Since the inception of the internet, the music industry has been playing catch up with file pirates across the world. The ability to download any file at the click of the mouse has the music industry trying to make up for billions of dollars of lost revenue. European antitrust regulators are currently attempting to change current licenses which prevent online music stores such as iTunes from offering the same songs for sale across Europe. With cd sales down and online music store downloads far behind that of the United States, online music stores in Europe are prevented from setting up a single online entity for music sales across Europe.
The problem lies with the way licenses are set up in Europe. Music licenses are sold seperately for each country in Europe, so online stores such as iTunes are forced to purchase licenses from each European member state in which it wishes to sell music and set up a seperate online store for the licenses purchased in that country. This sets up a huge barrier for musicians in Europe wishing to utilize online music stores to market their music.
The way musicians make their money is to register their music with a collective rights manager. These managers then take the licensed song and sell them to radio stations, online stores, clubs and other outlets. As of last July, collecting socities - publishers and music copyright groups - in Europe had a system of contracts which only allowed artists to be able to collect revenue from an agency based in their own country. Some artists believe that altering the current licencing on their music will leave them missing out on income generated from an increase of music sales. The benefits of music consumption through the internet for the mass audience is endless. As opposed to just a few years ago, local bands can now market and sell their music to a worldwide audience, finding sudden success online much easier.
Although the music industry has tried to shut down online pirating of music, hackers have always stayed one step ahead. Making music more available to the mass audiences, such as the case with Europe, will not end the plundering of files by online pirates. What it does do is allow for the creative dissemination of music to the world - albeit at a price - allowing for anyone with a little creative spirit to make a little money by spreading their music to the world.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iWr1JKP9Sr8BdvJZzN3QwTx5fYjgD98DSOA81
Picture: http://www.engadget.com/tag/music+store/
-Kris
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