New European licensing regulations have been enacted

Yesterday was the deadline for EU member states to implement the Collective Rights Management Directive which was passed in February 2014, meaning it is now in effect across the union.

The ruling is aimed at improving intellectual property licensing, imposing new regulations on “collective management organisations” or CMOs, which are companies such as PRS that collect fees and royalties for rights holders.

These new procedures will ensure artists receive payment within nine months of the end of each financial year, give creators a choice of which CMO to work with, and streamline the issues with music streaming services.

All CMOs are now obliged to publish detailed reports about their financial performance and membership specifications. Those with licenses to operate across multiple territories must prove they have the means to properly conduct business such as invoicing clients, obtaining fees and disbursing revenues.

Licensing deals and the operation of CMOs have long been complicated and hard to fully comprehend for creators. This new directive should make the dealings more transparent, opening CMOs up to greater scrutiny and in turn increasing competition between the organisations to improve artists’ options.

[Via: RA]

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Twitter