Promoting 5 to French speaking sections of the U.S. and Canada

Scruffydog777 · #1 06-21-2013, 11:19 PM

I was pretty disappointed when it became obvious that there were going to be no English songs on this album. I had hoped there be something good to promote in this country. Because of my busy schedule the first half of this year, it took me a while to realize I could still promote this album to the French speaking communities in this country.

Now one way I thought of doing this has been to send some of her music to a place like the French cultural society here in Boston, but I was a little leary of doing that not knowing how tight a control they kept over their library, but thanks to talking with DannyMac, I found out they keep tight control of their stuff, so I decided to send them a copy of 5, MCE, En Concert and Les Enfoires.

Tomorrow thanks to some contact info supplied to me by Ray, I will send a copy of 5, MCE and En Concert to the Alliance Francais library in Washington D.C..

Now doing something like that at best could only bring in a fan or two at a time, so one other thing I wanted to do was send some of her cds to radio stations that play French music and I think the most obvious place in that regard is New Orleans. That has been a much tougher road to travel than I imagined. I don't want to send it to just any radio station, I want to send it to a station that plays a similar genre of music as Alizee's. I've found stations that play cajun music and creole music, but I've had trouble finding like I said similar music on a regular basis and what I mean is not just for 1 hour a day as I found the case with some stations.

Another thing I found is there a lot of internet stations. I'd prefer sending some of her music to radio stations, but I grew frustrated in my searches that I did send two of her cds to one of these internet station in Louisiana.

I also sent a letter to a Maine radio station to see if they'd be interested in her music.

Back in 2008 I think it was, I e mailed a woman with a radio station in SanFrancisco. Now this woman was interested in setting up an on air interview with Alizee, but at the time, I had no contact info for her, where as now I do. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the station and I looked through San Francisco radio stations and I cant find any that broadcast on a regular basis any more.

So I need some help with with finding some good contacts as far as radio stations and radio stations that play her style of music on a regular basis. I'm going to start looking for some stations in the Montreal and Toronto area. This might be the best direction to go in with a much larger French speaking audiences with the end purpose of all this is maybe one of her songs becomes a hit and get's played by these French stations and that's exactly what we need is her to get her foot in the door here and the best time to do this is now while "5" is still new.

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lapinschous · #2 06-21-2013, 11:22 PM

How many french speakers are there in total in the US? In North America?

Scruffydog777 · #3 06-22-2013, 06:20 AM

This is what Wikipedia has to say about it,

French Americans or Franco-Americans are citizens or permanent residents of the United States of French descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of French descent, and about 2.0 million speak French at home.[2] An additional 450,000 U.S. residents speak a French-based creole language, according to the 2000 census.

While Americans of French descent make up a substantial percentage of the American population, French Americans arguably are less visible than other similarly-sized ethnic groups. This is due in part to the high degree of assimilation among Huguenot (French Protestant) settlers, as well as the tendency of French American groups to identify more strongly with "New World" regional identities such as Québécois, French Canadian, Acadian, Cajun, or Louisiana Creole. This has inhibited the development of a wider French American identity.

Scruffydog777 · #4 06-24-2013, 02:49 PM

Well it looks like I'm travelling down this path by myself, maybe because people think I'm on a fool's errand, but it's what I'm going to do. I just wish i had started a couple of months ago.

I e-mailed a Toronto station last night with my offer. Today I'm looking through a list of Montreal stations and this city has probably the best chance for success because of the larger French speaking population there . Now they have a list for types of stations such as French, English or polyglot which is both. They also had a list of stations with the highest ratings. I had hoped one of these top station would be a polyglot, just that I knew it would be easier to communicate, but I think that wont be as much of an issue in Canada as it might be in France, so I will start with the top rated French stations, mainly because I think the majority of "hit" stations will be looking for recent music and 5 is the album that fits that shoe.

One thing I just remembered that I'll have to include in my messages is that the songs for MCE were written by Mylene Farmer who was born in Canada and is now the most successful female singer in France's history.

So I ordered 5 more copies of MCE and 5 which I will hopefully be able to send out to some of these station.

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Fall · #5 06-25-2013, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

I e-mailed a Toronto station last night with my offer.

Well to me this sounds like a very promising effort Scruffy!

But I have a question about this part, by offer, do you mean that you're going to pay to have them play the songs, or just offer to send them the CDs you mentioned?

Ray4AJ · #6 06-25-2013, 12:12 AM

You gotta try that station 102.3 "CINQ"

Scruffydog777 · #7 06-25-2013, 03:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fall06

Well to me this sounds like a very promising effort Scruffy!

But I have a question about this part, by offer, do you mean that you're going to pay to have them play the songs, or just offer to send them the CDs you mentioned?

I'm offering to send them the cd's. I don't think they will play the music, unless they like it.

lapinschous · #8 06-25-2013, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

I'm offering to send them the cd's. I don't think they will play the music, unless they like it.

Your dedication is amazing Scruffy ! I'm always impressed to see how far you're ready to go just for the possibility of achieving something for Alizée's music's sake.

But if they decide to play the music, they'll have to get an authorization from MF 's label and pay the royalties right? I hope this won't dissuade them to do so.

Lili4ever · #9 06-25-2013, 03:55 PM

i don't think you have to get any autorisation from the label. That would be a mess if every station around the world had to get permission. I think they can just play the songs and the royalties will be payed to The Musicians’ Rights Organization Canada or what ever it is called now wich will then give MF and Alizee their share

Scruffydog777 · #10 06-25-2013, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lapinschous

Your dedication is amazing Scruffy ! I'm always impressed to see how far you're ready to go just for the possibility of achieving something for Alizée's music's sake.

But if they decide to play the music, they'll have to get an authorization from MF 's label and pay the royalties right? I hope this won't dissuade them to do so.

If they like the music and most importantly if they think their listeners will like the music,they will find a way to get the authorization.

I asked for help here and the help I want is not in buying the cds, I will take care of that. The help I need is in finding good contacts for theses radio stations and right now it the best time, while the album is relatively new. In a few months, that window might slam shut.