p2pnet - rss feed: New EU online music rights
p2p news / p2pnet:- The European Commission today recommended eliminating territorial restrictions and customer allocation provisions in music licensing contracts: copyright holders who don’t want the contracts should be free to use EU-wide direct licensing.
“Improvements are necessary because new Internet-based services such as webcasting or on on-demand music downloads need a license that covers their activities throughout the EU,” it says.
“The absence of EU-wide copyright licenses has been one factor that has made it difficult for new Internet-based music services to develop their full potential.”
European internal market chief Charlie McCreevy says the EU wants to, “foster a climate where EU-wide licenses are more readily available for legitimate online music service providers” to make it easier for new European-based online services to take off.
“I believe that this recommendation strikes the right balance between ease of licensing and maintaining the value of copyright protected works so that content is not available on the cheap. In the interests of better regulation, for the time being and as a first step, I am making a recommendation as to how the market should develop,” he says.
But, McCreevy warns, “I will be monitoring the situation closely and, if I am not satisfied that sufficient progress is being made, I will take tougher action.”
The recommendation also includes provisions on governance, transparency, dispute settlement and accountability of collective rights managers, “which should introduce a culture of transparency and good governance enabling all relevant stakeholders to make an informed decision as to the licensing model best suited to their needs,” says a statement.
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See:-
European Commission - Music copyright: Commission recommendation on management of online rights in musical works, October 12, 2005
October 13th, 2005 at 12:22 pm
“The recommendation also includes provisions on governance, transparency, dispute settlement and accountability of collective rights managers, “which should introduce a culture of transparency and good governance enabling all relevant stakeholders to make an informed decision as to the licensing model best suited to their needs,” says a statement.”
Why do they not come out and say it: The so called collective societies, also called performance societies and also called composer societies (which they are not, since they are publisher controlled) are nothing but a racket that extort protection money from the users of music. Hardly any of the money, after going through a weird distribution process, reaches the composers and the artists.