The Fête de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, is a music festival taking place on June 21.

The idea was first broached in 1976 by American musician Joel Cohen, then employed by the national French radio station France Musique. Cohen proposed an all-night music celebration at the moment of the summer solstice. The idea was taken up by French Music and Dance director Maurice Fleuret for Minister of Culture Jack Lang in 1981 and first took place in 1982 in Paris.

Its purpose is to promote music in two ways:

Despite there being a large tolerance about the performance of music by the general public of amateurs in public areas after usual hours, the noise restrictions still apply, and can cause some establishments to be forbidden to open and broadcast music out of their doors without prior authorization. So the prefectures of police in France can still forbid them to install any audio hardware in the street.

The Fête de la Musique began in France and has since spread to many countries:

Italia

"La Musique (Angelica)" is a 2001 song recorded by the contestants of the first edition of French TV reality show Star Academy. The song was released as a single in December 2001 from the album L'Album and also recorded in a live version on the album Live. Cover of a 1960s song, this version achieved a huge success in France in terms of chart positions and sales.

In the 1960s, the Sandpipers band had a hit with "Angelica", originally recorded in English-language. In 1967, French singer Nicoletta made her own modified version of the song, under the title "La Musique", but this cover passed unnoticed at the time. Thirty-four years later, this version was covered by Star Academy France which decided to consider this cover as the show's anthem and the lead single from its debut album. Fourteen constestants participated in the recording of the new version which particularly puts foreword the singing.

Surprisingly, the song became a smash success in France : it went straight to number-one on December 8, 2001, and stayed there for nine weeks. Then it dropped regularly, totalling 12 weeks in the top ten, 19 weeks in the top 50 and 24 weeks in the top 100. Certified Diamond disc by the SNEP only two weeks after its release, it is at present ranked 16th on the best-selling singles of all time chart of France.

Laouni Mouhid, commonly known by his alias La Fouine (English: The Weasel) or Fouiskin (born December 25, 1981 in Trappes, Yvelines), is a French rapper of Moroccan origins from the city of Trappes, Yvelines in the Paris western suburbs. He is an established figure in French rap. La Fouine signed with Sony Records in 2003 and released his debut album, Bourré au son, in 2005. La Fouine released his second album, Aller-Retour, on March 12, 2007. The American beatmaker Focus produced four songs on the album. His most recent album, Mes Repères, was released on February 23, 2009 and is two times gold record in France. His new album, a double CD intitled "La Fouine Vs Laouni," released on February 14 for Valentine's Day, was inspired by the two sides of himself, through his career and experience of his daily life. The first one, La Fouine, a character he created to "entertain people, La Fouine is very cunning, materialistic, bad boy and so vulgar ... it's not really me" said the artist. The second one Laouni (his real name) talks about things he lived in his youth, so his rap is sincere and moving. The week of album's release, more than 25 621 copies were sold in France, a feat for a hip hop artist. He has also his own label "Banlieue Sale Music" and his own clothing line called "Street Swagg".

Christophe Maé (born 16 October 1975 in Carpentras, Vaucluse) is a French pop singer.

Maé learned to play the violin at age 6, and later began playing the guitar and harmonica at age 16 after he was immobilised from a chronic illness. He has stated that this was the time when he became inspired by Stevie Wonder. In 2005 he rose to fame by playing the role of Monsieur, brother of King Louis XIV in the musical "Le Roi Soleil".

Maé's first album was entitled Sa Danse Donne, and released in 2002–2003. This album is not considered his first studio album. He released his first studio album, Mon paradis (My Paradise) on 19 March 2007, with the singles "On s'attache", "Parce qu'on sait jamais" and "Ça fait mal". His fourth single is "Belle Demoiselle". Mon Paradis was France's second best-selling album of 2007 after Life in Cartoon Motion by Mika, selling more than 1 600 000 albums to date.

Maé opened for Seal at the Grand Rex in Paris and for Cher at the Zénith de Paris, both in 2004. In 2010, Maé's second studio album, On trace la route, was released. It has sold more than 600,000 units to date.

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.