Navigating The Fragmented Online Music Licensing Landscape In Europe A Legislative Compass In Sight?

Abstract

Online exploitation of musical works allows consumers in the European Union (EU) to enjoy tens of millions of musical works from a place and at a time of their choice. While the Title III of the EU Collective Rights Management (CRM) Directive contributed to re-shaping the EU multi-territorial online music licensing market, it did not adequately facilitate licensing for online use of musical works on a multi-territorial level in the EU. This article seeks to answer the question as to which legislative measures should be introduced to facilitate licensing practices and to lower transaction costs in order to enable market entry of new online music services in Europe. In order to answer this question, this article analyses relevant provisions of the Title III of the CRM Directive and problematic aspects of their application to different licensors. Furthermore, legislative and soft law documents on the EU level as well as cooperation initiatives among CMOs are evaluated in order to assess whether past initiatives can be considered by the EU legislator. Finding answers to these questions seems relevant in the light of possible re-evaluation of multi-territorial licensing practices on the legislative level in April 2021, as foreseen by the CRM Directive.