Danish music is selling far better abroad than previously believed, according to new statistics collected by consultancy Rambøll and a number of music industry organisations.

Of the 6.4 billion kroner that the music industry contributed to the economy in 2012, around 500 million came from the international market – far higher than the 158 million that was documented for 2011 – while recorded, streamed and broadcast music brought in around 2.6 billion kroner on the domestic market.

Seven million tickets to concerts were sold in 2012 but they contributed only a third of the 3.7 billion kroner that live music generated, with the remainder coming from sales of food and drinks at venues.

Music's economic contribution
A press release from five industry organisations – Koda, IFPI, Music Export Danmark (MXD), Dansk Live and Gramex – said that a lack of documentation could mean that Danish music is actually making even more money.

According to the CEO of MXD, Thomas Rohde, these are the first comprehensive statistics that have been compiled about the value of the Danish music industry, so it’s not possible to know whether the sector has been growing.

“But we think it is important to show that Danish music exports add an enormous value to the Danish society and that’s what the statistics show,” Rohde told Berlingske newspaper.

Jakob Brixvold, head of the secretariat at Dansk Live, which promotes live music venues, said he was surprised by how valuable the Danish music industry was.

“I thought it was at least a third less, but I’m not surprised that live music contributes so much because there has a been a developing trend in that direction.”