On April 4, Outhere Music announced the acquisition of Analekta. Beyond the reasons which pushed this Belgian group built around Alpha, Ricercar or Arcana to take an interest in the Quebec label, The duty wished to discuss with Charles Adriaenssen, founder and president of Outhere Music, and Didier Martin, its artistic director, their current vision of the recording market.
When, on March 30, 2020, Atma was bought by Guillaume Lombart, owner of Ad Litteram and Livetoune, the surprise was total. Not only did we have absolutely no idea that Johanne Goyette’s label was for sale, but as we moved into a new era, the arrival, for the many Atma artists, of Livetoune, a video and broadcast specialist digital, with the aim of boosting their online visibility, had appeared as an evidence and a blessing.
The takeover of Analekta by the group Outhere, almost to the day two years later, ironically responds to the opposite equation: it is the digital successes of the Quebec publisher that have seduced the large European group, specialist in beautiful discographic objects. through legendary labels such as Alpha, Ricercar or Arcana!
The digital challenge
Creator in 2004 of the group Outhere Music, Charles Adriaenssen, interviewed by The dutydoes not want us to see any “imperialist vocation” in his label acquisitions, when he already has Alpha, Arcana, Ricercar, Ramée, Fuga Libera, Linn, Phi and he comes, a few weeks ago, to take over the Dutch Channel Classics.
“It’s about bringing together labels of quality with the aim of making a cultural product. In this, Charles Adriaenssen, in his language, opposes “cultural product” and “commercial product”.
“The acquisition responded to several logics: Analekta is a label quality and a label which does not engulf ours, because the artists are mainly from across the Atlantic. The geographical situation interests me enormously, because we do not have a foothold in America for the moment and intend to develop in this market, the biggest consumer in the world, especially in streaming. »
Outhere approached the continent, timidly, via Mexico, opening a small subsidiary there. But this American continent has its specificity. “In all of Latin America, there is no longer a single CD. We create a new label Latin American, because there is none in serious classical music. It will only be digital. »
Analekta therefore had a major asset. “The determining factor was Angèle Dubeau, confirms Charles Adriaenssen. We are very classical and very baroque, very serious repertoire, and it is absolutely essential, in my view, to reach out to slightly different audiences and to do so in a civilized way. I don’t really like exercising crossover what are some trying to do majors. I have a lot of respect for the work of Angèle Dubeau who, over the years, has combined the general public and classical references very well. For me, it was a very important asset. However, with Angèle Dubeau, Analekta has penetrated very well, in recent years, the market of streamingclicks and algorithms.
“It is clear that Analekta’s digital results were part of the motivation for this takeover,” confirms Didier Martin, general manager and artistic coordinator of the group.
Quantity logic
The low royalty generated by on-demand listening but its dominance in the mode of consumption reshuffles the cards. “If you want to continue producing, you have to have a large catalog. This is the advantage of majors on us: they have a natural mattress, of the “Glenn Gould” type, which functions naturally without doing anything, whereas we have a light catalog. So these types of transactions are attractive to us. There will be others,” warns Didier Martin.
The same notion is formulated by Charles Adriaenssen in the following way: “The logic on the digital market is a logic of quantity, whereas until now we had exclusively a logic of quality. Having catalogs in stock that sell well digitally is therefore a great asset. »
From this point of view, according to Charles Adriaenssen, the publishing world has entered an unprecedented phase of economic calibration. “You have seen it by the recent sales of the pop and rock catalogs [500 millions de dollars pour le catalogue de Bruce Springsteen en décembre 2021, plus de 250 millions pour Bowie en janvier 2022] : for the first time since the beginning of the CD, we have relatively reliable figures in relation to the profitability of a catalog. This changes things. Through analyses, we now know that such and such music can bring so many clicks, so many streams. From there, it is more or less interesting to acquire a certain number of assets which we know will be depreciated in a few years. »
The duty asked Charles Adriaenssen if Outhere had secured a future collaboration with his star violinist over several years. The answer was not very clear: “I cannot force Angèle Dubeau to do things she does not want to do, but it is clear that we will continue to work together. »
new universe
Outhere does not want to make Analekta its bridgehead in the digital world, because, notes Charles Adriaenssen, “we are already very present in streaming and for downloading. “It is a diversification on the market of the streaming “, he specifies. Didier Martin confirms that Analekta “has been taken over with its teams, an established program, with a very important local anchorage (aid, claim of nationality). For one year, Analekta has its roadmap and we will not touch anything”. Then, the artistic will be coordinated and supervised by Didier Martin in relation with the Quebec teams. For the time being, Outhere has released a record by Collectif 9, Quebec artists who will probably join the label. But what we will also have to think about is the integration of the digital market without diluting Outhere’s DNA. And that is a puzzle.
As pointed out, as early as 2016, in an interview with To have to Alain Lanceron, the director of Warner Classics, the predominance of on-demand listening “promotes what is called theeasy listening and caricatural compilations, such as ‘sleep music’, ‘dinner music’”. Quoting the wave of music recordings by Ludovico Einaudi, a big winner in on-demand listening, Alain Lanceron concluded: “This will influence what we are going to record in the short term. »
“It’s a crucial issue and a fight to be waged,” says Didier Martin. The predominance of digital consumption is a real danger for diversity. “The rules of digital have infused the artistic: let’s do short tracks; let’s sign young artists, but rather a cellist than a singer, because it’s instrumental music that works and, above all, let’s not allow her to record a concerto from the repertoire, but let’s encourage small mixes, like “the great bis of the repertoire” to accumulate short tracks because the digital world pays for short tracks, if possible in an average tempo that Apple likes…”
From this point of view, Didier Martin notes with respect that Alain Lanceron “still fights and publishes real recitals of singers whereas in streaming, it doesn’t work” and considers that the current Outhere labels appear a bit like “counter-programmers” in the face of digital trends. He also notes that the great soprano Asmik Grigorian, whose Rachmaninoff recital with Alpha is already one of the great records of the year, “would perhaps have naturally gone towards a major few years ago “.
Curiously, the sales figures for CDs come for the first time in a long time to go up in the United States, according to statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America. Is this, following the vinyl, an unexpected return to the object? “I think this rise in the CD is due to a few releases by leading artists. In addition, vinyl in classical music remains marginal. That’s not a business. On the other hand, I would like it to happen like this, because the CD is much more interesting than digital sales, but I don’t believe in it”, states the founding president of Outhere.
It therefore remains to study “how to better highlight the digital catalogs”. Charles Adriaenssen thinks he has added significant expertise and funds for this.