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Tv or music heroes?
Television deals with Record Industry
Paris
19/02/2002 -
Reality TV hit France in a big way in 2001 and French viewers were soon gripped by the Cinderella syndrome, tuning in nightly to Popstars and Star Academy to find out which aspiring amateur singer would win the full-time celebrity lifestyle. Wannabe pop stars were put through their paces over several long months, having their vocal talent and their private lives intensely scrutinised by the cameras. But the candidates' only real claim to fame at the end of the day was having been "seen on TV".
The 'manufacture-a-pop-star' phenomenon has not only proved a big hit with French viewers. It has also boosted record industry sales to previously unknown proportions. And filled the coffers of Universal, the record company that came up with the bright idea of signing a deal with the French television stations concerned: TF1 (Star Academy produced by Niouprod, a subsidiary of the Dutch group Endemol) and M6 (Popstars produced by Expand, a Vivendi-Universal holding). The deal has turned out to be a relatively simple one too. TF1 and M6 catapult their respective bunch of young hopefuls to fame and the record company creams off the profits, producing and distributing the TV group's CDs. Popstars and Star Academy have turned out to be win-win situations, in fact. While viewers buy into a collective 'rags-to-riches' fantasy, record industry professionals sit back and watch the money come rolling in!
Popstars
The Popstars craze began back in August 2001 when privately-owned French TV company M6 staged a casting for amateur girl singers. Thousands of young hopefuls turned up to auditions across the country. They were put through their paces by a panel of professional judges: Pascal Broussot, (the artistic director of M6 Evénements), American choreographer Mia Frye and Santiago Casagerio, aka Santi, head of the Mercury label (who negotiated the rights to distribute the resulting CDs).
The jury narrowed their choice down from thousands of candidates to five after weeks of blood, tears and jury pressure. Over fourteen weeks the girls' singing and dancing skills were put to the test under the unforgiving eye of the camera. The five winners were promptly whisked off to the ICP studios in Brussels to work on their dance routines and record a twelve-track album. France's hottest new girls' band were then shipped back to Paris, re-looked from head to foot and launched on the French music scene under the name L5.
By the time the group's first single Toutes les femmes de ta vie was released amidst a glare of publicity on 21 November 2001, the five members of L5 were already well-established media celebrities in their own right. After three months of appearing on their own weekly show the fivesome had established themselves as the heroines of France's favourite reality sitcom. During its three-month run Popstars pulled in peak viewing figures of 6 million (and netted 45% of the 13-24 year-old market!) This was hardly a big surprise, given that the 'manufacture-a-pop-star' concept had already worked wonders on television stations in Germany (No Angel), Italy (Lollipop), US (Eden's Crush), the UK (Hear'Say), Denmark, Sweden, Austria and Australia (Bardot) and the where the concept originated in 1997.
While Popstars cloning took off round the world, Popstars and Star Academy caused a serious polemic in France about whether the programmes should be categorised as TV game-shows or real-life documentaries. In the end the C.S.A. (the French broadcasting authority) categorised the shows as "audio-visual works", thereby giving them the same status as documentaries rather than reality TV. Needless to say, the C.S.A.'s decision sent shockwaves rippling through journalistic circles and caused a few heated debates at the A.R.P. (the Civil Society of Authors, Producers and Directors).
Star Academy
Meanwhile Star Academy, the French version of Holland's Star Maker produced, incidentally, by Endemol (Big Brother, Lofty Story) went one better than Popstars, letting viewers eliminate the candidates rather than a jury of professionals. A jury of industry professionals narrowed the aspiring pop stars to 100 after a series of hard-fought auditions up and down the country. Then on 1 September 2001 TV viewers cast their votes by phone, narrowing that 100 down to 16 finalists. On 20 October the lucky 16 were locked away in a secluded castle in Dammarie-les-Lys near Paris and put under constant TV surveillance.
Singing lessons, dance lessons, gym work-outs and studio try-outs all came under the cruel eye of the camera, not to mention the candidates' private life and daily interactions! The 16 pop wannabes even had to record an album of famous cover versions, for goodness sake! Meanwhile, viewers sat gripped in their armchairs back home ready to reach for the phone and vote their least favourite candidate out of the running. On 12 January 2002, after several rounds of (almost) weekly eliminations – blatantly influenced by the Star Academy trainers – the prize of a 1-million euro recording deal with Universal, a CD album and a concert at the Olympia went to a 19-year-old brunette by the name of Jenifer.
After getting off to a slow start with French viewers Star Academy turned into a veritable TV phenomenon, breaking audience records on the night of the grand finale when nearly 14 million viewers (i.e. 70% of the French nation) tuned in to find out who'd become the Academy star. What's more, according to French daily newspaper Le Monde the revenue raised from the last three rounds of viewers' phone votes (priced at 0.56 Euros each!) brought in a staggering total of 1.1 Euros (shared between TF1 and Endemol France).
I Sell Therefore I Am
Once M6 and TF1 had kept their side of the bargain, turning Popstars and Star Academy into national viewing crazes, Mercury/Island stepped in with record back-up, flooding the market with hundreds of thousands of L5 and Star Academy CDs. 500,000 copies of both groups' singles were shipped to record stores across the country – and sold out with in a few days! Sales figures for the two groups are currently running neck and neck:
- L5's single Toutes les Femmes de ta vie shot straight to the top of the French singles' chart immediately after its release on 27 November 2001. And France's favourite new girls' band followed this up with a best-selling album, which knocked Michael Jackson off the top of the charts shortly after its release on 11 December. L5's album has sold a staggering 1.3 million copies to date (four times more than their British counterparts Hear'Say). As for the single Toutes les Femmes de ta vie that sold no less than 2 million copies within two months!
- Released on 5 December 2001, the Star Academy single La Musique overtook L5 in the charts and, within the space of three weeks, became the best-selling French single of 2001. Continuing its unstoppable rise, La Musique went on to sell almost 2 million copies within two months! Convinced that they were sitting on a solid gold egg, Mercury presented the Star Academy crew with a double platinum disc on a special live show broadcast on 29 December, banking on the fact that the album would sell at least 600,000 copies. This may appear to have been a risky move on Mercury/Island's part, but their musical bet is looking pretty safe – Star Academy l'Album has sold 1.4 million copies since its release on 27 December 2001.
Since their release both the Star Academy and Popstars albums have hung on their place at the top of the French charts, clocking up sales that even big-name stars such as Jean-Jacques Goldman, Florent Pagny, Lara Fabian and De Palmas can only dream of! Needless to say, the albums have brought in millions of Euros in copyright – and the TV stations have raked in their fair share! Both TF1 and M6 have been involved in the production of the chart-topping albums via their music subsidiaries Une Musique & Glem Productions (the company, owned 75% by TF1, also nets profits from Star Academy tours) and M6 Interactions.
This phenomenal commercial success led Pascal Nègre, head of Universal, to announce at the international record industry fair Midem 2002 that Popstars and Star Academy had single-handedly boosted the record industry in France, gaining 36% of the market. Santi, head of Mercury/Island, confirms the figures adding, "I don't think Popstars and Star Academy have taken away from other artists' sales. It's not because people have rushed out to buy the Popstars or Star Academy album that they've stopped buying anything else. On the contrary, I think it's more to do with the fact that a lot of people who bought these albums hadn't bought a record for a long time and these albums got them back into record stores again… So you could say Popstars and Star Academy will encourage people to start buying albums again. I certainly hope so, in any case! You know how it is, we all started listening to one particular album and that opened up the entire world of music to us. Personally, I started out listening to Dr Feelgood and that got me into Motown, rhythm'n'blues and Otis Redding." The only question is, what exactly will Star Academy lead music fans on to?
Opportunity Knocks!
Based on this landslide economic and media victory, Pascal Nègre (quoted by AFP, 16 January 2002) claims that Popstars and Star Academy have brought Universal "back to the basics of their profession – which is to work as artistic directors!" "I certainly hope I've never lost touch with that aspect of my profession, retorts Santi, with a hint of scepticism. I think what Pascal Nègre meant by that remark was that with Popstars and Star Academy we followed our aspiring singers from the word go – and before even! We picked them out long before they were officially ready, before they'd recorded a demo tape or had any contact with the record industry whatsoever. In my opinion, we followed the normal creative process, nourishing and developing these acts, but within a much shorter time frame. We could have taken a totally different approach to the whole thing and organised local rock contests in the French provinces. That would have worked just as well. The only difference doing things via TV meant the contest had an enormous media impact." (And that's an understatement if there ever was one!)
Pascal Nègre claims that there's nothing new in the idea of uncovering tomorrow's stars through media competitions – the concept already existed in the "Opportunity Knocks" – style shows of the past. French music historian Pierre Saka¹ agrees with Nègre's analysis, "Song contests have always played a major role in the history of French music, he says, Le Poste parisien – a radio station based in Paris in the pre-war years - invented its own amateur talent contest called L'Heure des amateurs which was presented by big-name stars of the day such as André Claveau. They put together a line-up of a dozen or so singers and listeners wrote in to give them points. Later on, in the 60s, Télé Dimanche – a variety show on channel one – organised their own talent show hosted by Raymond Marcillac. And that's where Mireille Mathieu got her first big break in 1965!"
Santi also reminds us that "The Supremes were discovered at a casting session organised in the Middle East. But nobody remembers that, of course. That was one of Motown's greatest strengths, in fact, having this team of producers, songwriters and composers who travelled the length and breadth of the States looking for new talent." Far-fetched comparison, isn't it? The 'catch-a-rising-star' concept is certainly not new and even forty years ago the media were occasionally involved in launching new talents on the French music scene. "When French radio station Europe 1 first came on the airwaves in 1955 there were already close links between the media and the music industry, says Pierre Saka. "Lucien Morisse, Europe 1's head of programming selected a single he thought would go down well with listeners and the station played it ten times a day – and that often helped launch someone's career. Eddie Barclay (head of Barclay, the main French record label of the day), Bruno Coquatrix (owner of legendary Paris music venue L'Olympia) and Lucien Morisse were all pulling in the same direction. Listeners were already being bombarded with promotional campaigns from all sides. In fact, the whole showbiz system we're familiar with today was invented back then"
Jenifer versus Ismaël Lô
The main difference between talent contests now and then appears to lie less in the concept, and more in the idea of candidates' actual talent and charisma. "The problem with up-and-coming singers these days is that they're too greedy – they w ant to make it big straightaway, says Saka, and I think another major problem is that technology all too often destroys the natural qualities of individuals." The Star Academy slogan claimed the programme would uncover "the hottest new singers of tomorrow!" But if that were actually true why were there so many articles in the French press citing the show as an example of "junk TV" and "dumbing down"? Even Pascal Nègre went so far as to say (in an interview published in Music Info Hebdo on 25 January 2002) "I enjoy making provocative statements so I'll go on the record as saying there are singers with real talent in Star Academy." A few lines later Monsieur Nègre added the insightful comment: "Obviously, if they haven't got any talent, they won't go far!" Meanwhile, Santi admits that "it's a bit difficult to say such-and-such a singer is good and another candidate is bad. It's all very subjective!" But he insists that as far as talent is concerned, "some candidates obviously have more than others. It's more a question of hard work than anything else though, he claims, It's not necessarily a problem if the candidates' voices, commitment, and charisma aren't fully fledged at the start. That's something that can be developed later. Our role is to try and give everyone the same chance of media exposure – and then it's up to the public to decide. Nothing's worked out in advance. We often get a few surprises, in fact!"
Jean-Pascal, the Star Academy candidate who proved to be the most popular with TV audiences, is obviously a case in point. Frequently struggling to make the grade in his 'singing classes', Jean-Pascal even admitted, in one of his face-to-face moments with the camera, that he'd never actually sung before in his life! "OK, point taken, concedes Santi with a smile, But you often get surprises at the other end of the spectrum too, you know. Personally, I've never understood why Ismaël Lô (one of Island's African artists) isn't a major star, because he's really got it all, you know. Ismaël Lô's got real talent and he really deserves to be a big-name star, but the problem is the media don't always play the game. So, you see, things don't always work out the way we want!" However, it strikes us as a bit bizarre that Universal is one of the few labels capable of offering its artists prime-time media exposure (vast TV advertising budget, owner of L'Olympia). So is it the only media's fault if Ismaël Lô is not currently enjoying the success he deserves?
At this stage of our interview Santi, director of one of the most powerful record labels in the world, seems to revert back to his former self - Santi, ex-drummer with groups like the legendary Mano Negra and Marousse. The former independent producer who has "never had a moment's regret about the years spent sitting in the back of a van, travelling back and forth between gigs and sharing 100 francs between six musicians!" For a brief moment Santi's discourse wavers between that of a major record company chief and an erstwhile musician, passionate about music for music's sake: "There are lots of different ways of making your way in the music business, you know – and I don't think any one way is better than another! Musicians who don't want to get involved in Star-Academy type projects will end up taking their demo tapes somewhere else. And I think that's a good thing, it will create a sort of counter-power. I'm not worried about the future of the music business at all. TV channels and the media can get a stranglehold on things for a while, but other people will always pop up and challenge things. I think it's up to the 'counter-powers' to wade in every now and then and stand up for individuality and the freedom of choice."
But the former Santi with his secret desire to defend freedom of choice is quickly replaced by Santi, boss of a mega-label: "Actually, Mercury/Island are really committed to eclecticism in our choice of artists he says, And even when we have artists who struggle to get their careers off the ground in terms of record sales, we never turn round and ditch them! You have to respect the fact that everyone's got different musical tastes. Personally, I'd never have organised a casting the way they did for Popstars. But you have to have a certain tolerance in this business… "
Eclecticism isn't just about having a wide variety of artists on your books, however, it's also a question of being committed to equality in terms of media exposure and promotion. L5 are all set to embark upon a major 28-date tour this spring and the Star Academy crew are set to undertake a massive 53-date tour in April – including 12 shows at the 7,000-seater "Forest national" in Brussels. Which is fair enough, but which other artists have had access to such major venues at such an early stage in their career? And as for the justification that the L5 and Star Academy tours are simply a response to public demand, you might just as well argue that if TF1 had thrown its media weight behind a broader selection of artists, then that would have worked perfectly well too!
What about the music?
But what about the music side of things? In the case of L5 (the girls' band from Popstars), who have just signed a three-album deal, their debut album, entitled L5, is very much the product of a group who had scarcely been together two months when they made it. The album cover bears a photo of Lydy, Claire, Alexandra, Coralie and Marjorie wearing sexy fashion looks and made up to look like aspiring supermodels (in other words, a million miles from the shy natural-faced creatures who attended the original casting sessions!).
As for the twelve songs on L5's first album, half of them are covers of foreign chart-toppers written by professional hit-makers like Billy Steinberg (Like a Virgin). With two Swedish songwriters, Johan Aberg and Sigurd Rössnes, he came up with I Like What You're Doing (the original version of L5's chart-topping single Toutes les femmes de ta vie). The foreign tracks on L5's album have been adapted into French by singer/musician Maïdi Roth and the musical arrangements penned by Nathalie Pilant and Doriand (the Etienne Daho clone who brought out his own album in '99 and has co-written four songs on the L5 album). L5's debut album also features contributions from Alexandre Azarias (former guitarist with Le Cri de la Mouche and one of Indochine's main songwriters) and Maxim Nucci, a 22-year-old producer who works at the ICP studios in Brussels.
In short, L5's debut album is obviously strictly formatted for commercial success and the girls are very far from being the new Supremes. But, L5 does not make altogether disagreeable pop listening.
On the other hand, the Star Academy album, recorded in the castle where the TV show was made, makes very poor pop listening indeed. In fact, we'd go so far as to say the whole thing sounds distinctly slapdash! "The album was made within exceedingly tight deadlines and it would have doubtless been better if there'd been more time to fine-tune things," says Santi. Although, frankly, we're not too sure about that! The track-list is almost exclusively made up of (poor) covers of French pop hits (apart from Abba's famous Gimme! Gimme! A Man After Midnight!). As for the Star Academy single, La Musique, that's an old Nicoletta song from 1967 (which was already an adaptation of the Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil hit Angelica!) Pierre Saka's verdict? "It's not exactly creative, is it?" Santi's verdict? "I think the album opens up a new universe to young fans!" Musical universe is perhaps a bit of a grand term considering we're talking about old Nicoletta songs and Abba hits here!
We're not too sure about that actually and we're not too convinced by Santi's response to the criticism that the Star Academy album is little more than a promotional gimmick, either. "But people out there really love it, he declares, And, don't forget, it's up to the public to make their own choices!" Oh, yes, we'd forgotten – that old freedom of choice argument again! What does it matter if the vocals are technically-trafficked, if there's a lack of real musicians on the album credits and the musical accompaniment sounds like it's been done with the cheapest rhythm-box on the market (c.f. the frankly awful versions of J'ai encore rêvé d'elle and Idées noires)? Why bother doing any better than that when the record-buying public seem happy with what they've got?
Let's face it, the Star Academy album like L5, was recorded within the tightest possible deadlines so the albums would hit supermarket shelves in time for Christmas! Even Santi admits that the albums' recording schedules were timed to "tie in with the TV shows." Frankly, TV viewing figures has always counted more than the music as far as these albums are concerned. Yves Bigot, head of entertainment for the state-owned channel France 2, publicly declared (in an interview published in the French daily France Soir on 25 January 2002) that he refused to promote rival TV channels by inviting L5 or the Star Academy crew onto any of the channel's shows. Not a word about musical content there, then!
Popstars Mark II
Basically, the power lies in the hands of TV audiences and that's that! But is everyone in the music business happy about submitting to the tyranny of public opinion? In a recent interview on our website, French singer CharlElie complained that "The media have a huge influence on music these days and people are a lot more fascinated by what music 'represents' than what it actually is." But the public had better get used to the 'rags-to-riches' 'anonymity-to-celebrity' concept because it looks like it's here to stay! New versions of Star Academy and Popstars are already in the making and potential Jenifers and L5s are already rushing to auditions. While this year's losers retire to the wings to lick their wounds and one Star Academy drop-out contemplates going back to the "shitty life" he had before, the winners take up their new roles as French media celebrities enjoying their fifteen minutes of fame!
Catherine Pouplain
¹ Also a songwriter, composer and radio presenter.
² Figures taken from official Snep/ifop Tite Live polls.
08/11/2007 -
