Updated 07.18 | Published at 07:00
Dansbandssverige and other dance events can get a boost – on July 1, the so-called dance band VAT will be greatly reduced. The reform is welcomed by the industry, which hopes for an economic recovery.
The VAT on tickets for dance performances is now reduced from 25 to 6 percent. But Lasse Lundberg, who leads the dance band Blender, does not think that the entrance fee should automatically be reduced.
– Ticket prices are already so low. Today it is too cheap to go out dancing, on average a ticket costs SEK 250, he says.
He hopes that the reduced VAT will give the industry better finances, so that it can remain.
– That is why we have been fighting about this ever since the 1990s, says Lasse Lundberg.
Into the “cultural heat”
Karin Inde, chairman of the Musicians’ Association, points out that reduced VAT improves the conditions of competition between private dance band organizers and VAT-exempt non-profit associations such as Folkets Hus- och park associations.
– Overall, dance band musicians welcome the reform. Dance band music and dance events are now allowed to enter the cultural heat. With dancing audiences, they have been forced to add 25 percent VAT to ticket prices. Dance band events have therefore not been able to be included in festivals and other major cultural events. It has become unfair, she says.
The organizers can now choose between two different paths – either reduce the ticket price when the VAT is reduced, or make sure to get more revenue by not reducing the price. With the latter option, private organizers are not deprived of their income.
– We musicians then get braver organizers, but it is also a matter of regrowth. The organizers dare to develop the industry more, and musicians can demand better pay. There is a need for it, says Karin Inde.
Hope for rejuvenation
Bookers also see the reduced VAT as a supplement that is really needed.
– Hopefully there will be more new organizers, who start running dances when the pressure is not so hard financially. This in turn can lead to more new and younger bands being started, so we get a rejuvenation in the market, says Mats Tigerström at the booking company Nöjeskällan.
Nor does he see that there is room today for the organizers to lower the ticket price. If the VAT had not been lowered, many organizers who own and operate their facilities would probably have had to shut down their business in the end, he believes.
– Today there will be no money left for them. It is enough for the facility to have a roof damage that may cost 100,000-200,000 kroner, then it’s over, says Mats Tigerström.
Dance band VAT
The lower VAT of 6 percent has previously applied to access to similar cultural events such as theatre, concerts and ballet, that is, when you go to performances.
Other events that are not performances, such as dance performances, night clubs and discotheques, have had VAT of 25 percent.
To count as a dance event, there must be clearly demarcated areas intended for dancing where visitors can dance to music themselves.
According to the Musicians’ Association, there are currently between 20 and 25 dance bands left in Sweden that tour full-time. They have 100-150 gigs per year and bands.
