Live Music Exchange Resources
Financial survey of the music industry in Finland 2011 – Eero Tolppanen, Tommi Tuomainen, and Elements Music (2012)
Author(s): Eero Tolppanen, Tommi Tuomainen, and Elements Music
Publisher: Music Finland
Date: 2012
In spring 2012, Music Finland commissioned Elements Music Oy to investigate
overall music industry revenues in Finland in 2011. The employment impact of
the industry was also explored.
This report aims to present a more detailed analysis of revenue streams than
in previous studies. Another aim is to create a model that may be used to up-
date the figures for the industry on an annual basis and to make them internationally comparable.
The report considers the music industry as an economic cluster. The cluster
may be given a narrow, broad or comprehensive definition, depending on the
perspective chosen and the knock-on effects selected for inclusion. The cluster
consists of sectors; the sectors considered in the report are live music, musical
works and recordings. These constitute the narrow definition of the cluster, or
the core of the industry. The present report takes into account music education,
which lies outside of this core, because education has a considerable impact
not only on the operations of the sectors of the music industry but also on its
overall revenues.
The report is largely based on earlier reports published by umbrella organisa-
tions in the industry, augmented with expert interviews. Although data for the
year 2011 are relatively well available, we were obliged to use older data in the
absence of more recent information for instance regarding education.
The total revenues of the Finnish music industry in 2011 were estimated at
EUR 817.7 million. This is made up of live music (EUR 414 million), copyright
royalties (EUR 77.9 million), retail recording sales (EUR 66.5 million), music
education (EUR 264.2 million) and grants (EUR 14.9 million).
It is estimated that some 30,000 people in all work in the music industry,
most of them part-time musicians. Organisations in the industry, such as record
companies, employ a total of about 1,400 people. Volunteer labour forms a con-
siderable part of the music industry in addition to paid employees and entrepre-
neurs; music festivals alone employ some 10,000 volunteers every year.
No data were available on direct imports of recordings and on the new
revenue sources of record companies; the former may be significant with a view
to revenue from recording sales, while the latter may have an impact on the revenue logic of the music industry. It would thus be highly useful to investigate these areas in the future.