GEO FOCUS FRANCE Exceptional Culture
Policies protecting against an infl ux of foreign fi lm and television have helped France maintain its identity and remain one of the most celebrated cultural capitals of the world.
I
t’s hard not to talk about a country like France without mentioning its long cultural history. Renowned around the world for its contribution to the arts, France has shaped the way we think about everything from art, architecture, food, and literature, to fashion, music, and cinema. From the classic music revival of the 19th and 20th century, French music has remained fi rmly in the international spotlight with contemporary artists such as Serge Gainsbourg leading the way for pop acts like Phoenix, and, more recently, electronic superstars Air, Justice, David Guetta, and Daft Punk. Within the country, however, French pop music (or chanson française) has remained popular with the most successful French recording artist of all time, Mylène Farmer, maintaining some seriously reputable stats – 30 million records sold and 13 number one hits, eight of which were consecutive. T is trend seems to be
continuing as 17 of the top 20 selling albums of 2013 were local repertoire. Looking at the recording industry as a whole, it seems to slowly be bouncing back with a 2.3% rise in recorded music revenues last year to €603.2 million. Digital revenues rose by just 0.6% with physical sales up 1%. Following the trend worldwide, streaming has become increasingly popular, claiming 43% of the digital market with revenues up 4% last year. Streaming has become the preferred method of delivery for digital music with Paris-based streaming service Deezer leading the way within the country and now boasting 12 million monthly active users and 5 million paid subscribers. According to the IFPI’s latest Digital Music Report, France is behind only Sweden for percentage of internet users with music subscription services at 36%. Looking at the fi lm sector reveals a similarly strong industry with a respected history. Two Frenchmen,
Auguste and Louis Lumière (known as the Lumière brothers), are widely recognised at having created cinema with their fi rst fi lm, Sortie de l’usine Lumière de Lyon, shot in 1894, considered the fi rst real motion picture. Since those early days France has remained a leader in fi lmmaking, and as of 2006, produces more fi lms than any other European country (not to mention hosting respected industry events such as the annual Cannes Festival).
While the domestic fi lm market is dominated by Hollywood, France is the only nation in the world where American fi lms make up the smallest share of total fi lm revenues, at 50%, compared with 77% in Germany, and 69% in Japan. Similar to the success of local music, French fi lms also account for 35% of the total fi lm revenue in the country, which is the highest percentage of national fi lm revenues in the developed world outside of the United States.
Word on the Street - The Studio Situation
Head of Amadeus Labs Michel Deluc and Studios de la Chine owner Hubert Montoya discuss the state of studios in France.
MICHEL DELUC, director of research and development at Amadeus Labs:
T e recording world in France is really changing, evolving towards very ‘premium’ home studios, sometimes directly concurrent to professional recording studios. We are more and more led to design extremely complex and high- quality solutions for professional
16 May 2014
musicians, producers, and artists who want to fi nd at home the same working conditions as in the best professional recording studios.
HUBERT MONTOYA, owner and co-founder of Studios de la Chine, Paris:
Everyone has seen how deep the recording and production world has evolved in the last few years. Home
studios appeared in the 90s, focusing on computer-assisted music, and these production techniques deeply changed the way music is created. Obviously, this evolution brought and favoured a creative renewal for many musical styles, but too often, the technology became the main focus, in my opinion detracting from a real sound signature. Now we are at a turning point.
www.audiomedia.com
Much of this is thanks to the country’s advocacy of ‘cultural exception’, which allows the government to maintain quotas and subsidies to protect its cultural market from other nations’ cultural products, especially those from America. T e French government has implemented various measures aimed at helping to support local fi lm production, such as levying taxes on movies and TV channels for use as production subsidies along with tax breaks. T ese strong cultural institutions have helped support the market for high-quality studios and post- production facilities within the country. Recording studios such as Studios de la Chine (read more below), Question de Son, and Studios La Fabrique regularly host major artists, while the new Creative Sound post-production facility recently became the fi rst mixing studio in the country to be fi tted with Dolby Atmos technology.
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