A report from the Court of Auditors points to the creation aid received by certain celebrities, which sometimes amounts to several hundred thousand euros, while this aid should normally help young artists who are starting out or in need. This report first revealed by Le Canard Enchaîné and taken up today in an article in the JDD, and the sums are dizzying.
This money comes from taxes, paid by users (up to €14 with each purchase of a device with a hard disk) used to compensate for the copyrights “lost” by artists and record companies during copying music tracks from albums owned by the user to their new device.
This income thus makes it possible to remunerate the artists and their heirs, as well as the subsidy of new “cultural actions”.
In 2021, the five highest aid amounts were awarded to stars:
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Florent Pagny (271,000 euros),
Les Enfoirés (189,863 euros),
Juliette Armanet (154,000 euros),
Bernard Lavilliers (120,000 euros)
Benjamin Biolay (119,000 euros)
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Yet deceased in 2017, Johnny Hallyday was one of the beneficiaries of creation aid between 2019 and 2022, collecting 333,890 euros.
If this distribution is not illegal, the Court of Auditors denounces a loss of meaning in aid for creation. “Spending on artistic creation is intended to promote musical diversity, new talent and innovative projects,” recalls the Court of Auditors.
However, today, a few big producers and artists benefit from “a substantial part of the aid” and a large number of young artists and small labels only collect crumbs.
The experts “wonder about the usefulness of significant aid granted to projects carried out by established artists and whose economic balance does not seem to require any particular support”.
