January 18, 2008

By By Aymeric Pichevin, Paris

The French physical recording business generated ?1,176 million ($1,722 million) at retail in 2007, down 17.1% from 2006, according to figures unveiled by Gfk and French Observatoire de la Musique. In volume, the market dropped 18.3% to 83.1 million units sold.

The single format dropped 52.5% in value to ?32.5 million ($47.6 million), representing 3% of the market. The album format dropped 15.2% to ?1,033 million ($1,513 million).

The four best selling albums were recorded by Mika, Christophe Mae, Gregory Lemarchal and Christophe Willem. Overall, the top 10 albums included eight domestic artists.

In value, Universal lead distribution market share with 31.4% (up 2.5% year on year), followed by Sony BMG at 18.8% (down 1.7%). Warner moved ahead of EMI with 14.3% (down 0.2%) against 13.5% (down 2.5%). The share of independent distributor Wagram was up 0.8% to 5.3%; altogether, independent distribution represented 22% of the market, up 1.9%.

Gfk -- a private research company -- and Observatoire de la Musique ? a music business research body operating under the umbrella of the French ministry of culture ? do not deliver digital figures. French labels body SNEP will disclose its physical and digital figures next week.

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