three questions on this decision by the platform and on the new “streaming tax”

The streaming platform Spotify announces the increase in the price of its premium offer. At issue, according to her: the “streaming tax” to finance the National Music Center (CNM).

It will be “the highest package in the European Union”. The music streaming platform Spotify will increase some of these prices at the start of 2024. This is what it announced on the social network a new tax that it will have to pay: the streaming tax or CNM tax (National Music Center). Franceinfo answers three questions about this decision by Spotify.

What is Spotify announcing?

The streaming platform announces an increase in the price of its premium offer, to 10.99 euros. Only the company’s French customers are affected. It is not yet known how much this increase will be. In its press release, Spotify explains that it will give all the details to its French subscribers “in the next weeks”. The platform explains that it was forced to make this decision because it will have to pay a new tax, called “streaming tax” or “CNM tax”, and that from now on, all accumulated, it will therefore have to pay “about two thirds” of its profits to the rights holders (record companies, artists, etc.) and to the French State. Spotify says it is concerned that this tax “does not go directly to artists” but to “an additional intermediary – the CNM.” The platform specifies that this streaming tax will bring in 15 million euros in 2024 to the CNM, while the “administrative budget (office costs, personnel, technical costs, media monitoring or professional training)” of the institution amounts to 20 million euros.

What is the streaming tax?

The streaming tax was adopted by the French government in December 2023 for application on January 1. Streaming platforms like Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube and Spotify must now pay 1.2% of their profits to the National Music Center (CNM). This organization, created in 2020, aims to support French musical creation, based on the model of the National Cinema Center (CNC) created in 1946. Concretely, the CNM first supports artists with financial aid and training, but it also works for music festivals, concert halls and record stores among others. Platforms with a turnover of less than 200,000 euros, such as the French Qobuz, are exempt from this tax. This is the end of a standoff lasting several months between streaming giants and the French state, with the platforms pushing instead for a voluntary contribution of 14 million euros.

What does the CNM respond to Spotify’s press release?

Jean-Philippe Thiellay, president of National Music Center, first affirms that the streaming tax will not be used, contrary to what Spotify France implies, for its administrative budget. “That’s the Ministry of Culture that takes care of it”he explains. “The salaries of the 110 people employed by the Center, the rent for our premises, the IT services, everything is covered by a subsidy from the ministry. 100% of the proceeds from the streaming tax are re-injected into the music industry, to supporting record recordings, helping artists organize showcases, participating in festivals, projecting themselves internationally, etc.”

The president of the CNM also explains that there has been the same type of tax in live performance for almost four years, since 3.5% of concert ticket sales are donated to the Center to support musical creation, particularly emerging and emerging artists. the independent environment. “This streaming tax is a redistribution mechanism like what has already existed in live or cinema for 70 years”he believes. Jean-Philippe Thiellay finally recalls that this tax amounts to only 1.2% of the platforms’ turnover. “It is a very small part which will be reinjected into musical creation to support in particular the emergence, which are the great successes of tomorrow. I am betting that in some time we will say that it is a mechanism which has allowed us to defend cultural sovereignty, a bit like the CNC in cinema, in an ultra-competitive globalized market. If we remain idly, it is the mainstream that will crush everything.”