3 November 2008

CELAS – effective licensing for pan-European music services

CELAS GmbH, the organisation licensing EMI Music Publishing’s Anglo-American repertoire is reporting progress in the licensing of rights for digital and mobile exploitation across Europe.

Among the services to have agreed pan-European licenses with CELAS are 7Digital, iTunes, Nokia, Real and Omnifone.

Joint Managing Directors of CELAS, Nick Williamson and Alexander Wolf, said: ‘This new approach of licensing provides benefits for both rights owners and licensees, not least increased transparency and efficiency, although it inevitably involves a period of transition.’

‘CELAS was the first organisation of its kind to offer licences for cross border music services for online and mobile applications. Our focus, as ever, is to provide effective pan-European repertoire-based licensing for digital and online services across Europe and work with licensees to overcome the challenges and complexities involved.
 
‘The deals we’ve concluded so far this year show how we are working with music service providers to deliver exciting pan-European consumer music propositions within the European Commission’s framework for cross-border licensing. We will continue to work with music services to provide effective and efficient licensing solutions for both established and newer business models.’

Further announcements are expected over the next few months.

- Ends -

PRESS CONTACT:

CELAS
020 7306 4666
press@celas.eu

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

CELAS- The company set up to represent EMI Music Publishing’s Anglo-American repertoire for online and mobile exploitation in Europe. It is jointly owned by two of Europe’s leading music collective rights managers, the MCPS-PRS Alliance and GEMA. CELAS operates on the principles set out by the European Commission in its Recommendation on the future of online licensing in Europe. www.celas.eu

The MCPS-PRS Alliance- MCPS and PRS are the not-for-profit UK collecting societies that ensure composers, songwriters and publishers are paid royalties when their music is used: from live performance to TV and radio, CDs to DVDs, downloads, streams and everything in between. Royalties create a future for music by supporting creators while they continue to write. MCPS and PRS are committed to delivering maximum royalties and world-class service. They work together in an operational alliance to get the best value for the music use of composers and songwriters everywhere. www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk

GEMA- In Germany, GEMA is a non-profit organization that represents the copyrights of more than 60,000 members (composers, lyricists and music publishers) as well as of over 1 million rights owners from all corners of the world. It is one of the largest authors’ societies in the world for works of music. www.gema.de