Because French-speaking artists are struggling to be heard on major streaming platforms, such as Spotify and Apple Music, a new Quebec initiative will be launched next year, we have learned The Journal. The MUSIQC application will be “a new free music listening space dedicated to the promotion and highlighting of French-speaking music”.
Last June, the Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec (OCCQ) revealed alarming statistics. Among the 10,000 most listened to songs in Quebec on platforms in 2023, a meager 5% was intended for French-speaking Quebec music.
“It’s discouraging because we have a culture that is extremely rich with artists who produce a lot of material, but this music dies a bit in a drawer,” laments Ariane Charbonneau, general director of the Professional Society of Authors. -composers and entrepreneurial artists (SPAC-AE).
Ariane Charbonneau, general director of SPAC-AE.
Photo provided by Marie-Michèle Bouchard
A complement to listening platforms
In order to further highlight the work of French-speaking artists, SPAC-AE has designed a “French-speaking music headquarters”: MUSIQC.
The MUSIQC logo.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SPAC-AE.
Instead of being a platform in its own right, and which would enter into direct competition with the streaming giants, MUSIQC is rather intended to be a complementary application to these listening services by taking their already available catalogs which are centralized in a single space.
“We don’t want to go against Spotify, Apple or YouTube,” mentions Ariane Charbonneau. We know very well that people are now consuming more and more of their music on these platforms. The idea is not to change how they listen to music, but rather what they listen to.”
Many playlists
In a beta version to which The Journal has had access, the MUSIQC site and application already have 80 playlists, including Générations rapkeb, Current indigenous music, Francophone from coast to coast, On the road to country festivals, Week-end at the chalet, Post-Baseball Game and On the Seaside.
Some MUSIQC playlists.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SPAC-AE.
These lists were concocted by 20 curators with musical expertise who were chosen by a head programmer from SPAC-AE. “We will also have “star programmers”, which will include artists, athletes or even chefs,” says Ariane Charbonneau. The idea is not to just stay in the music business.”
Some artists on MUSIQC.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SPAC-AE.
Big interest in France
The MUSIQC team went to present its concept in France where there was “great interest”, according to Ariane Charbonneau. “They told us that we were really ahead of them. There is an interest in introducing their artists so that they can be exported to Quebec or Canada.”
Even if they have not yet had conversations with Spotify, Apple, YouTube and Amazon, the designers of MUSIQC presented it to the executives of Deezer who were “very favorable to the initiative”. “For them, it’s a win-win, because we’re redirecting people to their homes,” says Ariane Charbonneau. We are not competing with them.”
MUSIQC in brief
– The new free French-speaking music space is an initiative of the Professional Society of Quebec Authors-Composers and Entrepreneurial Artists (SPAC-AE). It will be launched sometime in 2025.
– MUSIQC will allow users to discover French content and then listen to it on the most popular platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer and Qobuz. The Tidal platform will be integrated in a later phase.
– The MUSIQC site and application will have more than 2,000 profiles of artists from Quebec and the international Francophonie, including their most listened to songs, the playlists on which they are programmed and their discography.
– English-speaking artists who release musical content in French, such as Patrick Watson and David Usher, will be present on MUSIQC.
