Digital music providers welcomed today’s EC decision to end Europe’s country-by-country royalties collection system, a move that will make it easier for them to license songs for online use. 7Digital marketing manager Peter Davias told paidContent:UK the decision is “a blessing for us”, paving the way for more legal downloads since online retailers will be able to more quickly license music for sale.

At present, composers register to have their royalties collected by a society in their home nation, each of which around Europe operates an agreement not to collect fees in each other’s patch. Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes ruled this anticompetitive and ordered them to scrap the agreement within 90 days, as well as their membership clause that locks composers in to the collector in their home nation. It will offer composers and lyricists “a better deal” and will ”facilitate the development of satellite, cable and internet broadcasting, giving listeners more choice and giving authors more potential revenue”, Kroes said...more on PCUK here.