More than half of Dutch music venues lost money in 2025

More than half of the Netherlands’ subsidised pop music venues (poppodia) ended 2025 with financial losses after a steep fall in club-night audiences dragged down overall attendance, the sector’s trade body has said.

Visits to the 55 venues surveyed fell almost 5% from 2024 to just over 6.4 million, the Association of Dutch Music Venues and Festivals (VNPF) said in its latest annual figures, though attendance remained 3% above 2023.

Club nights drove the drop, with visits down 14% in a year and the share of sold-out nights slipping to 19%, from a quarter in 2024. Concert attendance held up better and stayed above 2023 levels.

Costs, meanwhile, outpaced income. The venues took in €247 million against €251 million in spending, leaving 52% with a loss, as staffing and housing bills rose and nearly a quarter of venues received less council subsidy than the year before.

Younger people are simply going out less, VNPF policy officer Arne Dee told broadcaster NOS, citing higher prices and squeezed budgets. “It’s mainly down to people’s personal financial situation,” said Hanneke Dijkstra, a night programmer at Simplon in Groningen.