Press release: Demystifying Pan-European digital-music rights

New research from Informa Telecoms & Media has mapped out the complex area of Pan-European digital-music rights and their administration. The report, “Demystifying Pan-European digital-music rights” neatly illustrates what repertoire is controlled by what collection society or licensing hub in all of the 27 European Union Member States.

The number of digital-music services in Europe is growing every year and consumers across the continent are being presented with an array of different ways to listen to music. Digital-music delivery and consumption has undergone a rapid transition. However, such has been the speed of the sector’s evolution, new business models specializing in digital-music delivery across Europe have forced those organizations charged with issuing licenses to rethink the way they operate.

“Pan-European digital-music licensing is a complex business and there remains no consensus between music publishers and collection societies on how best to move forward” said Simon Dyson, author of the report and editor of the Informa Telecoms & Media publication Music & Copyright. “But, the publishers and collection societies have made big strides in streamlining the licensing process in Europe and so there’s never been a better time to map out where all the publishers’ repertoire sits and where a service should go to get hold of that repertoire” he added.

Music publishers and collection societies in Europe have taken to the task in different ways. But, in contrast to a few years ago, when digital-music services were required to negotiate countless licensing deals, agreements between music publishers and collection societies have reduced the necessity for endless rounds of licensing negotiations.

The report explains precisely what the digital music licensing process is all about. It details the changing landscape in Pan-European digital-music licensing and the importance of reaggregation. In addition, the report breaks down what authors and publishers earn from digital sales and illustrates clearly what collection societies and licensing hubs a service provider must do business with to set up a digital-music service.

The report sets out three types of repertoire – domestic, Anglo-American and Spanish/Latin. Separate pages for each country list the publishers that have withdrawn certain repertoire from the national collection-society network and placed the licensing rights in the hands of one or a number of different national collection societies of licensing bodies. Courtesy of the global authors’ societies body CISAC, the report also contains contact details for all 27 EU Member States’ authors’ societies.

For more information, please visit our website: www.informatandm.com/digitalmusicrights.

About Music & Copyright
Music & Copyright is a fortnightly research service covering global copyright and legal issues affecting the music industry. Written by experts that have been involved in the music industry for 20 years, it delivers accurate analysis of music industry news and views, independently determined market share figures not available from any other source and a wide range of data and statistics. Subscribers also receive 23 country reports packed full of the latest music industry data.