Beyoncé will not sing at the NRJ Music Awards (NMA) on Friday, nor at the Star Academy on Saturday: like her, international megastars have defected from French entertainment shows, faced with changes in the music industry and competition of social networks.
However, the nickname “Queen B” competes for an award at the ceremony organized since 2000 in Cannes by TF1 and NRJ. She had already participated in it in the past, like Whitney Houston, Will Smith or Mariah Carey. About Star Ac’many viewers are shocked not to see more personalities of this caliber since telecrochet’s relaunch this fall that had featured it three times, most notably in the last edition in 2008.
The post-social media era
It is because, since then, “the world has changed”, summarizes for AFP Jacques Grimal, general coordinator of the NMA, where the heavyweights of the French-speaking scene will perform on Friday night, from Orelsan to Aya Nakamura via Stromae. , Juliette. Armanet and Clara Luciani.
“Artists travel much less,” Fabrice Bailly, TF1’s programming director, abounded on Thursday in Franceinfo, although Ava Max or Lizzo are expected on Friday on the Croisette and Robbie Williams next week at the star academyof which he is godfather.
Before, “for the songs and the artists to be known in France, they absolutely had to come,” the producer of the ‘Star Academy’, Anne Marcassus, told AFP.
“With social networks it’s over, they water people with content and they realized with the Covid that they could continue communicating with their fans and work,” he adds.
new ecological problems
Another consequence of the health crisis is that certain artists “try to remain as isolated as possible in bubbles” to avoid the cancellation of multi-million-euro concerts, such as “Harry Styles, whom no one (except his tour team) saw when went to Paris” this summer, according to Jacques Grimal.
The promotion also takes new forms with virtual concerts, such as Ariana Grande’s in the Fortnite video game, or music documentaries on Netflix and others. Added to this are simple questions of “time”, since Usher, for example, resides in Las Vegas, underlines Anne Marcassus, who, however, was able to bring the British Lewis Capaldi.
But the problem is older… and above all economic. None of the record companies (Universal, Sony, Warner) contacted responded to AFP. A source in the community simply points out the lack of news to justify the TV appearances. But, above all, the big ones no longer have any interest, ecologically and economically, in spending “100,000 to 150,000 euros on a jet trip” for programs with declining audiences, while physical CD sales plummet in favor of streaming, d’according to Jacques Grimal. .
On the channel side, a different ambition
Especially since the superstars can travel with an armada of “fifty people”, including “the assistant assistant, the pets, the babies, the sports coach”.
“I remember Lady Gaga and her five dressing rooms, two of which are only for her clothes”, abounds Emmanuel Virot, artistic director of numerous musical programs, including ‘Taratata’.
On the channel side, “there is less money” and fewer programs receiving artists, analyzes the academic Virginie Spies, a specialist in the small screen. With the proliferation of antennas and platforms, “there is no longer that promise” of reaching the masses, she sums it up.
Considered a success, the Star Ac’ 2022, where many French celebrities (Véronique Sanson, Slimane, Patrick Fiori, etc.) flocked every Saturday to attract between 3 and 4 million viewers. Twenty years ago, it could exceed 10 million in the final. Last year, the NMAs gathered 4 million viewers, up from a peak of 7.8 in 2003.
Source: BFM TV
