Jérôme Dutoit, 47, comes from the world of television. With a postgraduate degree in Law and Audiovisual Communication Administration (Paris I), Jérôme Dutoit began his career at TF1 in 1991 as a research officer in the marketing department, then joined IMCA in 1994 as a consultant supporting producers and broadcasters in their development. He joined the Canal+ group in 1998, where he held the positions of program research manager, then project manager in the Strategy Department, and finally, Business Development Manager at CANALSAT.
In 2014, Jérôme Dutoit joined the Melody channel as CEO alongside Bruno Lecluse, President and founder of the channel.
You launched your Melody d'Afrique channel in August 2017. What conclusions can you draw today?
The main Melody channel has been around for 18 years. We repositioned the channel four years ago, focusing on "vintage entertainment." Since then, the channel has grown significantly. In France, Melody has become the leading music channel and the leading entertainment channel according to NPA Conseil. Beyond the original channel, we decided to launch Melody d'Afrique in 2017. We did this for several reasons:
Firstly, music plays a significant role in Africa and is an important driver of subscriptions for television channels. There are only a few high-quality music channels, but they are aimed at a very young audience, offering urban and contemporary music. This is paradoxical when you consider that African music legends are revered by the entire population of the continent. However, these legends, such as Congolese rumba artists or Papa Wemba, are only listened to on the radio or in cabarets. No television channel was entirely dedicated to them.
In France, we source a lot of archive material from the INA, but we also seek out gems from directors, artists, and rights holders. So three years ago, we took a gamble and created a channel entirely dedicated to the legends of African music.
In which countries are you broadcast?
This channel is for two audiences: Melody d'Afrique is broadcast in France on Orange, Free, SFR, Numericable and, since the end of January, on Bouygues. In Africa, we are in the process of expanding distribution: Melody d'Afrique is distributed on DTT in the DRC in Kinshasa, on Orange Africa networks and soon with other distributors. Starting next spring, we will distribute Melody, the main channel, on Canal+ in Africa. It's a great project because there is a very strong connection between French singers and African audiences. We will soon be expanding Melody's distribution across the continent.
You recently launched a major communication campaign. Why?
This is the result of three years of hard work, an extremely difficult challenge to revive the archives. There is a very strong culture of living in the moment and not necessarily an awareness of the value of these musical archives. We have formed partnerships with national channels and visited artists one by one. We are communicating a lot today because we are growing in strength and want to let people know. We have years of work ahead of us to identify the archives of artists such as Alpha Blondy, Youssou N'Dour, Cesaria Evoria, Fela Kuti, and others. We also play a lot on the transgenerational aspect by broadcasting songs by legends as well as songs covered by the new generation. The fact that we are also involved in our own production, by recording recent concerts, anchors us more firmly in reality.
This music touches everyone because it is timeless. It resonates with all generations. The Melody d'Afrique channel is aimed at a French-speaking audience in West and East Africa, Cape Verde, and Madagascar, reviving a musical heritage.
What are your ambitions?
First and foremost, our job is to publish pay-TV channels. We rely on operators. Melody d'Afrique is not available digitally. This is a deliberate choice, and perhaps in the future we will consider developing the channel digitally. Today, our ambition is first and foremost to continue identifying archives, strengthening our position, and raising awareness of what we do. We still need to forge links in order to identify archives. And to do that, we need to make ourselves known. The other focus of our ambition will be to work on developing the channel.
We are also developing the brand through local partnerships, concert recordings, sponsorship, and the organization of events such as the upcoming Africa Break evening in partnership with Radio Africa No. 1 in Lille on February 20. Manu Dibango and Cheick Tidiane Seck will be performing there. This is a great opportunity for the channel to raise its profile among its regional audience.