"But enough of all those tour dates", I hear you say, "what about the ongoing concerns within the European Commission that the royalty collecting societies of Europe are operating in an anti-competitive way? That's what I want to know about". Well, fear not, here's an update. The EC has announced that it plans to consult the wider music industry regarding proposals by the royalty collecting society sector regarding those very concerns.
As previously reported, the EC issued a Statement Of Objections to the way royalty collecting societies in Europe operate last year, claiming that the various national collecting societies operated a cartel system, essentially giving each society a monopoly in its own territory, and therefore restricting the rights of company's looking to licence music to shop around the European Community, and to secure pan-European or multi-territory deals.
Although denying the allegations of cartel and defacto monopoly, the International Confederation Of Societies Of Authors And Composers (CISAC), which represents the collecting society sector, has pledged to provide a multi-territory licensing framework for musical performing rights.
It is CISAC's proposals that the EC now hopes to discuss with other players in the music industry and music media before reaching a conclusion as to whether or not the collecting societies are still operating in an anti-competitive manner. The collecting societies will hope that the consultation exercise persuades competition officials that they are trading fairly, although the EC stresses that just because they are launching a consultation exercise does not mean officials are themselves necessarily convinced CISAC has gone far enough in its proposals, with a spokesman telling reporters: "These commitments could resolve the problem as they ensure more competition between societies for licenses. The commitments are at least worth testing. But it is not because we are testing them that they are OK".
The CISAC pledges, which have been signed up to by 18 European collecting societies, include three main areas of change, including more multi-territorial licencing, an end to the exclusivity clause from model contracts and a system whereby creators and publishers can move more freely between societies.