European Commission director Jacqueline Minor announced at a conference in London on Friday that those EC proposals on integrating copyright that we have been expecting should be published this week. The proposals will set out a model for online music distribution, although it will leave the implementation of the model to the local collection societies, rather than forcing it on the copyright owners.
As previously reported, the EC has been looking into the inconsistencies in digital copyright systems across Europe after the bosses of major download platforms like iTunes and Napster said the use of different systems in different countries made it difficult and costly for them to develop their European businesses. In her speech Minor agreed with the download platform owners, saying that the EC's new proposals were: "Based on the premise that territory-by-territory management of copyright clearance is too cumbersome and too costly. It is not efficient for content users and it does not serve the interests of right-holders who want their content disseminated as widely as possible. In a territory-by-territory model, the weakest link in the chain will hold up the quick and effective roll-out of their latest creative content."
The major collection societies do agree in principle with the need for a more unified approach across Europe, although they don't appreciate being dictated to regarding what that unified approach should be, which is why the EC has allowed for local integration of their proposals. That, however, has disappointed the European Digital Media Association, an industry group whose members include Apple, Amazon, RealNetworks and others, who argue the EC has given the collection bodies too much room to ignore their proposals. The Association's Wes Himes told reporters: "We felt that there should be a competitive mechanism by which pan-European companies can obtain pan-European licenses for online exploitation. This doesn't achieve this. It only exerts a small pressure on member states to do so."