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Will streaming music ring the end of the album?

Illustration image. © Guillaume Payen / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

07/01/2019

For three years, streaming has become the No. 1 selling medium of music in France. As a result, the music industry has largely turned to this listening mode. But what do artists think about this way of approaching music? Does this have an impact on their creation? And on their way of making albums? Response elements.

A few hours before her concert at the MaMA last October, S.pri Noir waited in her dressing room watching a video on her mobile phone. This is the clip of the last song he signs with Lefa, J'me teleporte , and for the Parisian rapper, this way of listening to music is now an integral part of his daily life. "The streaming has revealed that urban music is the most listened to in France, he notes.The rap has always been a big movement.But it was underground because the people who listen to it, do not buy no CDs, or do not necessarily go to concerts ... Now that we have streaming, people are surprised because this genre takes the place it should take.This allows rappers to enter more easily into radio, to be contacted by brands, it's a virtuous circle. "

He was amazed to have "10,000 views at the beginning of YouTube, in 2008" now has four or five million views for each clip, not to mention listening online. Huge figures that have become commonplace for rappers now taking the lead of the best record sales in France (1). What permanently change mentalities? And end the standard of the album? S.Pri Noir, who has an agreement with Spotify "for the broadcast of his clips " and has subscribed to this platform "because we find all American rappers" plays on both sides. He connects featurings with other rappers "to let off steam" and continues to produce albums in the longest course.

Like "Far West Indians"

Deezer, Spotify and streaming platforms have changed the way we've been listening to music for the last ten years. Listening to the title is again the standard and playlists, developed by algorithms have replaced the compilations. "Until the streaming, it's still the old world, observes Sophian Fanen, journalist of Les Jours website and author of the book Boulevard du stream (2) .The dematerialization of music was a decal of the physical disk To exchange an MP3 file, it was to possess it. With the streaming, one passes from the possession to the renting, with a bonus: the listening in mobility Coupled in 2008 with the arrival of the IPhone of Apple, 3G and 4G, streaming allows listening to permanent music, infinite and at will. "

This mutation also affects the way of producing music, the rock band Concrete Knives experienced it from the inside. Five years have passed between his first and second album, Our Hearts, enough to make his members feel like "Wild West Indians" . "The Grail when we were teenagers was to be in the Inrocks compilation, now it's more like the Deezer or Spotify playlists, but from the Smooth Alarm Clock playlist to Top Europe 40 , we get the impression 'To be dropped,' says guitarist and singer Nicolas Delahaye, ' we have arrived at the moment when the page has been turned in. At the same time, it is complicated to ask musicians to be both actors and businessmen. we were clearly in a creative tunnel, and we used the social network that worked, My Space, to find our concerts. "

A redistribution of the cards

The rock guitar of these Normans has not really moved, the Concrete Knives still imagine albums. Its members do not necessarily have monthly subscriptions to listen to streaming music, because it affects "our freedom to pay € 10 per month subscription and € 120 per year, " said singer Morgane Colas. The question that arises for artists earning an average of 10.6% of the income generated by their music online (3) - from 0.0001 to 0.004 € per stream - is that of a fair remuneration of their work. In France, many musicians have denounced this situation, the Guild of Musicians (GAM), a union that includes Axel Bauer, Kent or Nicola Sirkis of Indochina, in Cali recently.

As much as artists, it concerns intermediaries, streaming platforms and producers (record companies ...) with whom these platforms sign agreements. It is therefore the concerts and their intermittent status of the show, which allow the Concrete Knives to earn income from their music.

Originally conceived by Internet pirates more turned to technology than really music lovers, streaming is a model still under construction. In addition to the rappers, he has yet brought out new artists. In the Five 7 label, the three artists who currently have the best online audience are The Dø, Lily Wood and the Prick and ... Kazy Lambist. With three million monthly streams, this near-unknown of the general public realizes 90% of its audiences via this mode of listening.

"Streaming offers greater artistic freedom, artists can release titles when they want, all four tracks or stay on an album format," says Alan Gac, the boss of Five 7. Rewarded a César l last year for the soundtrack of the film 120 beats per minute , Arnaud Rebotini is not against streaming, him either. But the record-maker at the beginning decided: "As long as an album was not released in vinyl, it did not come out for me".

(1) In 2017, five of the leading musicians in France were rappers. Sources: SNEP figures, including physical and digital sales, plus streaming.
(2) Sophian Fanen, Boulevard of the stream. From mp3 to Deezer, the released music , The Astral Beaver 2017.
(3) Figures: Adami.fr. / Ministry of Culture.

Streaming, an economic revolution

In ten years, online listening has become a dominant model for the French music industry. In the first half of 2018, streaming accounted for 55.7% of music sales, according to the National Union of Phonographic Publishing (SNEP). A figure constantly rising. The Swedish Spotify, which last year reached 4 billion turnover in the world, is supplanted by Deezer in France, which claims its status as "French No. 1" with 300 million turnovers. All with heavy financial losses. Alongside these Internet giants, on the threshold of the IPO, GAFAM subsidiaries (YouTube ...) and other, more modest structures such as Deedo have been added. Available for the moment in France, Mali, Ivory Coast and Senegal, this platform, which celebrated its first anniversary, targets the African market. It offers a look at the music of the continent, whether tradition or derivatives of hip hop.

By: Bastien Brun

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