Jack Lang is concerned about the purchase of La Défense Arena by Live Nation

Announced Tuesday January 6 in Le Figaro, the acquisition of Paris la Défense Arena, the largest venue in Europe for concerts and sports, by Live Nation is of great concern to French producers. Jack Lang is revolted. In a column titled “Stop cultural imperialism!”the former Minister of Culture, now president of the Arab World Institute denounces “this takeover by the powerful American multinational Live Nation, already owner of festivals and producer of the best-selling artists” as “a new cultural aggression.”

And to explain: “the concentration of culture for the benefit of these great mammoths will contribute to killing pluralism and destroying the French cultural exception. This takeover endangers the thousand and one music festivals, as many places where young talents flourish, which will be driven out. It will stifle independent actors a little more.” For him, “faced with such a threat, the State must once again become a protective and regulatory State. It must safeguard the cultural exception.”

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While the Competition authorities have yet to give their opinion on this takeover, Jack Lang “urges the authorities of the Republic to act quickly and strongly. As we commemorate the death of President François Mitterrand, must I recall that from the first days of his presidency, we fought against the commodification of culture, first and foremost through the law on book prices.” And to wonder: “Do we want to throw away our cultural heritage from the 80s and our cultural exception that the whole world envies us?”