Supposed to help young beginner artists, the creation aid system also grants large sums to experienced artists. In any case, this is what the Court of Auditors revealed, as reported Le Figaro Friday, August 4, 2023. Wishing to verify whether this financing mechanism best meets its objectives, the institution has discovered that several great stars of French song were among the main beneficiaries of the creation aid. This is particularly the case of Florent Pagny for example, but also of Benjamin Biolay, Bernard Lavilliers, or even Juliette Armanet. While he died on December 5, 2017, Johnny Hallyday is also one of the artists who benefited from this funding mechanism. Concretely, the late rocker received 333,890 euros in creative aid between 2019 and 2022. Since this money is in fact subsidies from the private copying levy, his widow, Laeticia Hallyday, will not be able to use it to repay the huge tax debt that her husband left behind after his death.
Johnny Hallyday: why can’t the money from creation aid be deducted from his tax debt?
In effect, the amount received by Johnny Hallyday is in fact only intended to be invested in musical production. “The remuneration for private copying allows, for example, to copy our favorite film on our box, to record our music or our favorite images on our smartphone, to read our books on our tablet. In return, the manufacturers (or importers) of these storage media pay remuneration for the authors, artists, publishers and producers of the works which are thus duplicated”, explained the association baptized Culture with Private Copying on his site. On his side, Florent Pagny, who will make his comeback on stageobtained 271,000 euros in creation aid in 2021. For his part, Bernard Lavilliers received the sum of 120,000 euros thanks to this financing mechanism. An amount similar to that of Benjamin Biolay, who was awarded 119,000 euros. Juliet Armanet received 154,000 euros in creative aid. For the record, the sums allocated to these artists, within the framework of this financing mechanism, are not illegal.