Europe 1 with AFP 17:11 p.m., December 20, 2023

Spotify France will stop supporting the Francofolies de La Rochelle and the Printemps de Bourges, starting in 2024 after the announcement of a tax on music streaming, said Wednesday the platform, opposed to this measure.

Following "the announcement of the implementation of a tax on music streaming in France, we regret to announce that Spotify France will stop supporting the Francofolies de La Rochelle and the Printemps de Bourges, as of 2024," wrote in a statement the French branch of the leading platform of the global music streaming market.

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This support was translated "financially and through activations on the ground in favor of emerging artists (the Chantier des Francofolies and the iNOUïs of the Printemps de Bourges)", continues Spotify France, without giving sums.

More announcements in 2024

"Other announcements will follow in 2024," concludes Spotify France, opposed from the beginning to a streaming tax and which campaigned for a voluntary contribution. The introduction in 2024 of a tax on the turnover of online music listening platforms, wanted by Emmanuel Macron and which divides the sector, "should bring in 15 million euros" next year, the government announced on Friday.

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The tax contribution of subscription streaming platforms and free content-sharing platforms will be "a rate of 1.2% of their turnover in France," said the Ministry of Culture in a statement.

"Platforms with a turnover of less than €20 million will not be subject to tax," it said. The government announced the introduction of this tax on 13 December, after a prior vote to this effect in the Senate in November, during the examination of the 2024 draft budget.

The purpose of this tax is to finance the National Music Centre

This announcement was welcomed by the Union of Independent French Phonographic Producers (UPFI), the Syndicat des musiques actuelles (SMA) and the Syndicat national du spectacle musical et de variétés (PRODISS) in a joint statement. The Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers (Sacem) also welcomed the tax.

The aim of this tax is to finance the Centre national de la musique (CNM), a body created in 2020 to support the French music industry, like the CNC for cinema, which until now has been mainly financed by performing arts companies.

Opponents of the tax pleaded for a voluntary contribution, saying again on December 13 in a joint statement that they had reached an agreement, bringing together Apple, Deezer, Meta, Spotify, YouTube and TikTok, to mobilize "more than 14 million euros" in 2025.