In recent months, the new tax on music streaming has made a lot talk about her. Pushed by the CNM (National Music Center), which aims to support music professionals and guarantee diversity, renewal and freedom of musical creation, the implementation of this tax backfired. against Spotify users. After many threats, the Swedish platform increased its prices on July 1. Whether this is legitimate on Spotify’s part or not is not the question.
Having been in force for almost a year, it is time to take stock. It seems that the tax on music streaming did not live up to the government’s expectations. At least, not yet.
The tax on music streaming brings in €6 million less than expected
When the government implemented the new tax on music streaming, even if it meant incurring the wrath of Spotify, it estimated that it would bring in 15 million euros over the year 2024. A tidy sum to achieve numerous actions to promote French-speaking artists, in particular. Unfortunately, the government had its eyes bigger than its stomach.
Currently, this tax has only allowed the CNM to collect 7.1 million euros. By the end of the year, this figure should rise to 9.3 million euros, according to the president of the National Music Center Jean-Philippe Thiellay before the Senate culture committee. Compared to the forecasts announced, this represents 38% less, a shortfall of 6 million euros. Ouch.
The president of the CNM explains these poor results by a slow start. Facing the Senate, Jean-Philippe Thiellay also specifies that it is necessary to take into account the tax floor at 20 million euros of turnover which means that for several months companies do not reach this floor”. Furthermore, as the text has not yet been published in the Official Bulletin, certain players in the sector seem to be taking advantage of it while they can. Thus, he explicitly requested that “the tax services are doing their job”.
Remember that this tax on music streaming is mandatory. Streaming platforms are therefore required to donate 1.2% of their turnover in order to contribute to financing the music industry. Despite this shortfall of 6 million euros, the National Music Center claims to have been able to carry out several actions which would not have been possible without the advent of this tax. Like clips by Julien Doré and Barbara Pravi or even export support from artists like Pomme, Indila and Zaho de Sagazan.