The announcement makes noise: on the day of the Fête de la Musique, Emmanuel Macron brandished the prospect of a tax on streaming revenues if the music industry does not agree on new ways of financing creation.
If harmony is not found by September 30, “the government will reserve the possibility of seizing Parliament with a compulsory contribution from music streaming platforms”, indicates a press release from the Elysee Palace released on Wednesday evening.
The Head of State asked the Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak to bring together “all the players in the sector without delay”. Will the exchanges be flawless?
“After having prevented the war in Ukraine and refounded France in a hundred days, President Macron is attacking streaming”, first tackled Wednesday evening on Twitter Bertrand Burgalat, president of Snep (National Union of Phonographic Publishing) .
His union softened the tone in a press release on Thursday: “We are entering into this consultation with the spirit of responsibility invoked by the Presidency”. However, he warned that “French and European platforms, whose economic model is centered on the distribution of music, have not reached the break-even point”.
The opposition remains strong on the side of the ESML (Union of online music service publishers), according to a press release sent to AFP on Thursday: “While our French and European music streaming services suffer from unfair competition of the GAFA, which do not contribute to the same height as us to the financing of the music industry, we fear the catastrophic consequences of this tax on music streaming, on rights holders and ultimately on creation”.
On the other hand, some twenty organizations representing the sector, including the Upfi (Union of independent French phonographic producers), the Sma (Syndicate of contemporary music) and the Prodiss (National union of musical and variety shows) recalled in a joint text on Thursday having “collectively supported the path of using digital broadcasting (streaming platforms, social networks, etc.)”. “Both in its paid and free activity”, continue these authorities which “will make themselves available for the professional consultation to come”, adding that “time is running out”.
The presidency is based on a report by Senator Julien Bargeton (Renaissance), delivered in April. The latter advocates a tax of 1.75% on income from paid music streaming and free music streaming funded by advertising.
New sources of funding are needed to “preserve French cultural sovereignty” and ensure “fair remuneration for artists and creators”, the Elysée stressed on Wednesday, also wishing that this windfall support “innovation and export” .
In the fall of 2022, the debates crystallized on a mandatory contribution of 1.5% of income from paid subscriptions on music platforms to help the National Music Center (CNM), a state and sectoral body created in 2020, to support French creation.
“No to the streaming tax. Anti-rap tax. Racist tax. Unjustified tax”, rapper Niska had posted on his social networks at the time, fearing that the income from the streaming of rap, music dominant in the charts, would be thus punctured.
This tax project, carried by deputies from the Nupes left via amendments rejected at the end of 2022, has created a stir in the sector.
The divisions are also invited to the menu of a lunch of the sector under the aegis of Prodiss on Wednesday. Snep boycotted it, denouncing on Twitter “the pretense of union of a musical ecosystem more divided than ever”.
Present at the lunch, Antoine Monin, Managing Director for France and Benelux of Spotify, cringed by speaking on behalf of the ESML: “The French music industry and the CNM deserve better than (the Bargeton report) If the first will be able to recover from yet another picrocholine war, I am not sure that the second will survive such an original fracture”.
06/22/2023 19:05:53 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
