Sold out' as a fictional story: How the music industry learned to sell success even when it didn't exist

"They try to sell an image of constant growth to justify numbers that often do not correspond to the reality of the artist. In this context, announcing a sold-out concert at a major venue serves as a legitimizing argument for festivals, public programmers, or local promoters, even when the event's financial viability has been precarious or even negative."

"Once at [Madrid venue] Joy Eslava, with a capacity of 900, they had sold around 270 tickets, had a guest list of 600, and declared it sold out. This isn't an isolated incident, but rather a recurring practice in markets where the narrative of growth carries as much weight as actual attendance."

"Although its maximum capacity is around 17,000 people, it allows for configurations starting at just over 3,500 spectators and other intermediate sizes of between 5,000 and 10,000. In these latter configurations, tickets sell out, but the building, in physical terms, is far from full."

Spain's live music industry uses sold-out declarations as internal advertising mechanisms disconnected from actual venue capacity. The Movistar Arena in Madrid exemplifies this practice through modular configurations allowing capacities from 3,500 to 17,000 people, where tickets sell out despite the physical building remaining far from full. Promoters and programmers employ sold-out announcements to legitimize events and justify artist compensation claims, even when financial viability is questionable. This normalized practice extends to smaller venues using inflated guest lists to declare sold-out status. The shift stems from the expansion of the festival model in Spain, where artists receive fixed fees rather than ticket-dependent income, fundamentally altering compensation structures and creating incentives for growth narratives.

Read at english.elpais.com