I just came across an interesting interview with the head of Wagram, perhaps France's foremost indie.

In it, he talks about how they survive (nicely) in the current environment. We have often brought up the subject here, and discussed individual issues. What strikes me is the global approach of Wagram. From A&R (they are currently "inheriting" mid-sized artists from the majors) to promotion (he recommends starting word-of-mouth one year before a newbie's release - in one case they gave away 70,000 short teasers at concerts). They currently estimate that the promo budget is 5-10 times production. Needless to say, this has to be calculated carefully as they broke even with sales of 130,000 albums on one of their artists. They are also looking at revenue from live appearances as part of the future mix. Online sales and ringtones represents "about 4.5%" of income.

Shame you can't read French. It's a bit of a masterclass and beats the fluff you often hear at industry seminars.

Who says we can't read French Michael?

Pardon, chef. Come to think of it, the expression "artiste & r

Oui JK. Joyeux Noel ...

Wagram also release some brilliant compilations which are usually accompanied with inspired packaging.I've had a few meetings with them and they've certainly got their market sussed, unfortunately many of the releases are just too niche to get retail support over here. However it's no surprise that they continue to thrive in France as they have a very good team of real 'music' people.

I like "Peer to Peer"... tres Francais!

JK2006 wrote:
I like "Peer to Peer"... tres Francais!
N'est-ce pas?

The linguistic irony is that the English word "peer" comes from the French "pair", as in "au pair" (amongst equals). I suppose "peer to peer" could very well be translated as "de pair

This co-incides with an interview I just listened to here : www.abc.net.au/queensland/conversations/.../s2117003.htm?sydney

with Simon Napier-Bell ( who I think JK knows). He basically said that record companies will have to morph into management companies and look after an artist's long term career rather than trying to make back their investment by a first big hit.
Wagram seem to be doing this already-more power to them.