Apple to pioneer pan-EU music licensing?

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 11:05am — Seth Weintraub

According to Distorted Loop, Apple is seeking a pan-EU deal for licensing and distributing music through the iTunes Music Store. Rather than deal with each country individually, Apple is seeking to create one iTunes Zone for all of the countries within the EU.

The news is revealed within a series of documents published by the European Union today, following last year’s historic European meeting on pan-European music licensing rights. European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes has welcomed progress made towards pan-European music licensing following discussions in the Online Commerce Roundtable.

This will obviously simplify the distribution model for media delivery among the nations of the EU and allow the economics of scale to deliver more value to EU consumers while saving Apple distribution costs. It will also open new markets for distribution of iTunes content.

At the September Roundtable, all participants recognised the potential for Europe-wide music licensing in the online environment, and that this was hindered by rights generally being territorial and usually licensed for certain territories only.

Currently, it’s impossible for consumers in some countries, such as Poland, Bulgaria and Slovenia, to buy digital music from any iTunes store in Europe.

Comments

And what about...

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 11:20am — Beto (not verified)

And what about a worldwide iTunes Store? That will be a clear approach.

I know, I know, the damned copyright laws are very different from country to country, but that just a dream...

This particular case is made

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 11:34am — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

This particular case is made easier by having the legal framework of the EU forcing it - it's a single market and illegal to discriminate further by country of origin. Apple got into trouble some time ago for this, and although they had to normalise prices across the EU they were allowed to keep separate stores due to the licensing issue.

Once the licensing is sorted out then a single apple store follows logically.

Damn, Steve is slim in that

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 11:25am — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

Damn, Steve is slim in that pic.

Now, if they only would do the same...

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 11:51am — imat (not verified)

FOR VIDEO CONTENT.

That could be interesting!

Also no music store in

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 12:03pm — dzhiurgis (not verified)

Also no music store in Lithuania, Latvia.

Finally?!!!! A new hope for

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 12:17pm — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

Finally?!!!! A new hope for iTunes MUSIC in Slovakia!!!!!

steve in pic

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 12:28pm — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

this is actually an old picture from 2008...

It would be nice if that mean

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 12:33pm — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

It would be nice if that mean that we will get film in Denmark

Also can they do it so they sell from one contry (if you have paid VAT in one EU land, yu don't have to pay it in another land.
So you can get around the 25% VAT that we have in Denmark

pan eu

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 12:42pm — Hansköbi

thanks for always writing pan-EU. There's a difference between pan european (48 nations(more or less)) and pan EU (27 nations). Other pages didn't seem to get the difference....

Whats with the scary guy in the back ground???

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 1:17pm — Joe (not verified)

he looks like he wants to eat Steve for lunch or something, lol

Would this mean?

Tue, 05/26/2009 - 2:58pm — KiDo (not verified)

Would this count for movies as well? and if so, would that mean that movies will be available in countries where it is not right now in europe? such as the netherlands?

Prices?

Wed, 05/27/2009 - 1:00am — Free iPhone (not verified)

Surely this would have implications on prices?
Music in some countries is cheaper than in others so there would be one price for the whole of Europe and that doesn't seem right?
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