French artists are drawing huge support from French expats in Britain, helping them to break through across the channel, said PRS for Music chief economist Will Page.
Addressing delegates at the MAMA 2011 event in Paris, Page said: ‘If you want to break France, the market stretches from Marseille to St Pancras on the Euro Star. There are over half a million Parisians in London and that might help explain the success of breakthrough artists like We Were Evergreen.'
He also said that France was particularly receptive to British music, with UK acts taking a 14.5 percent market share in 2010, according to IFPI figures.
Muse’s album The Resistance was the biggest UK album, charting at number nine in the 2010 year-end countdown.
In preparation for the event and, having completed his annual Adding up the UK music industry analysis, Page turned his focus onto France.
'What struck me about the current understanding of the music industry was that very few people know how to do comparative analysis,' he said. 'At best, you see basic arithmetic from the IFPI Recording Industry in Numbers – and that’s not good enough. At MAMA 2011, PRS for Music and SACEM worked together to correct this.'
Page explained that French music exports have been buoyed by the ‘David Guetta effect’. Dance music producer and songwriter Guetta, who has collaborated with the likes of Akon, Estelle and LMFAO, helped French music exports to the US double in the years from 2004 to 2010.
Drawing on research from the UK Adding up paper, Page acknowledged that although the UK and France face different economic risks, sluggish growth and large deficits have led to consumer cautiousness and slow spending on both sides of the channel.
He said that French consumers, like their British counterparts, are spending less on recorded music year-on-year and more on concert tickets. Indeed both have seen a changing of the guard with live overtaking recorded towards the end of the decade.
As a percentage of overall ‘wallet share’, consumer spending in the live music industry doubled from 1997 to 2010. Meanwhile, spending on recorded music, such as CDs and DVDs, nosedived from a peak of €2.2bn in 2002 to €0.9bn in 2010.
The fourth edition of PRS for Music’s Adding up the UK music industry report was published in August. Page, and co-contributor Chris Carey, found that total music revenues in Britain fell from £3.9bn in 2009 to £3.8bn last year, hit by a 7.3 percent drop in consumer revenues from the live and recorded music sectors.
However, the UK strengthened its position as a net exporter of music, outstripping even the US when compared on like-for-like terms. Click here to read Adding up the UK music industry 2010.
Meanwhile, PRS for Music membership development consultant Jules Parker also hosted a panel at the event, sharing new insights on the similarities and comparisons between the UK and French markets.
He was joined by Ryan Farley, A&R at Warner Chappell, journalist Francine Gorman, Machine Management’s Iain Watt, Cécile Communal from Bureau Export in London and Jules Delattre from The Agency Group.
He said: '[The MAMA conference and showcase events] offer a rare opportunity for members to talk to their peers overseas, discuss issues relating to the future of the music industry, and to network with music companies from different countries.
'By joining forces with our French counterparts, we’re demonstrating our commitment to those songwriters and composers whose careers are expanding into countries outside the UK – especially given the opportunities today for artists to reach audiences around the world.'
Addressing delegates at the MAMA 2011 event in Paris, Page said: ‘If you want to break France, the market stretches from Marseille to St Pancras on the Euro Star. There are over half a million Parisians in London and that might help explain the success of breakthrough artists like We Were Evergreen.'
He also said that France was particularly receptive to British music, with UK acts taking a 14.5 percent market share in 2010, according to IFPI figures.
Muse’s album The Resistance was the biggest UK album, charting at number nine in the 2010 year-end countdown.
In preparation for the event and, having completed his annual Adding up the UK music industry analysis, Page turned his focus onto France.
'What struck me about the current understanding of the music industry was that very few people know how to do comparative analysis,' he said. 'At best, you see basic arithmetic from the IFPI Recording Industry in Numbers – and that’s not good enough. At MAMA 2011, PRS for Music and SACEM worked together to correct this.'
Page explained that French music exports have been buoyed by the ‘David Guetta effect’. Dance music producer and songwriter Guetta, who has collaborated with the likes of Akon, Estelle and LMFAO, helped French music exports to the US double in the years from 2004 to 2010.
Drawing on research from the UK Adding up paper, Page acknowledged that although the UK and France face different economic risks, sluggish growth and large deficits have led to consumer cautiousness and slow spending on both sides of the channel.
He said that French consumers, like their British counterparts, are spending less on recorded music year-on-year and more on concert tickets. Indeed both have seen a changing of the guard with live overtaking recorded towards the end of the decade.
As a percentage of overall ‘wallet share’, consumer spending in the live music industry doubled from 1997 to 2010. Meanwhile, spending on recorded music, such as CDs and DVDs, nosedived from a peak of €2.2bn in 2002 to €0.9bn in 2010.
The fourth edition of PRS for Music’s Adding up the UK music industry report was published in August. Page, and co-contributor Chris Carey, found that total music revenues in Britain fell from £3.9bn in 2009 to £3.8bn last year, hit by a 7.3 percent drop in consumer revenues from the live and recorded music sectors.
However, the UK strengthened its position as a net exporter of music, outstripping even the US when compared on like-for-like terms. Click here to read Adding up the UK music industry 2010.
Meanwhile, PRS for Music membership development consultant Jules Parker also hosted a panel at the event, sharing new insights on the similarities and comparisons between the UK and French markets.
He was joined by Ryan Farley, A&R at Warner Chappell, journalist Francine Gorman, Machine Management’s Iain Watt, Cécile Communal from Bureau Export in London and Jules Delattre from The Agency Group.
He said: '[The MAMA conference and showcase events] offer a rare opportunity for members to talk to their peers overseas, discuss issues relating to the future of the music industry, and to network with music companies from different countries.
'By joining forces with our French counterparts, we’re demonstrating our commitment to those songwriters and composers whose careers are expanding into countries outside the UK – especially given the opportunities today for artists to reach audiences around the world.'
