While technology is frequently blamed for the problems in today's music industry, we seem to have conveniently forgotten how this 'culprit' was once the saviour of contemporary music.
The invention of the sound mixer, synthesizer and computer software not only brought revolutionary changes to the industry, it also opened up a brand new genre of electronic music - the sound of young hedonistic disco lovers.
And we cannot talk about electronica without mentioning the French. Their eagerness to experiment with sound mixing - plus a little bit of innate quirkiness - made the cold, addictive beats of electronic music flourish in the country and catapulted them to the head of the pack.
The French first heard of electronic music in the late 1940s when soundtrack composers Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry recorded a ground-breaking piece of random speech and melodies in Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul. This marked the beginning of the electronic age.
In the 1980s, the French were upstaged by electronic groups in neighbouring countries, such as Britain and Germany.
All of a sudden, in the late 90s, the French produced a promising duo, Daft Punk.