European agreement set to boost UK’s creative industries | WPN World People News

Online music services and the UK’s thriving creative sector will be able to trade more easily across Europe.

The Collective Rights Management Directive, agreed by the European Council, will simplify the licensing process, saving businesses time and money and making it easier for them to operate right across Europe.

The agreement is set to benefit a thriving UK industry which accounts for 1.6 million jobs and more than 5% of the UK economy.

Minister for Intellectual Property, Lord Younger said:

“The UK has a world class music sector which supports thousands of jobs across the country. The very fact that we are one of only two net exporters of music in Europe underlines its importance.

“This deal should be seen as a positive step taken by the European Commission and I welcome this agreement. By simplifying cross-border licenses we are making sure that we continue to do all we can to support this thriving industry.”

The UK welcomes the changes, which will mean the process for licensing music across the EU will be more efficient. This should help improve access to legitimate EU-wide online music services and will also introduce minimum standards of conduct for all EU collecting societies - the bodies that license copyright and collect royalties.

Currently an online music provider, wanting to set up a cross-border music service, has to obtain licences from multiple collecting societies in different member states. The changes introduced will make it possible to go to fewer, and in some cases a single collecting society, making licensing more efficient.

The new rules on creative rights management were agreed by EU industry ministers at a meeting in Brussels. The meeting, which was attended by UK Trade and Investment Minister Lord Livingston, also discussed what the EU needs to do to create an industry-friendly environment in Europe. The UK believes that more needs to be to reform the single market and cut EU red tape. EU leaders will discuss Europe’s industrial policy at a summit in Brussels at the end of March.

Suorce: UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills