EU tar upp insamlingsorganisationernas roll i digital musikförsäljning

Postat: 2004-11-17 kl. 22.34

By extending national boundaries into the online world, the collecting societies are preventing retailers from taking advantage of the single European market, said Ms. Cronin of the European Digital Media Association, whose members include Yahoo, Amazon, Fnac, Virgin and Apple.

The association will participate in the hearing on Tuesday in Brussels. Members want collecting societies to delete the insistence in the Santiago agreement that online retailers buy music rights only from their local society.

(New York Times: Europe to Consider Complaints About Online Music Royalties)

Diskussionen går ut på att eftersom avtalet ser ut som det gör kan inte bolagen som vill sälja musik leta efter den billigaste säljaren, inom EU, vilket strider mot den öppna marknadens principer.

Idag måste försäljningen gå via insamlingsorganisationer i respektive land, i Sverige är det STIM och SAMI.

Redan i maj i år varnade EU kommissionen organisationerna.

The European Commission has warned sixteen organisations that collect royalties on behalf of music authors that their so-called Santiago agreement is potentially in breach of European Union competition rules. This is because the cross-licensing arrangements that the collecting societies have between themselves lead to an effective lock up of national territories, transposing into the Internet the national monopolies the societies have traditionally held in the offline world.

(EUROPA: Commission opens proceedings into collective licensing of music copyrights for online use)

... / the Santiago Agreement insists that companies wishing to purchase music rights do so from a collecting society in their own country / ...

The Santiago Agreement, aimed at assuring the fair distribution of license fees to authors, composers and music publishers, covers webcasting, streaming, on-line music on demand, as well as music videos transmitted on-line.

(ElectricNews: EU probes music licensing system)

• European Digital Media Association (uselt uppdaterad, varför har de ens en sajt - senaste nyheten från 2002)