Techno and house events now qualify as concerts following the ruling of a German high finance court. It’s not a matter of simple semantics, either. Clubs now only have to pay a 7% tax on ticket sales whereas previously they needed to fork over 19%.
So long as a club’s average visitor is there for the music, said the court, its owners qualify for the tax cut. Accordingly, the law now formally recognizes DJs as musicians and techno as music. CDJs, turntables and mixers are also now defined as instruments. Alcohol sales have no bearing on a club’s eligibility.
According to Haerting, the judgement was handed down on July 23rd but only published on October 29th. The legislation speaks to German lawmakers continued recognition of electronic music’s cultural value; in 2016 Berghain saw a similar tax break after a court deemed it “high art.”
Meanwhile, bars, clubs and venues in Germany will be forced to close from November 2nd-30th on account of a fall COVID-19 resurgence throughout much of Europe.
Image credit: Alexander Popov
