Robin Gibb, in his role as President of CISAC, the global body for publishing collecting societies, has hit out at the European Commission for their continued interference in the way said collecting societies work or, more to the point, how they work together.
As previously reported, the EC has expressed concerns that European collecting societies enjoy virtual monopolies in their home countries, and has previously accused the societies of running a cartel across the continent that hinders competition and makes it difficult for digital music providers to gain pan-European licences. As a result, directives have been issued to combat cartel behaviour, and to encourage the creation of more pan-European services - and in response some collecting societies and music publishers have collaborated to offer such multi-territory licences.
But speaking at Popkomm yesterday, Gibb argued that the EC were actually making matters worse. By introducing measures to deal with the concerns that the collecting societies were operating a cartel, he argues, the EC have made it difficult for multiple numbers of societies to collaborate on the kind of multi-territory licences digital providers want.
According to Music Week, Gibb accused EC interference of making "international trade in music licensing even more difficult than before" and of essentially "blocking the licensing of new digital services". He concluded that European regulators had "destroyed the current system for multi-territorial licences and have forbidden the societies to discuss any new way forward".