Now this is interesting. Those MCPS-PRS bods have disputed claims made by independent download platform eMusic regarding the way it intends to pay royalties generated by its new pan-European download platform.
On launching its European service last week, eMusic announced it had forged an alliance with Dutch collecting society Buma-Stemra which will allow it to operate on a Europe-wide basis. eMusic says it will report to and pay royalties via the Dutch organisation which will then liaise with other European royalty bodies via "reciprocal agreements already in place among those organisations".
Such a system would overcome bureaucratic problems experienced by many other digital music companies whose European growth has often been hindered by the need to deal with so many different royalty bodies in different territories. It would also please European Commission officials who have been pushing for such collaboration between collection organisations.
However, MCPS-PRS, as the UK's main publishing royalty collection society, said on Friday that such a pan-European system was not currently possible, because they have not, as yet, agreed to it. In a statement, the organisation told reporters: "The MCPS-PRS Alliance has made it clear to eMusic and to Dutch collecting society Buma-Stemra that it (Buma-Stemra) is not able to grant such a pan-European licence since it does not have the MCPS or PRS rights to do so".
MCPS-PRS's General Counsel, Crispin Evans, also stressed his organisation's position regarding the Burm-Stemra licence, although added that they still recognised the value of eMusic's proposition and would continue to work with them to reach agreement. He told reporters: "The eMusic European launch took place on 12 September 2006, reportedly with a pan-European licence from Buma-Sterma, which we do not recognise. MCPS and PRS continue to work with eMusic to resolve this issue. This service looks like an exciting possibility for exploitation of our members' work - it just needs to be licensed properly."