On the way to a pan-European music market
The German Gema, the British PRS for Music and the Swedish Stim have signed agreements to establish the first fully integrated licensing and processing center for the pan-European music market.
According to Gema, the licensing and processing center established by the three collecting societies will enable simplified access to music rights for digital music services as well as faster and more accurate licensing and billing for music authors and publishers. Robert Ashcroft, Chief Executive of the English partner PRS for Music, will initially be responsible for setting up the licensing area of the joint venture.
The joint venture's offering is aimed at all pan-European digital music services wishing to acquire licensing rights, as well as publishers and collecting societies wishing to use either the entire service package including licensing or individual back-office services. The new licensing and processing center combines the repertoires of the three participating collecting societies and thus offers licensees the opportunity to acquire a single, multi-territory license.
