Rights Clearance for Online Music

A scientific study commissioned by ISPA - Internet Service Providers Austria. The study aims at identifying the main obstacles to an efficient rights management for online music and presents alternatives with the potential to considerably improve the situation. In a first step (Part A), the legal situation of copyright and the legal framework for online businesses is evaluated in selected European countries: Austria, Germany, France, Poland, UK. Based on the country reports and against the background of the European legal framework different levels of fragmentation can be identified as the main obstacles for an efficient rights management in the online music sector: lack of transparency in rights management and lack of ownership data, high costs of negotiations and licensing as well as legal uncertainties and different legal rules in different member states. Part B is dedicated to discussing different options for solutions: installation of databases and standardisation; alternatives for reducing the fragmentation of rights on different levels (one-stop-shops, multi-territorial hubs, “European passport” implemented in the Directive 2014/26/EU on collective management of copyrights and multiterritorial licensing); dual licensing allowing for commercial exploitation and in parallel non-commercial use. Conclusions and recommendations with respect to the most appropriate business models as well as the need to change the regulatory framework are presented in Part C. Thus the reader will get a profound insight into the complex situation of music copyright and the intricate patterns of rights clearance in the field of online music on a multi-territorial scale.