Antoine Monin denounces an “unfair” tax which is added to many others and which ultimately favors the web giants.
“The adoption of this tax is really a blow to the music sector, to innovation and to European independent platforms like Spotify or Deezer”, regretted the general director of Spotify France on franceinfo Thursday December 14. The day before, the French government confirmed the implementation from 2024 of a tax on the turnover of online music listening platforms, intended to finance the National Music Center (CNM), a body created in 2020 to support the French music industry, like the CNC for cinema.
For Antoine Monin, CEO of Spotify France, it is “a monumental strategic error which goes against the challenges of European economic, cultural and technological sovereignty”. The exact terms of this French tax have not yet been revealed by the Ministry of Culture. The latter has worked extensively with streaming platforms. Antoine Monin says he has “obtained an industry agreement, but it seems that the government gave in to pressure from the performing arts lobby and certain parliamentarians.”
Spotify will “disinvest from France”
Worse, according to the CEO of Spotify France, this government decision “plays into the hands of the GAFA (web multinationals: Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon)because Deezer or Spotify are European and independent companies”. Antoine Monin assures that Spotify, a Swedish company launched in 2006 which has become the world number 1 in online music, is not “not yet profitable, unlike competitors YouTube, Apple or Amazon, who have the means to absorb these taxes” soon to be imposed by the French government, from 2024. “Spotify made profits for the first time last quarter (65 million euros), but for the moment we are in a fragile financial balance.”
Antoine Monin believes that today, the Spotify platform is already saturated with taxes of all kinds.
“We pay 70% of our revenue to music rights holders, you add to that a VAT at 20%, a tax on digital services at 3%, a tax on video services at 5% and now a streaming tax at 1.75%. How do you expect us to be able to operate in a market like France?”
Antoine Monin, CEO of Spotify Franceat franceinfo
The DG France of the Swedish platform warns the Ministry of Culture: “Honestly, Spotify will have the means to absorb this tax, but Spotify will divest from France and invest in other markets. France does not encourage innovation and investment.” He assures that “France will no longer be a priority for Spotify”.
No increase announced for users yet
For the moment, Spotify “has not yet made a decision on how” including the music listening platform “will absorb this tax”, declares Antoine Monin. Therefore, no increase in subscription prices is planned for the moment. But if one had to be made, “a 10% increase in subscriptions should be made” to absorb this new French tax.
To finance the CNM, a decision which “makes sense”Antoine Monin suggests doing “contribute to the entire sector, not just streaming. That means vinyl sales, CD sales, but also music radio…” The CEO of Spotify France would like to point out that in the initial agreement reached with the government “brought producers, collective management organizations like Sacem and the platforms to the table. Today, the government and parliamentarians have chosen an inequitable, unjust and dangerous path.”