A real cash machine, a boost to tourism, commerce and merchandising, Céline Dion's artistic residence on the outskirts of Paris must also generate around four million euros in ticketing taxes, a windfall that the profession regrets seeing fall into the state coffers rather than supporting the music industry.
“We should rejoice at such an appetite for concerts, to see Céline Dion come and play in France,” Aurélie Hannedouche, director of the Syndicat des musiques contemporains (SMA), told AFP. A sign of the vitality of live concerts, turnover from ticket offices has generally jumped by 60% from 2019 to 2024, recalls the SMA. “This should be great news, but it leads us to return even more money to the general state budget,” fumes the leader.
This is because part of this dynamic escapes funding from the sector. With a levy of 3.5% on each performance ticket, between 72 and 74 million euros in tax on ticketing are expected by the end of 2026, according to estimates shared by the sector. But since its creation, this tax has been capped by the State: above a certain threshold, the surplus is automatically captured by Bercy, or around six million in 2024 and almost double in 2025.
A tax on ticketing with perverse effects
This year again, projections predict that the ceiling, established at 58 million euros, will be exceeded by around 14 million euros, including four million coming from the Celine Dion concert series alone.
As the finance bill, expected in Parliament at the beginning of October, approaches, the industry is united in demanding the abolition of this cap. “Nothing justifies the music industry contributing more than other economic sectors to the balance of public finances,” said the Tous pour la musique association, which brings together music professionals in France. The current situation "diverts part of this tool of professional solidarity from its initial vocation", recalls Malika Seguineau, general director of Ekhoscenes, an organization bringing together producers, broadcasters and festival organizers.
It is a system "which worked very well, with pooling to help the most vulnerable" in a sector where significant disparities reign, underlines Fabrice Roux, president of La Scène independente, another private performing arts union. “If the money was not captured by Bercy, it could go to the territories and allow festivals, after a scorching summer, to work on their adaptation to climate change,” says Aurélie Hannedouche of the SMA, some of whose members are in danger.
The professionals interviewed by AFP also regret another effect. Perceived by the National Music Center (CNM), the tax is redistributive: a 60% share goes to the producer of the concert - the giant AEG in the case of Céline Dion - to encourage risk-taking, by launching less developed artists for example. The remaining 40% provides so-called selective aid, to support the emergence of tomorrow's stars, musical diversity, export and even the modernization of the sector.
“Weakened” small players, “the bigger ones will always get by”
However, the more ticketing revenues increase, the more the share that the CNM, a public establishment, must pay back to producers also increases, even if part of the tax escapes it. Consequently, the envelope dedicated to aid to the sector risks shrinking. Without change, "we can imagine that the point where the CNM could no longer pay any selective aid is reached", warns a Senate report, published in July. “By doing this, we are killing emergence, we are going to weaken many players... The biggest ones will always come out on top,” observes Fabrice Roux, convinced that without a redistributive system, “it is the sector which will collapse”.
For the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, this framework is justified so that "the resources of the CNM do not become greater than the identified needs", according to this parliamentary report for which representatives of Bercy were heard.
Music professionals brush aside this argument and dream of the same model as that of the National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC), whose allocated taxes - uncapped - finance the French "cultural exception".
