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negative impact on physical music sales, with protests peaking at the end of the year when physical music sales are typically at their strongest. “To show evidence of the effect of the gilets jaunes on this market, we can notice that in late November, the decline [in physical sales] was around 9% year-on-year; a month later, this figure was almost six points higher,” says Lasch.

SNEP said that 5.5m people in France subscribe to a music streaming service, a total that it recognises as weak compared to the 8.3m in the UK. However, that number is

steadily growing, with France adding 1m streaming subscribers in 2018. Overall, SNEP says that 46% of music fans in France use a streaming service.

Lasch says that 5.5m is “too little and a lot at the same time”. “A lot, of course, in terms of absolute value and this reflects the fact that this mode of consumption is now massive,” he adds. “But too little also if you compare it to other major music markets. In proportion to population, American subscribers are twice as numerous. Our British and German neighbours are doing better than us too.”

Lasch explains that the French streaming market has “significant room for improvement and there is still work needed to increase

MARKET PROFILE France

The “gilets jaunes” movement in France has had a signifi cant negative impact on physical music sales, with protests peaking at the end of the year when those sales are typically at their strongest. This followed a 12-month period when France added 1m streaming subscribers

STATS

fPopulation 67.1mdGDP (purchasing power parity)

$2.836 trillion*GDP real growth rate 1.8%*GDP per capita (PPP) $43,800*hInternet users 57.2mcBroadband connections 28.4miMobiles/subscriptions 69m*=2017 estimatesSources: CIA World Factbook

FRANCE

In the first quarter of 2012, digital music revenues in the US and UK overtook those of physical for the first time. Some six years later, the same thing happened in France. Recorded music body SNEP reported in its annual results that digital music brought in €335m in 2018 in France, up 19%, while physical music revenue fell 15% to €256m, marking the first full-year results in which digital outperformed physical in France. Overall, the French recorded music market (minus synchronisation and neighbouring rights) grew 1.5% in 2018 to €590m.

The engine for this growth was streaming. Overall streaming revenue in France last year rose 26% to €301m, the lion’s share of which

(€243.1m) came from subscription. SNEP says this rise was partly thanks to the introduction of offers, such as family packages and student deals, that suit different consumer segments.

“It’s actually great seeing growth in the market for the third year in a row after more than a decade of spectacular decline,” says SNEP DG Alexandre Lasch. “Streaming revenues obviously fuel this growth, with an increase of 26% year-on-year; the physical market is still an important source of revenue but keeps decreasing, which explains this modest overall result.”

Interestingly, SNEP says that the “gilets jaunes” movement in France had a significant

5.5m [streaming subscribers] is too li� le and a lot at the same

time. A lot, of course, in terms of absolute value and this refl ects

the fact that this mode of consumption is now massive. But too li� le also if you compare it to

other major music markets....” – Alexandre Lasch, SNEP

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the number of subscribers and increase awareness of the various subscription offers, especially since they are more and more adapted to consumer expectations”. And yet France can take heart from the fact that music streaming is progressing beyond its core, youthful user base. SNEP says that, while teenagers might be the most “intense” users of streaming, today 31% of streamers are aged 50+.

“People under 30s are clear leaders among streaming fans and especially among the users of a paying subscription,” says Lasch.

“They represent 26% of the population but 44% of premium users. But indeed, contrary to popular belief, the over-50s already account for 31% of users of streaming services. It is therefore a practice now widespread among all age groups of the population, even if the youngest people use it more intensively.”

France can also take heart from the strength of its domestic repertoire: of the top 20 selling albums of 2018, 19 were by French acts, with Ed Sheeran’s Divide the only international exception. In total, 80% of the year’s top 200 albums were French,

MARKET PROFILE France continued...

ISSUE 358

18-29

40-4930-39

50 years +

10-17

THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC CONSUMPTION

POPULATION

43%

16%

15%

17%9%

31%

16%

18%

22%

13%STREAMERSAudio/Video

19%

13%

24%

32%

12%PAID SUBSCRIBERS

26%UNDER 30

35%UNDER 30

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largely thanks to the strength of local urban music, which made up 43% of the top 200 albums. Lasch also points to the strength of new musical talent in France: of the top 200 albums last year, 48 were debut albums, including 40 produced in France.

France does, of course, benefit from quotas from local music on the radio. Less well known is the crédit d’impôt en faveur de la production phonographique – a tax credit that allows music companies to offset up to 30% of production costs each year and which was recently extended until 2022. But France

has also stepped up its investment in A&R in recent years, according to one leading music executive, who also highlights the diversity of its repertoire.

Running parallel to this digitally advanced French music market is the country’s deeply entrenched physical music business. The country still has around 4,000 stores that sell physical music and Warner Music shifted 758,000 physical copies of Johnny Hallyday’s posthumous album Mon Pays C’est L’Amour in one week last year, making up a staggering 97.2% of its total week-one sales. What’s more, Mon Pays C’est L’Amour sold 80,000 copies on vinyl in 2018, a number that knocks Arctic Monkeys’ 38,000 UK vinyl sales of Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino for six.

“In France, as with our German neighbours, this model of [streaming] access still largely coexists with the model of purchase,” SNEP says in its results. “The challenge for music production remains twofold: to support the vitality of the physical distribution network while continuing the development of the digital market.”

Cynics my wonder whether maintaining this double challenge is, indeed, possible – but Lasch has no doubts. “Physical sales and our network of more than 4,000 stores selling our products are a chance for our industry and definitely not a threat to digital consumption,” he says. “They complement one another. An illustration is that many young people enjoy their subscription to Deezer, Spotify or Apple Music while buying a lot of vinyl at the same time: a third of the vinyl turnover is generated by people under 30. But the potential of growth in digital revenues is still constrained by factors such as the value gap or online copyright infringements.” :)

Source: Baromètre MusicUsages