Upcoming Pan-European music licensing to level the field
The EU has really started throwing its weight around recently. Following the announcement that it will no longer be tolerating inflated SMS rates between member countries, nor stupidly high data charges for downloaded mobile content while abroad, it is now proud to proclaim that there will be an ‘across the board’ music licensing agreement; country-by-country music licensing has now been prohibited.
A recently passed European Commission antitrust decision will mean that music pricing should be fairer across all 24 membership countries, and furthermore, all 24 member countries will be able to gain access to said music. According to certain retailers, apparently the country-by-country licensing was “limiting their ability to offer their services to authors and commercial users outside their domestic territory”.
“This decision will benefit cultural diversity by encouraging collecting societies to offer composers and lyricists a better deal in terms of collecting the money to which they are entitled, ” EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. “It will also facilitate the development of satellite, cable and internet broadcasting, giving listeners more choice and giving authors more potential revenue. However, the Commission has been careful to ensure that the benefits of the collective rights management system are not put into question in terms of levels of royalties for authors and available music repertoire.”
It is quite possible that that same ruling will one day apply to the movie industry, whereby there will become European-wide availability of downloadable movie content at the same competitive pricing rates for all European member countries.
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