Balgarianovinite.com Bulgaria’s music market amounts to EUR 145 million annually, positioning it among the fastest-growing cultural sectors in the country, Ruth Koleva said while presenting a new national study on the state and development of the Bulgarian music industry. The research was commissioned by the Association of Independent Music Performers and Producers (ANMIP) and conducted by Kantar. Koleva is Chair of ANMIP’s Board.
The key findings of the report were presented on February 14.
Ticket sales account for 57% of total revenues, indicating that concerts and festivals are the main drivers of the sector. 80% of the value of the music market in Bulgaria consists of end-consumer spending, including purchases, tickets, streaming and other expenditures. 18% represents income from authors’ and related rights, while two percent comes from physical and digital music sales.
The streaming market alone reaches over EUR 9.5 million annually. Koleva clarified that the findings are conservative due to the lack of comprehensive data for many segments of the music market in the country.
According to her, growth also extends to a range of related industries. She pointed to music tourism, which has seen significant expansion in recent years and holds substantial potential. However, she noted that music tourism in Bulgaria is currently driven mainly by well-known international performers. “We very rarely see tourist flows directed towards Bulgarian artists or free events,” Koleva said, adding that attracting international performers and organizing festivals is vital for industry development.
“Our market suffers from the fact that Bulgarian artists do not go abroad, or if they do, it is very difficult,” she added.
“All conclusions show that live performance activity is essential, especially if we think about the artist,” said Marko Anastasov, owner and CEO of Muze, a company specializing in marketing, management, music production and intellectual property.
According to him, music streaming in Bulgaria continues to grow, with young people playing a key role not only in streaming but in the industry overall through purchases of merchandise, physical formats and concert tickets. “One of the main conclusions and reasons for these results is the growing entrepreneurial spirit,” he said, noting the emergence of new promoters, publishers, managers and independent self-releasing artists in the country.
Koleva also stressed that Bulgarian companies operating in the music industry face difficulties in accessing state instruments to support their financial development. She added that Bulgarian firms receive a significantly smaller share of European funding compared to companies in other countries. She pointed out that the market’s volume exceeds the state’s culture budget.
For many elements of the market, structured data is lacking, said Stefina Madzharova, a representative of Kantar. She explained that the research team conducted a nationally representative survey among the population aged over 15. In compiling the data, Kantar used market assessment reports for Bulgaria and globally, reports from collective management organizations and independent rights management bodies, professional associations and other publicly available sources. The team consolidated data on direct consumer spending and on the distribution of income from authors’ and related rights.
“This gives us a fairly good overall picture of the market, but many elements are still missing from the data,” Madzharova said.
“There is no state, municipal or national instrument that monitors concert activity in Bulgaria,” Koleva noted. “The lack of a state strategy to categorize the sector makes this final result much smaller than it actually is,” she added. “If the amount we have currently been able to most legitimately prove turns out to be triple, that would represent a huge omission for the state,” Koleva said. Survey: Bulgaria’s Music Market Worth EUR 145 Mln Annually, Among Fastest-Growing Cultural Sectors 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-02-24 17:55:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law