Paris (AFP)
The French recorded music market limited the breakage with stable turnover (+ 0.1%) for 2020, despite the health crisis, the Snep (National Union of Phonographic Publishing) said on Tuesday.
The turnover of 781 million euros remains up to that of 2019 (780 million) in a sector more than ever driven by digital sales (+ 17.9% compared to 2019).
Admittedly, the momentum noted in recent years - + 3.9% for turnover in 2017, + 1.8% in 2018, + 5.4% in 2019 - has been slowed down.
But the music recorded in France benefits from "the solidity of its economic model" despite "a context completely upset by the health crisis" of the Covid-19, welcomed Alexandre Lasch, general manager of Snep, during the presentation of this balance sheet, by interposed screens.
Turnover (digital operations, physical sales, synchronization - music from films, series, advertisements ... - and related rights - music played in shops and public places -) has therefore withstood the insults between "postponed exits (and) points of sale closed".
Without forgetting that recorded music could not benefit from its usual showcase and transmission belt, with "the total cessation of concerts and festivals since last March", as Snep recalls in its report.
In detail, digital and physical sales of recorded music (excluding synchronization and related rights) even showed an increase of 4.1% (after + 6.2% in 2019), generating 658 million euros and thus returning to their level. of 2008. However, they represent only 46% of their 2002 level.
Digital operations, as for three years now, are therefore the main source of music turnover (474 million euros, + 17.9%) while physical sales, which remain high in France (184 million euros), continue to plummet, increased by the consequences of the pandemic (-19.9%; -10% in 2019).
In seven years, the revenues generated "by digital music operations have gone from a quarter to nearly three quarters of the turnover," notes the Snep.
Streaming "in all its forms, now alone generates nearly 70% of the results: it is an inverse configuration to that of 2013, when digital achieved barely more than 25%", underlines the Union.
Note for the digital sector that subscription streaming has gained 8 points compared to 2019: 53% of this mode of consumption, while streaming financed by advertising only represents 8% for example.
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