Physical Media Still Alive in France, Our Visit to Fnac Store in Lille Finds
Physical disc sales remain buoyant in France, our mystery shopper visit to a large Fnac store in the historic old city of Lille in the northern part of the country found during Victory in Europe celebrations last weekend. Physical media…
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accounted for 57 percent of prerecorded music sales in France last year, the IFPI said last month in its annual report. Our visit found prices are holding up and there was a wide selection of titles and long line at the multistation checkout for customers buying CDs, LPs, DVDs, Blu-rays and games. But we saw surprisingly few UltraViolet "digital locker" Blu-rays, and only a very small selection of Pure Audio high-fidelity Blu-rays, and those mainly of French artists. Fnac’s stylish stores now dominate the home entertainment market in France. Its branch in Lille extends through two large modern stores, one for music, books and Kobo e-books, and one for consumer electronics including Apple hardware. The two stores are closely adjacent and tastefully constructed inside grand old building shells in the ancient city center. The selection of music and movie titles is generally similar to the HMV store in London, albeit with more emphasis on French artists. Exactly as was the case when we last visited a Fnac store in Nice, France, two years ago, selected CDs in Fnac Lille cost 7 euros (about $7.90) each or four for 20 euros ($22.50), with the option of a digital copy. Perhaps because Lille has its own Opera House, we found a wide selection of classical music CDs and DVDs, often little-known and hard-to-find titles. Pricing of Blu-rays ranges between 15 and 25 euros ($17-$28). Despite the large and wide selection of movie Blu-rays we saw only a very few with the UV “digital locker” label. Another surprise was seeing only one small rack of Pure Audio high-fidelity Blu-rays, given that we were in a country where the new format has been hailed a success. Apart from standard fare, such as a Nina Simone recording for 20 euros, we noted that many of the Pure Audio titles were by French or Belgian artists such as Carla Bruni, Eddy Mitchell, Jacques Brel and Johnny Hallyday, with prices around 25 euros each. A boxed Pure Audio set of Georg Solti’s complete Ring Cycle was priced at 90.26 euros ($101).