels working group in the trade association, brings it to a point: “The better we can support creatives in the local music industry, the stronger the value-added effects – and the entire field – will be. The return on such investments will be multiplied many times.”

Graph: workers directly employed in the music business
Workers directly employed in the music business (c) paul und collegen/econmove 2024

However, Austria’s small music market often can’t make the necessary investments on its own. Medwenitsch calls for the government to supply “sufficient resources for domestic music production and for the export of home-grown music.” He continues: “The Austrian music branch is under pressure from digitalization, global streaming platforms, increased competition for music fans’ attention, and – most recently – the advent of generative artificial intelligence. Being ‘big in Austria’ is not nearly enough anymore. In order to compete, we need an appropriate legal framework in terms of copyright protection, AI, and tax incentives.”

Time for a master plan

According to Kleissner, “we need to stop seeing music purely as entertainment. We need to understand its role as a major driver of the economy and job creation.” Tschürtz concurs: “It’s time for a ‘master plan’ for the Austrian music industry!” According to consultant Michael Paul, one area where concrete changes are necessary is Austrian media: “The lack of media presence for Austrian artists – particularly younger ones – is a bottleneck that needs to be widened. AKM president Peter Vieweger adds: “Live concerts of Austrian music of all kinds are very popular, but that’s not reflected in radio programming. The national stations prioritize old favorites and international hits, to the detriment of Austrian music.” Here, too, the projections leave no room for doubt: an increase of just 5% in Austrian music on the radio would lead to an increase of more than a million euros annually.

Ina Regen speaks for the musicians: “It’s time that our dedication to our profession stops being used against us. The work we do is important – not just for the mental health of the nation, but in economic terms as well.”

Translated and adapted from the German original by Philip Yaeger.