Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

France reduces legal quota on number of French songs DJs are forced to play

The quota will now be lowered from 40 per cent to 35 per cent, though stations will have to air more recent French music

Samuel Osborne
Friday 18 March 2016 09:27 GMT
Comments
French artists such as Daft Punk, are increasingly singing in English to attract an international audience
French artists such as Daft Punk, are increasingly singing in English to attract an international audience (Karl Walter/Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

French MPs have voted in favour of reducing the country's legal quota for the amount of French songs played on the radio.

The 40 per cent quota was introduced in 1994 to protect France from what the government considered the "Anglo-Saxon cultural invasion," the Daily Telegraph reports.

However, the law has been an impediment to French artists such as Daft Punk, who are now singing in English to attract an international audience.

The quota will now be lowered to 35 per cent and radio stations specialising in foreign music will only have a 15 per cent quota.

Ten songs accounted for 74 per cent of French music aired on NRJ radio and 67 per cent on Skyrock, the culture ministry said in September.

French radio stations will also have to air more recent French songs, which some programmers fear may lead to a fall in quality as they may have to include unpublished songs.

Last September, French radio stations rebelled against the government's quotas by staging a 24-hour boycott.

Stations taking part in the boycott said the number of French-language albums produced dropped by 66 per cent between 2003 and 2014.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in