Lobbying pays off. The streaming music platforms – Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music and also YouTube Music, aided by the major labels (Universal Music, Warner and Sony Music) – have been maneuvering ever since hearing of the threat of a tax to finance the National Center for Music (CNM). They've done this very effectively, since – for the time being – these stakeholders seem to have succeeded in blocking, or at least postponing, measures that would have hindered them.
On June 21, President Emmanuel Macron stated that if no agreement emerged within the music industry by September 30, the government would endorse the proposal made by former Paris senator Julien Bargeton (Renaissance, President Macron's party) to levy a tax of 1.75% of sales within France on all music streaming platforms.
This is seen as a way to finance the CNM on a permanent basis, to the tune of an additional €20 million a year. Today, only a 3.5% tax, levied on all concert tickets, and a contribution from collective management organizations fund this establishment, which was inaugurated on January 1, 2020, just before the pandemic. According to its missions, the CNM must support musical creation, innovation, the green transition and exportation.
But the CNM's fragile revenues are likely to be insufficient. With the organization of the Olympic Games in 2024 alone, the six-month stoppage of major concerts at the Stade de France, Accor Arena and Paris La Défense Arena will result in a "shortfall of more than €8 million in the CNM's budget," warned Olivier Darbois, president of the Syndicat National du Spectacle Musical et des Variétés (Prodiss, the national union for musical and variety shows). In 2023, the CNM will benefit from a budget of €65 million, thanks to the remainder of exceptional subsidies linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. This windfall is likely to fall to €15 million next year if nothing is decided.
The entire industry was expecting Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak to announce on Friday, October 13, that a government amendment aimed at taxing the streaming giants would be tabled in the 2024 finance bill. However, this was not the case. The Culture Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. However, several amendments were presented on the subject on October 16, including one by Renaissance MP Fabienne Colboc. The amendment is supported by a group made up of several of her colleagues from the majority party and it defends the principle of a tax. Discussions in the Assemblée Nationale started on October 17.
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