Neelie Kroes

Online Music Industry to Develop EU-Wide Licensing Scheme

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 21, 2009 - 9:22am.

Brussels - The EU's Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, on Wednesday announced a partnership between European royalty collection societies, major labels and online music retailers including Apple (NASD: AAPL) and Amazon (NASD: AMZN), to develop an EU-wide licensing scheme for music. Currently, rights for music and other copyrighted works must be negotiated separately for each individual country, with that particular country's collection society.

EU Moves Closer to Pan-European Online Music Licensing

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 27, 2009 - 11:11am.

Brussels - Europe took another step towards a pan-European license for online music stores yesterday, when French royalty collection society SACEM told the European Commision it would drop territorial restrictions that prevent other European collecting societies from selling its artists' repertoire. Currently, a byzantine licensing system prevents digital music retailers like Apple from operating a single European iTunes Store; instead, separate agreements must be obtained from collecting societies in various countries, and customers must use the store in their home countries.

EU Approves Tax Break for French Video Game Developers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2007 - 9:42am.

Brussels - The European Commission said on Wednesday that France may offer a tax break to video game developers in the country creating titles with cultural content, the Associated Press reports.