It is a shadow on a success story that was thought to be cloudless. While Duchess has established itself as a pillar of the new French music scene, the investigation published by our colleagues at StreetPress paints a much less shiny picture of what goes on behind the scenes. Several people describe constant pressure and questionable management methods. For Léo Chatelier, the boss of the structure, it was time to provide clarification on the origin of his company and take responsibility.
“I started from nothing”: for Léo Chatelier, how far can improvisation go?
In a written response sent to the Public editorial staff, Léo Chatelier does not seek to deny all the facts, while adding important nuances. He emphasizes that he built Duchess as a self-taught person, starting from scratch and without initial financial resources. “I did my best with passion. I am a trained musician,” he recalls, admitting he had to learn accounting and human resources without a safety net. This forced improvisation, combined with an original team made up of friends, allegedly created a damaging confusion between the professional framework and the friendly sphere.
This closeness, while allowing for skyrocketing careers to launch, also showed its limitations once success arrived. The founder admits that the mixing of genres could have generated tensions that he was not prepared to manage. “I have not always known how to handle the pressure, and I greatly regret that it may have hurt within our early teams,” he confesses.
“An era evolves”: Léo Chatelier’s strategy to turn the page
To respond to criticisms of internal dysfunctions, Léo Chatelier highlights the structural transformation carried out in recent years. According to him, the cited testimonies concern a bygone era, one of beginnings where the organization lacked structure. As soon as the label’s cash flow allowed, the management claims to have hired senior profiles to stabilize the company. The arrival of an administrator, marketing directors, and a dedicated management associate would aim to prevent such situations from recurring. “The issue is taken particularly seriously within the team,” he writes to the Public editorial staff.
While the boss admits to youthful mistakes and clumsiness in his initial management, he is banking on this new organization to protect his employees as well as his artists. It remains to be seen if these apologies and structural changes will be enough to appease the former members of the team, who were marked by their time at the label. A crucial turning point for the image of the structure that manages the interests of the new darling of the French.
Find your collector’s magazine in stores from April 3 to 16. Here is issue 2000, with 25 extra pages of behind-the-scenes, juicy gossip, and iconic moments.
