Nothing lost in translation for French music acts

Nominees and members of the French band ''Phoenix'' (L-R) Deck D'Arcy, Christian Mazzalai, Thomas Mars and Laurent Brancowitz pose at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles January 31, 2010.

PARIS (Billboard) - A new wave of French pop/rock acts is finding domestic success -- despite singing in English.

Strict French radio quotas require at least 40 percent of music played to be French-language. But even with such restrictions, local acts performing in English increasingly have been breaking through.

The trend first gathered momentum in 2007 with English-language debut albums by pop duo AaRON and alternative act Cocoon. Three English-language acts -- power-pop band Pony Pony Run Run, rock vocalist Izia and folk-pop act Yodelice -- won all three "newcomer" categories at industry awards Les Victoires de la Musique in March.

Many credit the French education system's increased emphasis on teaching English in recent years for boosting young people's command of the language.

"Now French artists really can write and sing in English -- and French A&R (executives) can hear it," says Emmanuel de Buretel, CEO of indie label Because, home to English-language buzz acts Charlotte Gainsbourg and the Plastiscines.

Others say that access to quota-free online music has helped foster the emergence of English-language acts.

"Thanks to the Internet, our generation has grown up listening to much more music than previous ones -- especially English-language music," says vocalist Jil Bensenior of folk-rock act Jil Is Lucky. The band's label, Roy Music, says its March 2009 self-titled debut album has sold 17,000 copies domestically.

The radio quota does mean, however, that local English-language artists have to compete with big-name international acts for airplay, says Bernard Chereze, programing director at public radio network France Inter.

"The competition's very intense for English-language (acts)," he says, noting that domestic artists now account for 20 percent of Inter's English-language airplay, whereas such plays rarely occurred before 2007.

ONLINE FAN BASE

Cocoon's debut album, "My Friends All Died in a Plane Crash" (Sober & Gentle), has sold 150,000 units in France, according to the group's label. But Sober & Gentle managing director Stephane Gille says the act took almost a year to crack radio. Consequently, he says, the duo initially focused on live shows and online activity.

"They've been very involved in creating a fan base through social networks," he adds. "It's like they had a MacBook stuck to their hands."

EMI France, meanwhile, opted to build buzz around its '60s-influenced pop-rock trio Revolver by having it play for staffers at magazines and advertising agencies, alongside a heavy gigging schedule, before taking the act to radio in spring 2009.

EMI says Revolver's June 2009 debut album, "Music for a While," has sold 75,000 units. French label Wagram reports similar sales for Pony Pony Run Run's "You Need Pony Pony Run Run" and says "A Mouthful" by pop-rock band the Do and "Artificial Animals Riding on Neverland" by AaRON have sold 150,000 and 300,000, respectively.

Singing in English helped French rock band Phoenix breakthrough in the United States, where it has sold 428,000 copies of its album "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" (Glassnote), according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Several newer English-language acts also have overseas aspirations, with Cocoon joining Phoenix on the bill at this year's Coachella Festival. Revolver played five U.K. shows around the May 17 release of "Music for a While," and Jil Is Lucky played three London dates in May and June.

Wagram CEO Stephan Bourdoiseau says negotiations over a U.S. release for Pony Pony Run Run are well advanced. Band singer Gaetan Rechin Le Ky-Huong is confident of building an overseas fan base, as "most of our early listeners on MySpace were not from France," but from the United States and Germany.

Sober & Gentle's Gille says international touring will set up Cocoon's highly anticipated second album this fall. It's a long way, he reflects, from the act's early encounters with French radio. "When we arrived with our record in English," he recalls, "they looked at us as if we were space aliens."