BUMA/STEMRA ISSUES BEATPORT.COM A PAN-EUROPEAN LICENSE

Beatport.com has signed a licence agreement for author’s rights with Buma/Stemra covering all of the world’s music repertoire. The license applies throughout the entire European Union. Buma/Stemra in The Netherlands is the only music copyright organisation so far to issue such a Pan-European licence. The licence model offered by Buma/Stemra provides online music service providers with a one-stop shop for authors’ rights for music for 27 European countries.

“Beatport has partnered with the world’s leading artists and record labels to bring their content to a growing online community of DJs and enthusiasts who are looking to legally purchase electronic music in premium encoded, non-DRM formats,” says Jonas Tempel, CEO of Beatport.

The company has taken a proactive decision to adjust its business practices to meet the requirements of rapidly changing copyright administration across Europe. From its inception, the Denver, USA-based Beatport has accounted and paid all publishing royalties to its label partners as required under US laws. However, Beatport's European label partners reported difficulties in effectively disbursing this publishing income to the relevant rights owners. In order to address and resolve this problem Beatport has over the last 18 months thoroughly explored all possible solutions to cause the publishing income from sales in Europe to be paid more efficiently to the relevant rights owners. After extensive research and discussions, Beatport has teamed with the Dutch society Buma/Stemra to create the perfect partnership for this transition.

“Not only is the Netherlands home for some of electronic music’s greatest producers and DJs,” said Jonas Tempel, “but now, Buma/Stemra has matched that spirit of innovation by currently being the only European music copyright organisation to provide a Pan-European licence that covers all of the world’s music repertoire, greatly simplifying the process of paying royalties.”

This licensing model allows Beatport to efficiently take care of the music copyright payments for all of Europe in a single transaction. Jonas Tempel went on to say, “In addition, I am impressed with the quality of Buma/Stemra’s services, and the organisation is making serious investments in innovation as well as blazing the trail in the development of new online licensing models in the midst of a rapidly changing market.”

This is not the first time that Buma/Stemra has issued such a Pan-European licence. The American online music store eMusic has also concluded a similar agreement with Buma/Stemra, allowing it to launch its online music subscription model in 27 European countries in a single transaction.

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