Beluga Productions & Editions is an independent service company operating in the music industry. Founded by Eric Dufaure after his departure from EMI Music Publishing France in 2001, the company’s first move was into record production.
The business of producing artists and their recordings, from project conception to commercialisation, is developed through the company’s two labels, “Beluga” and “Label 109”.
The first productions of Beluga were in the “cast album” market niche. Four albums were produced between 2001 and 2003 : “Irma la Douce”, the cast album of the famous musical revisited by Jerôme Savary, with actress Clotilde Courau, in 2001 ; “Judy and me”, a Judy Garland tribute, with Isabelle Georges and Frederik Steenbrink in 2002 ; in 2003 “Heart of ruby”, the live recording of a show by pop singer Lio, based on Jacques Prévert’s poetry ; “Iris”, a live album with Claire Diterzi, a singer songwriter who interprets and plays the music she composed for choreographer Philippe Decouflé’s sold-out shows at the Paris Palais de Chaillot in 2004 and 2005.
Another new musical area was soon explored, through establishing partnerships with artists who create original works by mixing different musical genres and cultures.
In 2002, Beluga released in France through Naïve the album “Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1”, a unique project developped by Nortec Collective, a group of DJs from Tijuana mixing techno beats with traditional sounds from Mexico. In 2004, Beluga coproduced with the group Martine City Queen their album, “Man is a fantastic being”, which blends French song, latin rythms, rock and Eastern European influences.
The concept was initiated by Tomuya, a Japanese singer whose passion was to blend his oriental crooner voice with French Chanson. With support from Beluga's Eric Dufaure and his manager Christophe Sabouret, the scope of the project was extended to include different registers of French-based music - from chanson to rock, from traditional to contemporary, from local to world sounds - and also other diverse voices familiar to French audiences. This led to duos with a wide range of artists, from the African Wasis Diop to the disco and rap undertones of Valli via the reggae roots of Pierpoljak, the jazz vibe of Liane Foly, the Indian meanderings of Smriti Minocha and the raunchy vocal of Mona Soyoc.
Beluga also offers the services of Eric Dufaure as record producer for in-house and outside productions (see bio).
As a complementary activity to production, Beluga has developped its activities in the areas of artist management and advisory services. Beluga advised the artist BabX in his negotiations for a publishing deal, Richard Bona for his recording contracts and dealings in France, and Pascal of Bollywood with regard to global management.
The partnership with Pascal of Bollywood covered a three-year period (2003-6), the time necessary to install the artist’s personal project on solid foundations, including : production of a start-up single, securing financial, institutional and media partnerships ; signing with a compatible record company (Naïve) for this Franco-Indian project, executive production of the album recordings in Bombay and Paris, planning promotion for the release, coordination of the touring activity and international development.
Beluga, as member of Sacem, has also developed its activities in the area of music publishing, creating a new catalogue based on works by Thierry Chazelle, Claire Diterzi, the group la Jarry (with Delabel), Frederik Steenbrink, Martine City Queen and Eric Dufaure (“Pigalle la Blanche”).
Beluga’s most recent exploration of new territory in an ever-changing industry has been the production of a “book record”. In 2007, Beluga conceived and coordinated – in partnership with book publisher Flammarion, the newpaper “Le Monde” and Universal – a book with a record included called “Les tubes de l’été” (“Summer Hits”), prefaced by well-known media personality Pierre Lescure.
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