EU-wide Online Music Licensing On The Horizon

Yahoo: Apparently, there are talks of a European Union initiative currently in the works (due in early July) to foster EU-wide licensing of online music use and royalty collection in the 25 member states.  This is obviously a monumental task, but will foster more commerce in the long run because currently, "anyone who wants to open an online store for music has to run it country by country by approaching the royalty collector in each member state. This complexity can put people off launching new online services because of the bureaucratic maze they must navigate."

Basically, a one-stop shop to buy a single license valid across the entire EU is a brilliant idea and one that hopefully will come to fruition. "Doing nothing is not an option, according to the study, as more and more people are buying and playing music in a digital format that makes national boundaries irrelevant...But the management of royalties collection has remained essentially national and can discourage businesses from introducing new services."