Alexandre Dalifard 8:30 p.m., January 22, 2024

In 2024, a new French tax on platform revenues, at 1.75%, must see the light of day.

On this occasion, the deputy general director of Deezer, Stéphane Rougeot, is the guest of “La France moves”.

At the microphone of Elisabeth Assayag, he explains why this measure is “unfair and shocking”.

From January 24, MIDEM+, the meeting place for the international record and music publishing market, returns to the Croisette in Cannes.

For the occasion,

La France moves

is interested in this world of music and streaming platforms.

For this, Stéphane Rougeot, deputy general manager of Deezer, the first company to do subscription streaming, is the guest on the show.

Speaking to Elisabeth Assayag, he discusses the new French tax on platform revenues planned for 2024.

“Incomprehensible and shocking”

Faced with this, the competitors of the French platform denounce unfair and disproportionate measures.

And on Deezer's side, this tax is not viewed very favorably either.

“It was the great disappointment of the end of 2023. As Deezer, it is a tax which is obviously unfair, but also particularly shocking since it impacts us in a totally disproportionate way,” laments the deputy general director of the company at the microphone of Europe 1.

The latter explains that this taxation is only in France and that France represents 60% of Deezer's turnover.

“When we look at the other platforms, larger and more powerful than us, they will be much less impacted and it will be something quite small for them,” he explains.

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This company, which has more than 600 employees, including 500 on national territory, made the decision 15 years ago to keep its jobs and resources, including tech and data, in France.

“And it’s true that having a tax that impacts us in a disproportionate and negative way, compared to others, is something incomprehensible and shocking,” underlines Stéphane Rougeot. 

70% of the subscription paid to rights holders

Faced with this new tax, the question of the subscription price logically arises: will it increase or not?

"We haven't decided yet, we're going to look. We know that it's very complicated for us to pass this tax on to the rights holders. We looked at our contracts, they don't really allow us to do that," reports -he.

He specifies that several solutions are available to society.

This tax can therefore affect their investments in terms of marketing, technology or innovation.

“We would like to avoid that because it is not in the interest of the music industry,” insists Stéphane Rougeot.

Otherwise, this will have an impact on the consumer, but the deputy general director specifies that the decision has not yet been taken, even if “this is part of the scope of things”.

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Concretely, the tax represents around twenty cents more on income.

Faced with this, Stéphane Rougeot recalls that the French company pays 70% of the subscription to the rights holders (authors, record companies, composers, SACEM, etc.).

“The tax will therefore affect us on what remains as well as our innovation, investment and marketing capacities which allow us to increase market penetration,” he laments.

He specifies in particular that in the world, there are 600 million streaming subscribers.

And the market knows that there are still hundreds of millions of users to be found.

“That’s why we continue to invest,” he says.