fans of Bertrand Cantat defend their participation in his prize pool

The Detroit group of which Bertrand Cantat is a part raised more than 100,000 euros in half a day after the publication, Wednesday February 7, of a pot to finance his new album.

“There, if it’s not a plebiscite, I don’t know what it should be called”, underlines Arnaud. This fifty-year-old, a fan of Bertrand Cantat for more than 30 years, participated in the online prize pool to help the artist release a new album with his group Detroit. The former singer of Noir Désir, convicted of the murder of Marie Trintignant in 2003, managed to finance his new opus in a few hours thanks to donations to this online fundraiser hosted on the Ulule platform, published Wednesday February 7.

Despite strong criticism from several feminist activists, the trio collected 110,000 euros in twelve hours while the initial goal was set at 60,000 euros. On social networks, thousands of fans show their support for Bertrand Cantat and his group. “In less than 24 hours, they had 135 000 euros and it will continue”underlines Arnaud.

For the fan, “it’s a snub to many detractors” of Bertrand Cantat who benefits from a “unwavering public who will follow him everywhere”. “We don’t talk about the man and what he did, we talk about his work”he explains. “There are plenty of artists who can be despised because of their social and family behavior, but on the other hand they have genius in their heads and that’s why we love them”he believes. “If I had to, I would participate again”he continues.

“It smells a bit like kryptonite.”

With the amount collected in a few days, Bertrand Cantat has more than enough to produce a new album. Crowdfunding has therefore been a profitable strategy, but does the Detroit group really have the choice to do without record labels? Not really, according to music journalist Olivier Cachin: “It’s clear that Bertrand Cantat has a bit of a smell of kryptonite for classical record companies.”

“We know very well that whatever he does, there will be feminist associations or individuals or other artists who will protest”, underlines Olivier Cachin. If the artist were to sign with Universal, Warner, Sony or another record company, the journalist is certain that there would be calls for a boycott of these producers and the artists who sign with them. “It’s quite understandable that he decides to operate in self-sufficiency via a kitty”he believes.

This jackpot still provoked the anger of several feminist activists on social networks. Some calling for a boycott of the Ulule platform. In a press release Ulule therefore presented its “apologies to anyone who may be offended by this fundraiser”. But the platform reminds that it can only stop a prize pool in progress “if its object or contents are illegal, which is not the case here”.