Significant moves are already being made towards simplifying pan-European licensing, such as the development of a Global Repertoire Database and licensing hubs - the latter representing not only the Anglo American repertoire of the major publishers but, in Armonia for example, the French, Spanish, Latin American, Italian and Universal Music Publishing repertoires. There will undoubtedly be more developments of this nature. Ultimately I expect to see a limited number of licensing hubs for publishing rights, effectively mirroring the way in which recording rights are licensed. This process could be facilitated by legislation from the European Commission, ultimately producing a voluntary, market based licensing regime capable of responding with far greater speed and flexibility to market changes than the statutory licensing regime in the United States - the deficiencies of which recently provoked EMI to withdraw some of its Online performing rights from ASCAP, while leading the NMPA to call for fundamental reform. While there is yet progress to be made, the last thing innovative digital service providers need is to import the US system into Europe.
Significant moves are already being made towards simplifying pan-European licensing, such as the development of a Global Repertoire Database and licensing hubs - the latter representing not only the Anglo American repertoire of the major publishers but, in Armonia for example, the French, Spanish, Latin American, Italian and Universal Music Publishing repertoires. There will undoubtedly be more developments of this nature. Ultimately I expect to see a limited number of licensing hubs for publishing rights, effectively mirroring the way in which recording rights are licensed. This process could be facilitated by legislation from the European Commission, ultimately producing a voluntary, market based licensing regime capable of responding with far greater speed and flexibility to market changes than the statutory licensing regime in the United States - the deficiencies of which recently provoked EMI to withdraw some of its Online performing rights from ASCAP, while leading the NMPA to call for fundamental reform. While there is yet progress to be made, the last thing innovative digital service providers need is to import the US system into Europe.