France’s recorded music industry topped $1bn in 2021

Record music sales in France, the world’s fifth-largest music market, reach $1 billion (€861 million) in 2021, representing a 14.3% year-on-year growth and marked the market’s fifth consecutive year-over-year gain.

That’s according to results published today (March 15) by French trade agency SNEP, which includes total physical and digital sales, plus streaming, proximity rights and synchronization.

French double-digit growth in 2021 eclipses 0.1% gain be seen by the market in 2020 (the year of the pandemic), when the market generated 781 million euros ($891 million).

According to SNEP’s year-end report, combined physical and digital sales (ignoring proximity and sync permissions but including streaming) grew 15.5% YoY in 2021 to 729 million euros ($861.7 million).

Accounting for 70% of total sales in France, digital revenue (including streaming and downloads) topped 506 million euros ($598 million) in France in 2021, marking 13% growth or 59 million euros ($69 million), compared with 2020 when the market generated 447 million euros ($509 million) in revenue from music streaming.

Streaming accounts for 97% of all digital revenue in 2021, generating 492 million euros ($581.5 million), up 15.2% from 2020, when France generated 426 million euros (485, $7 million) from streaming.

Paid subscription audio streaming revenue reached 378 million euros ($446.8 million) in 2021, up 15% from 329 million euros ($375.14 million) in 2020.

SNEP also reports that the total amount of springs in France in 2021 will reach 93.5 billion, up from 85 billion in 2020.

Meanwhile, there are 22 million audio streaming users in France in 2021, according to SNEP.

Breaking that down, SNEP reveals that there are 7.8 million ad-supported account users in the marketplace and 10 million premium subscriptions (with 14.2 million premium account users when the plan is added). for home and individual paying users).

A closer look at France’s 2021 recorded music sales results shows that the market’s overall record sales hit 223 million euros ($263.5 million) last year, a 21% increase. , or 39 million euros ($46 million) in 2020 (see below).

CD sales contributed 139 million euros ($164.3 million) to that total, up 9.6 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, vinyl sales are up 54.4%, reaching 78.9 million euros ($93.2 million) in 2021, compared with 51.1 million euros ($58.2 million) the year before .

Vinyl sales account for 35% of all hard disk sales in France in 2021, with 5.2 million discs sold last year, compared with 4.5 million in 2020.

SNEP reports that the number of sales and revenue generated by the vinyl format has tripled in the past five years. In 2016, 1.8 million vinyl LPs were marketed, generating 22.8 million euros ($24.2 million).

SNEP also released some statistics on where fans buy physical music in 2021, with 63 million euros ($74.4 million) generated from e-commerce.

Of that 63 million euros, 57 million euros ($67.3 million) came from online retailers, while 6 million euros ($7 million) was in revenue from artists’ websites.

Meanwhile, Neighborhood rights revenue grew 7%, from €101 million ($115.1 million) in 2020, to €109 million ($128.8 million) in 2021.

Sync revenue grew 11% year-over-year, from €21 million ($23.9 million) in 2020, to €23 million ($27.1 million) in 2021.

Year-end SNEP report also highlights the success of homegrown artists in the French market in 2021.

According to the report, “French Productions”, accounted for 83% of the Top 200 Best Selling Albums of 2021 of France.

In addition, 18 of the 20 best-selling albums in France last year were made by artists from France.

In addition, 16 of the 20 best-selling artists in the market in 2021 are French artists.

The number one selling album in France last year was Civilization by Orelsan.

The best-selling artist, as reported by SNEP, is French rapper JUL.

“The ability of producers to continuously execute new deals to develop rich and creative experiences is a key driver of the recorded music market growth.”

Alexandre Lasch, SNEP

Alexandre Lasch, General Manager, said: “The ability of producers to continuously execute new contracts to develop creative and immersive experiences is a key driver of music market growth. is recognized.

“Label labels and record companies are constantly working to strengthen partnerships with platforms; they invest in new technologies and new applications, and develop expertise within their teams to ensure that the public can connect and interact with the music and world of recording artists in many ways. as diverse as possible. ”

Note: The EUR-USD currency conversion in this story is based on published IRS average annual exchange rate.Worldwide music business