In response to a new streaming tax introduced in France, Spotify have announced they will be raising subscription costs.

At the end of 2023, France proposed a new tax to fund their Centre National de la Musique (CNM). The body was created to support the music industry in France, but streaming services have decried the new tax as the “worst possible outcome“.

Significant streamers in the country like Spotify and Deezer spoke out against the proposal, with Spotify considering passing the cost on to customers at the time. They have now confirmed that they will be increasing the price of Spotify subscriptions in France, in response to the tax.

Spotify wrote: “Spotify Premium subscribers in France will soon experience a price increase due to additional costs on music streaming services imposed by the government, as part of the “CNM Tax”.

Spotify hit out at the new tax, citing concerns that the extra revenue stream won’t reach artists themselves. They state: “This tax will generate approximately 15 million euros, when the CNM’s administrative budget (office fees, personnel, capital expenditure, media monitoring or professional training etc.) sits at 20.2 million euros. Our concern is that possibly less than half of its overall 146.9 million euros budget will find its way toward effectively aiding music.”

In response, Spotify have claimed that their subscribers in France will now pay “the highest subscriptions across the European Union”. They haven’t announced the exact cost of the price increases yet but say that they will reveal the full details of their price increases over the coming weeks.

Spotify cite their reasoning: “With the creation of this new tax, Spotify would be required to give approximately two-thirds of every euro it generates to music to rights holders [sic] and the French government.” Adding: “Of course, this is a massive amount and does not allow for a sustainable business.”

Last year, Uruguay announced changed to copyright law that Spotify similarly felt might require them to pay more to rightsholders. In response, Spotify said that they would simply be ending their service in the country. Thankfully for music lovers in Uruguay, the government clarified that the new laws would require the extra revenue to artists to come from the money paid to rightsholders by Spotify and Spotify remained.

France is clearly too big a market for Spotify to boycott. So instead, French music listeners will be facing increased fees on their unlimited music streams.