Simplifying European Music Issues
The European Commission has ordered 24 music societies across Europe (the European versions of ASCAP/BMI) to revise their agreements that bar music services from selling or broadcasting music across borders. The groups have 120 days to make the changes, although the EU does not currently plan to impose fines for noncompliance. The two clauses that the EU has struck down are a membership requirement that prevents music authors from moving to another collection society, and territorial restrictions that prevent a collecting society from offering licenses to commercial users outside of their domestic territories. Under the current system, music stores must establish individual storefronts for each individual country due to licensing restrictions, a policy that recently brought music services under fire from the EU due to country-specific song pricing and the lack of EU-wide offerings.
The licensing societies are, needless to say, not happy with the EU's decision.
