1.5%. This is the portion of revenue that music streaming platforms should donate to support creation. At least according to an amendment to the finance bill presented on September 30 by six deputies from the “Democratic and Republican Left – Nupes” group.
With such a tax, which takes up the work of the Union of Independent French Phonographic Producers (UPFI), companies like Spotify or Deezer would be forced to finance the National Music Center (CNM). This public institution created in 2020 aims to guarantee the diversity of the French music industry, manage an observatory of the economy and data of the entire sector, but also support creation. Scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2023, this tax remains for the time being subject to a vote by parliamentary assemblies.
Takes up the “YouTube” tax model
This new funding bias would make it possible to rebuild the economy of the CNM, which has seen the ticketing tax melt away (about 30 million euros planned for 2023 compared to 35 million in 2019), as well as aid from collective rights management entities (estimated at 7 million euros later reduced to 1.5 million). The CNM also has a state subsidy of 26 million euros to cover its operating costs. According to the amendment presented, this tax on the rental of phonograms and music videos could amount to 21 million euros.
The national union of musical and variety shows, Prodiss, advocates “in favor of establishing a contribution from the digital distribution ecosystem to the financing of musical diversity.” According to Politico, which deciphered the lobbying that led to the amendment’s introduction, the tax would be modeled after the “YouTube tax” adopted in 2016, also called the “Netflix” tax, to fund the National Film and Moving Center. image (CNC).
Too early for a music streaming tax
But according to the vice president in charge of relations with the music industry and Deezer institutions, Ludovic Pouilly, the implementation of this tax would benefit American companies, he told Politico. He recalls that European players -such as the Swedish Spotify or the French Deezer- are not yet profitable. Therefore, this tax must be passed on to consumers.
For him, it is too early to talk about a streaming music tax. Ludovic Pouilly would be more inclined to an extension of the “YouTube” tax as proposed by the national syndicate for phonographic publishing (SNEP). During the half-yearly results of the SNEP, published on September 27, its general manager, Alexandre Lasch, spoke out against the proposal for a tax on music transmission. “Our surveillance will focus particularly on the government’s compliance with its commitment not to create a new tax,” he warns.
Source: BFM TV
