Where would French music be without Le Bureau Export?
Founded nearly 25 years ago, Le Bureau Export is a non-profit organisation with the sole objective of promoting local music around the world.
For over 20 years, Le Bureau Export – and its visible ‘Made In France’ brand – has worked hand-in-hand with the French music industry to develop the international careers of their artists.
In addition to a home office in Paris, the org runs four satellite offices in Berlin, London, New York, and São Paulo.
We caught up with some of its key team members to ask why they love their jobs…
Michèle Amar – le Bureau export New york / Director
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Bureau Export?
Seeing Phoenix perform in 2005 in front of 200 people at SXSW and then ten years later in 2015 at Madison Square Garden in front of 20 000 fans. Their subsequent rise leading to winning the Grammys and their Saturday Night Live was just incredible. Also, Stromae playing a sold out MSG and performing all in French. Organizing great events in the states is an ongoing High point with Bureau Export. Some of those include the recognition ceremony of the outstanding work of Niles Rogers and Daniel Glass, organizing a massive Francerocks festival in NYC Central Park Summerstage and 25 venues, organizing an extravaganza at SXSW with 3000 people and 16 French bands.
What does Bureau Export mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
Burex is an extraordinary team of passionate, fun, dynamic and creative people who go the extra mile to help artists for the sake of music. There is no dull moment at burex, we are always on the move, juggling with circumstances, and always keeping an eyes and ears on what could be the next cool artist. I find it fascinating how burex always develops and manages to move forward. I am proud to assist in furthering the career of artists, I love the challenge to make the impossible happen. It is invigorating to see artists landing in NY and playing music with such excitement and passion, and to see that energy catch on with the U.S. audiences.
What do you hope to achieve at Bureau Export in the future?
I would hope to see a brand name recognition for Bureau export in the US and its deployment in various States and Canada and Mexico, a vibrant French On line Radio station, a high profile festival, and French artists on top of the US charts. I want to hear more music produced in France in films and playing in my local supermarket.
Geraldine Zanaska – Le Bureau export London /product manager UK/Ireland/Scandinavia
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Bureau Export?
I have many fond memories of the last 5 years working at Bureau Export, so it’s hard to choose just one really. But one of the highlights must be to have seen Christine & The Queens play our Bureau Export showcase at industry festival & conference The Great Escape in Brighton, and then see her again on stage in front of a sold-out Manchester Academy a few years later. She is such a great performer, and she’s wowed the audience every time I’ve seen her live. At the Great Escape it was a solo performance at a tiny venue, and the production was a fistful of glitter flakes she threw over herself as she departed the stage; in Manchester she had a full dance troop with her, but the passion and talent were equally there for both shows.
She was one of the first artists I helped out with a few shows at the beginning of her career when I took my job at Le Bureau Export in London, and seeing the success she has now in the UK is so amazing. Talent, passion, hard work and perseverance – as well as personal and financial investment! – from the artist as well as from her team really is the key to her making it in the music industry.
What does Le Bureau Export mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
To me, Le Bureau Export is a wonderful organisation which shows how much France cares about its music scene and its local music industry, and how it can come together to make things better for them. We’re apolitical, and we help French companies big and small, in all music genres, in many territories, to develop the projects they have invested so much time, effort and money in. When Bureau Export started in 1993, it was very much a pioneer in what it does, and it was soon followed by many countries who started their own music export offices, as it can be such a valuable tool for both the local music industry and the artists, and benefits countries.
I’m proud to work at Bureau Export because I believe we are a facilitator for some of the best music that’s out there. There is such a rich musical landscape in France at the moment, and I’m very happy to do my small part in helping it to reach new audiences and success outside of France’s borders. It’s so important that we are on the ground, with our offices in London, Berlin, New York and Sao Paulo, to ensure we keep the taste-makers and local music industry execs aware of the wonderfully diverse music coming out of France, and the great innovative music companies, in an ever more competitive marketplace.
I’m also very proud to work at Bureau Export because it has one of the best team I’ve had the pleasure to work with: really passionate, hard-working people which are complete music nerds and Francophiles. We have or had such diverse people working at Bureau Export, coming from Japan, the US, the UK, Germany, Brazil, and beyond, united in their love of French music, it shows music can really cross borders and bring people together.
What do you hope to achieve at Bureau Export in the future?
I’d love to help even more Made In France acts succeed in the UK ! It’s such an important market if you’re after global success for your music, the world always looks to what’s working in the UK for music, but it’s so difficult to break into. So we’re always looking at different ways to promote the artists locally, from our Oui Love playlist and regular Oui Love showcase nights in London, to partnering with the best music companies and festivals all year round. There isn’t one recipe or path to success that works for all artists, so we constantly adapt our ways of working to the projects our members want our help with.
For the last few months, I’ve also started to work on the Scandinavian territories on top of the UK and Ireland, so I’m really excited about that. Sweden, Norway and Denmark are such pioneering countries for music, with obvious success in streaming and songwriting. They are small territories, but there are a lot of opportunities over there for the artists and companies we support, as long as the connections between the right people are made. So I’m delighted to be in charge of developing this network and creating opportunities for our members.
And looking further into the future, I’d love to work on more emerging, less structured markets, in Central / South America, South East Asia or Africa for example. We’re in the middle of such a turning point for the music industry right now, I’m really excited to see how new generations of fans will consume music in the next decade, and I want to be a part of how they discover foreign artists, as borders continue to fall in the digital age.
Alice Joseph Edouard – Le bureau export sao paulo office / Director
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Bureau Export?
It’s always a pleasure to welcome some good “made in France” artists to Brazil and to observe the Brazilian audience’s reaction, which is sometimes surprising ! A great moment was when Moodoid performed in Sao Paulo ; a part of the audience was wearing the same clothes, was made up the same way and knew all the lyrics. …Another great moment was when Adam Naas performed successfully in Sao Paulo last year thanks to Bureau Export’s support, then he was synchronized on TV Globo and reached n°2 Top iTunes in Brazil.
What does Bureau Export mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
Working at Bureau Export means a lot ! I used to be an export music booker in the past and collaborated a lot with Bureau Export which has always been the organisation that helped the most with my activity. . I hope now to be as useful as the staff used to be with me when I needed their advices ! Also working with a great team and be in touch with people who share he same passion is really important !
What do you hope to achieve at Bureau Export in the future?
To give more and more visibility to the artists « made in France » in Brazil and in Latin America whether it is on stage, in the medias, on digital platforms…Continuing developing all my contacts in Brazil and Latin America in order to grow business with French industry people, having a real focus « made in France » artists in a big Brazilian festival!
Danie Winkel – Le bureau export Berlin / Co-director
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Bureau Export?
There’s definitely more than one highlight! Looking back, amongst the coolest experiences I would include Saian Supa Crew, a group that I discovered at Trans Musicales in 1999, when I was bringing a GSA delegation of pros & media to this game-changing festival. Having plugged the band a couple of years later for Fête de la Musique Berlin, they finally performed prime-time in front of more than 10 K people on the famous open air stage at Mauerpark, that had already hosted local heroes such as Seeed. But there was also this amazing gig by Camille who we managed to bring to Berlin’s Arena for her very first German show in 2005 to perform “Le Fil”, for a headliner slot that led to a German frontline release and helped to secure a local agent. And for sure the first German gold album award we received at the Berlin office in 2003 for supporting Yann Tiersen’s local release of the OST Amélie Poulain…
What does Bureau Export mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
Music, languages and intercultural experiences have always been a passion for me – and it’s this exciting challenge that makes my heart beat for Le Bureau Export and our daily job, together with committed partners, a lovely international team and a bunch of promising artists!
What do you hope to achieve at Bureau Export in the future?
Making French repertoire even bigger than it is today! The diversity and high quality production of the French music scene is outstanding – helping the right owners to bring their catalogues and rosters abroad is not only about successfully exporting projects, it’s also a matter of better circulation of artists and repertoire. We push that further by constantly developing new tools such as trade missions, song-writing camps and of course our playlist platform ‘What the France’ (available on all streaming sites) and ‘Chic Schnack’ our local, public-facing brand that brings the best of French production to the German-speaking public.
BENJAMIN DEMELEMESTER – le Bureau export Paris /Project manager
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Bureau Export?
Taking the morning train to Eurosonic festival on my very job day #1 at Le Bureau Export after cheering the colleagues and feeling like I’ve always been there.
What does Bureau Export mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
Music, languages, artists, export, connecting professionals and learning about cultures have been part of all my life. Le Bureau Export brings all of this together shared with a great ground team!
What do you hope to achieve at Bureau Export in the future?
To meet new people, go to countries I’ve never been before, learn new music markets and help opening new networks.
Sergio Marigomez – Le bureau export Paris /playlist manager
What’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to you at Bureau Export?
Hard to pick just one thing, as I’ve been working here for almost ten years, but let’s say I had the opportunity to approach and reason with some of the legendary names of the French music industry, that’s like a dream come true when you love this music.
What does Bureau Export mean to you and why are you proud to work there?
Le Bureau Export means music promotion & helping our artists music crossing borders to reach an international audience, it obviously makes me proud to be doing my part in this master plan.
What do you hope to achieve at Bureau Export in the future?
I hope to make French music reach new audiences, I am currently working on our new playlist Service called What The France, my goal is to make this brand synonymous with quality music made in France all around the world. http://whatthefrance.org/
All pictures by Christophe Crenel (except for Alice Joseph Edouard)