About

The CNMlab is the ideas lab from the Centre national de la musique. At the crossroads of the worlds of research and music, it tackles a wide variety of subjects with a current or future impact on the music sector. It stands out for its expertise and popularised scientific work aimed at professionals and the general public.

The Centre national de la musique (CNM) is a French public institution created on 1 January 2020. Its missions are to support the entire music industry in all its diversity, to inform and advise music industry professionals, to identify and apprehend technology trends that will transform the sector, and to promote innovation. The Law of October 30, 2019, relating to the creation of the CNM, authorised the CNM with establishing an observatory of the economy and compiling data for the entire sector.  

The CNMlab expands on this mission by developing a research programme of publications covering a wide variety of themes (business models, music practices, diversity, the climate transition, digital economy, Europe, heritage, innovation) in relation to emerging trends and challenges facing the music industry.

This action brings together writers from various backgrounds and nationalities, be they specialists, experts or researchers in the topics covered. The CNMlab publishes notes and studies in two main formats: “long wave” publications are long-term projects resulting in in-depth reports, meanwhile “short wave” publications are more concise, comprehensive and dynamic in format. Finally, the CNMlab also publishes collaborative collections which aim to present different approaches and contributions around a given theme. All publications are intended to educate music industry players, public authorities, the media and the general public.

With the aim of creating closer links to the academic world, the CNMlab regularly brings together a scientific committee of around 20 figures from various domains, such as sociologists, economists, historians, lawyers, musicologists, and philosophers. This advisory think tank, unprecedented in the music world, reinforces the CNMlab’s research programme and fosters greater interaction between the spheres of academia and research. The scientific committee may identify future themes for the CNMlab to set, suggest contributors and monitor research progress.

All CNMlab publications are available for free via the CNMlab website (cnmlab.fr).

Scientific committee