PC Pro reports this afternoon that the European Commission is pushing forward with a provision that would provide EU-wide licensing of copyrights for digital music. At present, copyrights continue to be handled by individual member countries, each of whose laws has its own set of nuances. Previous measures to adopt EU-wide copyright measures have failed, partly because some countries are not yet willing to give up what may be a prospective revenue source for them, with the emergence of iTunes.

The changes are necessary with the advent of legal music downloads services such as iTunes. Traditionally, music rights are negotiated on a per country basis. However, download services on the Internet have opened a can of worms whereby people can download from anywhere in the world. As part of the move towards a single market, the European Commission has recommended what it hopes will lead towards a single licence and drive the creation of better services.

(PC Pro UK)