Aircraft carrier

What is the use of the majors ? Simple, they have none. Artists made movies wrote books, recorded music, long before Universal, Editis, or Sony. The audience made Johnny Halliday’s records, Gérard de Villiers’ books, or the film: La grande vadrouille, best selling products long before the advent of TV commercials, multiplex, in-store marketing, showcasing of best-sellers, etc.

The majors are nothing but a product of mass marketing, of the commercial and logistical holdings designed to pack enough weight to be able to negotiate with the distribution chains born in the 60's.

Stockowners gambled on the emergence of the cultural market as a force, and started to accumulate material for various catalogues in order to become as powerful as possible.

Result of this race to reach critical mass are merciless. 4 majors own 90% of the record market; in publishing, Editis and Hachette Livre manage to get 40% of the 200 first publishers’ turnover. On their side of the fence, the five biggest distribution groups sell 70% of the video, 60% of the records, and 20% of the books. The logic is inescapable.

Does that mean you can’t live without a major? Not exactly, but there’s no doubt that to deal the exposure of your products with Carrefour, you’d better enjoy the expertise and the negotiation skills of a powerhouse such as Universal.

Yet, paradoxically, the current state of affairs still holds some big hope for independents. As an obese has trouble bending down to lace his shoes, the majors are now too big and too busy improving their profit margin to really find the new talent out there. And, without new artists, no renewal, gradual wear and tear of the catalogue, sinking into oblivion. So the majors are bound to develop themselves, but only through external growth…

Imagine an aircraft carrier, anchored a few miles from the coast. If there’s not a fleet of smaller ships to bring them food and water, over time, everybody will jump overboard. The majors work like an aircraft carrier and independent producers have to get the supply service they provide to the majors handsomely paid.

Get to work.