Compensation for hearing damage after attending a rock concert

The organizer must ensure that visitors to a rock concert do not suffer any damage to their health (duty to maintain safety). In particular, the organizer cannot shift the responsibility for the volume of the music to the artists, as they are already objectively unsuitable as “noise producers” (source of the danger) to fulfil the organizer’s duty to ensure public safety.

In this case, both the local promoter and the promoter of the tour of a well-known American rock band were ordered to pay damages because a concertgoer had suffered noise trauma and tinnitus. The organizers were unsuccessful in their argument that the American sound engineer was responsible for the volume of the music for the reasons mentioned above.

(Nuremberg Regional Court, judgment of December 1, 2004, Ref.: 6 O 4537/03)