The creative and cultural sector accounted for 4,4 percent of European GDP before COVID-19. It employed more Europeans than telecoms and the automotive industry combined. – In total, the creative and cultural industry has lost 199 billion euros, more than 30 percent of its turnover for 2020. Music and performing arts are the areas that have been hit hardest, says Willy Martinsen, Head of Communications at TONO
/ 26/01/2021 / Willy Martinsen(Oslo, January 26, 2021) The creative and cultural sector accounted for 4,4 percent of European value creation (GDP) before COVID-19, and employed more Europeans than the telecom and automotive industries combined. – In total, the creative and cultural industry has lost 199 billion euros, more than 30 percent of its turnover for 2020. Music and performing arts are the areas that have been hit hardest, says Willy Martinsen, Head of Communications at TONO.
The European copyright organizations, including TONO, present the report today through their lobby organization GESAC Rebuilding Europe: the cultural and creative economy before and after COVID-19. The survey, conducted by EY Consulting, measured the size of the cultural and creative sector in Europe and how it has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The cultural and creative industries include industries such as advertising, architecture, the audiovisual sector, literature, music, media, performing arts, radio, video games and visual arts. Please note that the survey only covers the EU, not the EEA countries.
Visit the survey website
Download the survey here (pdf document)
Download summary here (pdf)
In 2019, in other words before COVID-19, the creative and cultural sector represented 4.4 percent of European GDP, with an annual total turnover of €643 billion, and with spillover effects for the European economy of a further €253 billion. The sector's contribution to the European economy is thus greater than that of telecommunications, high-tech, pharmaceuticals and the automotive industry.
– The sector is among Europe's largest in terms of employment, with more than 7.6 million jobs. This is more than eight times as many as in the telecom industry. It is also a sector that comes out strong when it comes to gender diversity and employment of young people, says Martinsen.
The cultural and creative industries experienced economic growth of 2.6% per year from 2013 to 2019, a growth rate that is higher than the EU as a whole with growth of 2%. The sector represented a total trade surplus of €8,6 billion in 2017.
The total turnover of all businesses in the creative and cultural industries fell by €199 billion to €444 billion. This represents a turnover loss of around 31 percent, making the industry one of the hardest hit in Europe, with a situation only marginally better than that of the airline industry, but worse than both the tourism and automotive industries, which have experienced turnover losses of 27 percent and 25 percent respectively.
– The survey shows that companies in the creative and cultural industries are harder hit than the tourism industry, and only marginally less than the air transport industry. In total, the creative and cultural industries have lost more than 30 percent of their turnover for 2020 – a total loss of 199 billion euros. The music industry and performing arts are the areas that are hardest hit with losses of 75% and 90% respectively, says Martinsen.
Based on the cultural and creative industries' significant contribution to the European economy, the study concludes that the sector should be central to Europe's efforts to rebuild the economy.
The report recommends massive public funding, and encouragement of private investment, a solid legal framework to create the necessary conditions to revitalize the creative economy and ensure its long-term growth, and to harness the enormous potential of both the industry in general and the individual creative talents within the industry to drive societal progress.
About the survey:
The survey was commissioned by GESAC, the European lobbying organisation for companies like TONO and TONO's European sister societies, and involved a wide range of partners in the work: AEPO-ARTIS, EUROCINEMA, EUROCOPYA, EVA, FIAPF, IMPALA, IVF, SAA, SROC and supporting organisations; AER, CEPIC, EACA, ECSA, EGDF, EPC, FEP, FERA, FSE, IFRRO and IMPF.
About Gesac
Gesac is a lobbying organization for 32 of the largest copyright management companies in the EU countries, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Gesac fights for the rights of more than 1 million authors and rightholders in music, the audiovisual field, visual arts and literary and dramatic works.
About TONO:
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by authors (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, and on their behalf manages the economic copyrights in the music they have created. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music, for example on radio, TV, the internet, concerts and cinemas for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders in music that has been played publicly. TONO has 35,000 members, but also works for approximately three million authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO's social role is twofold, on the one hand collecting and simplifying the licensing of protected music and on the other hand providing music creators with an economic basis for creating new musical works. In 2019, TONO had a turnover of kr 771 millions.
For more information:
Willy Martinsen, Communications Manager at TONO, mobile: 909 65 254, email: willy.martinsen (a) tono.no