French music market stable in 2020 with streaming subs accounting for 53% of revenue

 


By Emmanuel Legrand

While the US, British and German recorded music market posted growth, the recorded music market in France remained stable in 2020 compared to 2019, with revenues of €781 million (+0.1% over 2019). Physical sales were affected by the lockdown, which has accelerated the transfer to digital.

  Revenues from streaming went up 20% to €474.0m, and now represent close to three-quarter of total income with subscription alone accounting for more than half of the industry's annual turnover (53%), according to figures released by industry trade body SNEP.

  SNEP noted that revenues form subscriptions at €351.2m have proven to be particularly resilient, up 23% year-on-year. In 2020, the total number of paid users has crossed the 12 million users threshold, with streaming services registering 8.7 million subscriptions (the difference between the two figures is due to family accounts accessible to more than one person). With 7.4 million people using freemium services, the total population in France using streaming services is now over 20 million or 30% of the total population.

Vinyl accounts for 28% of physical sales

  However, the growth in streaming in 2020 barely compensated the drop in revenues from physical sales, severely impacted by the various lockdowns (down 20% to €184.0m). CD sales were down 27.1% to €126.8m, while vinyl sales, on the other hand, were up 10% at €51.1m, and represented 28% of physical sales, a share that has more than doubled in 3 years. Vinyl now generates higher revenues than video streaming (€46.7m).

  Synch revenues, at €22m, were down 10%, due to the slowing down of film and TV production.

  In addition, the closure of bars, restaurants and businesses using music has also impacted revenues from neighbouring rights, which are down 19% to €101m.

Dominance of local production

  Consumers continued to embrace French music production and for the third consecutive year, 19 of the TOP 20 albums in 2020 were French productions, sung in French, like 80% of the best selling albums. For the past six years, 17 to 19 of the best selling albums were French productions. About a quarter of all charting albums in France were debut albums by new artists. French rap and urban music productions continued to dominate the charts, claiming half of the spots in the Top 200 best-selling albums of the year.

  “Despite the crisis, producers continued to work tirelessly to develop, support and promote artists, who had been deprived of live performances for over a year," commented SNEP Director General Alexandre Lasch. "They continued to take risks and invested more than €300 million in new signings or new productions, recordings, marketing and all forms of promotion that had to be adapted to the restrictions imposed by the health situation.”