(This story was originally published in the Feb. 4 issue of German trade magazine MusikMarkt)
by
Emmanuel Legrand
The
French market operates with its own dynamics and idiosyncrasies,
notwithstanding the language issue. But overall, it is a market worth
exploring, not least because of its geographic position, in between
Northern and Southern Europe, and because of its economic strength.
Success in France can spearhead long careers for artists and steady
income streams over the years. Here are a few tips to consider before
trying to break the French market.
1 –
Make sure you have the right the repertoire
Obviously
if you have a catalogue dominated with German schalger, it's not
worth trying export to France, but classical, world, jazz and
electronic can do well. Pop and Urban are tricky, especially if sung
in German, although Tokio Hotel sold thousands of albums to French
teenagers, but they had songs people could hum and the proper
packaging (and the marketing backing of Universal). Metal can be a
steady market, as shown by the success of Rammstein recently and the
Scorpions in the 70s. France is also “more
open to articulate and artistic musicians which are often overlooked
or viewed with slight suspicion” in their countries, says
London-based Christine
Chinetti, International
Manager at Proper
Music Distribution. This applies to artists like Joseph Arthur or
Charlie Winston, among others.
2 –
Don't rush!
France
is a slow market, things take time to blossom, but once the machine
is on tracks, it delivers. Take that in to consideration when
planning. “In
France, the audience faithful but it takes time to build a
following,” says Ben Oldfield, Vice-President France and Benelux
for digital distributor The Orchard. “You have to give time to
time.”
3 -
Find the right partners
“The
French system very complex, the administration is very heavy so you
need local partners to go after your rights” says Jean-Raphaël
Maraninchi, Managing Director of Buddemusic France. Hence the need to
work with local partners – label, distributor, publisher, promoter,
plugger, etc. Even better is to set up shop in France if you can
generate significant volume. “It
took me a long time to learn that when working international
repertoire in the French market,” says Julian Wall, a
former executive from BMG, PolyGram and Sanctuary,
and who also worked for the BPI where he coordinated trade missions
abroad. “You do have to bed down deeply with your French
partner/distributor and let them by and large lead the way, even when
you feel that the strategy might be a little long-winded, off
kilter...or just plain wrong!”
4 -
Be prepared to invest
For
recordings, all options are possible: license to local labels, direct
distribution deals, catalogue deals, album deals... But if you chose
the route of direct distribution, “be
prepared to spend money,” warns Christine
Chinetti, International Manager at the UK's Proper Music
Distribution. “Distributors
are reluctant
to release anything without tour or PR in place, so make sure you
have strategy in place to ensure results,” she explains.
5 -
Leave marketing and promo to locals
The
French market has cycles that are different than the British or the
German markets. Singles can take up to six month to become hits.
Mainstream radio is tough to break and access to TV is not easy, but
press can be open to new artists and genres. It takes people with
experience to drive through the system. “I
worked quite a few UK projects in France and one of my biggest
problems was always explaining to my London bosses that things seem
to take a longer time cycle in France and it's very hard to
circumvent the recognised stages of developing profile and sales in
the market,” says Wall. For Chinetti, “Promo
can be expensive and needs a long lead time, so costs can be
prohibitive.”
6 -
Touring is crucial
 |
| Jun Miyake |
France
has a very efficient and modern network of venues of all sizes, and
one of the healthiest festival scene in Europe. Over 16 million
tickets were sold in 2013 in France. It is important to have a local
promoter who knows the market. “With
pop acts, without radio support, you won't sell tickets. Not so with
rock bands, who have a different dynamic,” says Francois
Millet, founder of music publishing company vital song. “The
difference
between France and other Latin countries is that we sell a lot from
acts that tour, that have a fan base,” adds Oldfield.
7 -
In publishing, chose the right sub-publisher
“Publishing
requires real expertise,” says Maraninchi. And you need all your
partner's knowledge to navigate the arcane of authors' society SACEM,
and also a publisher who is well plugged in the synch market. There
are about 100 music publishing companies of record that can either
administer catalogues or work on specific projects.
8 -
The synch market is growing
France
is a good market for the business of rights, with a strong film
industry and some of the world's largest ad agencies. With the
appropriate catalogue, synchs and performance rights can deliver
hefty dividends. “Advertising agencies are trying to lower prices,
but the business is still strong. Electro and pop work best for
synchs,” says Adrien
Deniel, in charge of copyright and synchronisation at Métisse
Music, whose signing, Japanese composer Jun Miyake, has been
supplying instrumental music used in many synchs. Electronic
is very much in demand for documentaries, films d'auteurs and online
usage, according to Budde's Maraninchi.
9 -
There's neighbouring rights too!
The
1986 copyright bill introduced in France neighbouring rights for
recordings and performances, benefitting labels and artists. These
rights are paid by broadcasters but also by manufacturers/importers
of blank media, on which is applied a private copy levy. Revenues
from neighbouring rights have grown to a point where they can
represent up to 20% of the turnover of an indie label, according to
Jérome Roger, Director General of collecting society SPPF. Comments
Julian Wall, “France
has delivered impressive uplifts in income from the sync and
performance rights sectors, so holding onto and energetically
pursuing those type of income streams is something that any
rights-owner participating in the French market should be directly
concerned with.”
10
– Be patient!
It
will take time but the rewards can be high. “Given
that France is a territory that is now showing actual positive
growth, it's definitely a good time to be getting into the world's
fifth largest music market,” says Wall.
[This piece was part of a series on the French Music Market. Other stories include:
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