IDOL 2021 export certifications

In 2020, the National Music Center (CNM) was created with the mission, among others, to promote the development of the French music sector internationally. Under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, each year, the CNM certifies albums and singles that contribute to the French influence abroad, based on physical and/or digital sales outside France.

This year, there are 108 artists, earning a total of 238 certifications, including 212 singles and 26 albums. This represents a 37% growth compared to 2020.

“These export certifications are important because they highlight the strategic work of labels and our teams over the long term and of course the influence of our artists internationally,” says Constance de Bosredon, Head of International Coordination.

The CNM confirms that these certifications “are the result of significant development work by artists and their professional entourage on the international scene (labels, distributors, management…) but also of substantial human and financial investments.”

The electro duo Else (L’Ordre Music) received two certifications, including a 4X Diamond for the track ‘Paris‘. Far from resting on their laurels, the group pursues its conquest of the world with the track ‘Ambre‘, certified Gold.

L’Impératrice (microqlima), who is currently conquering the United States with a live performance at the prestigious Coachella festival, has three certified tracks this year! Two Platinum : ‘Vanille Fraise‘, which was released for the first time in limited vinyl for the Disquaire Day 2022, and ‘Agitations Tropicales‘. The group also earned a Gold certification with the single ‘Sonate Pacifique‘.

Used as the theme song for the Netflix series Narcos, Rodrigo Amarante’s track ‘Tuyo‘ made a big splash and received a 6x Diamond certification.

Maxence Cyrin (Kwaidan Records) is certified 3x Diamond with his piano cover of one of the Pixies’ greatest hits, ‘Where Is My Mind‘.

Finally, Stuck in the Sound (Upton Park) and especially the voice of the singer José Reis Fontão do not cease, even ten years later, to move us with their track ‘Let’s Go‘, certified Platinum.

The CNM states that “this year again, the genre that exports the best internationally is Dance-Electro (43% of new releases), followed by Rap (33%). 54% of new releases are also sung in French, which confirms the attractiveness of the French-speaking world.”

The statement for the number of streams is sent by the distributors and labels, and are then verified by an auditor. “Each rightful claimant has its own data recovery system, so the files processed by the CNM are also different from one another. The use of these files gives rise to a homogenization process that can be long and time-consuming, but which is essential and greatly facilitates the auditor’s verification of the calculations made.

“It is particularly important to us to accompany the beneficiaries and to involve them in this process. We try to guide them as best we can on the reporting format, explain our export certification methods, and even define the communication plan. We are developing in a climate of trust thanks to a work that is totally transparent and beneficial to the highlighting of French export successes,” describes the CNM team.

“Thanks to the Labelcamp interface, we can easily retrieve the requested figures, so we accompany our labels in this process and centralize as much as possible to simplify the CNM’s task,” explains Constance de Bosredon.

For an album, the CNM takes into account physical sales, downloads and audio streaming. To convert the number of streams into sales equivalent, the calculation is that 1,500 streams represent 1 sale, after subtracting half of the streams of the most listened to track.

The certifications are as follows:
• Gold = 50 000 sales equivalent
• Platinum = 100 000 sales equivalent
• Diamond = 500 000 sales equivalent

For singles, the total keeps a record of downloads and audio streaming. In this calculation, one download equals 150 streams.

The certifications are as follows:
• Gold = 15 million streams equivalent
• Platinum = 30 million eq streams
• Diamond = 50 million eq streams