geo-blocking

The politics of the Digital Single Market: culture vs. competition vs. copyright external link

Schroff, S. & Street, J.

Information, Communication & Society, 2017

Abstract

This paper examines the implications for European music culture of the European Union’s (EU) Digital Single Market strategy. It focuses on the regulatory framework being created for the management of copyright policy, and in particular the role played by collective management organisations (CMOs or collecting societies). One of the many new opportunities created by digitalisation has been the music streaming services. These depend on consumers being able to access music wherever they are, but such a system runs counter to the management of rights on a national basis and through collecting organisations which act as monopolies within their own territories. The result has been ‘geo-blocking’. The EU has attempted to resolve this problem in a variety of ways, most recently in a Directive designed to reform the CMOs. In this paper, we document these various efforts, showing them to be motivated by a deep-seated and persisting belief in the capacity of ‘competition’ to resolve problems that, we argue, actually lie elsewhere – in copyright policy itself. The result is that the EU’s intervention fails to address its core concern and threatens the diversity of European music culture by rewarding those who are already commercially successful.

Links

collective management organisations, copyright policy, Digital Single Market, frontpage, geo-blocking, music industry

Bibtex

Article{Schroff2017,
	title = {The politics of the Digital Single Market: culture vs. competition vs. copyright},
	author = {Schroff, S. and Street, J.},
	url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1309445},
	doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1309445},
	year = {0404},
	date = {2017-04-04},
	journal = {Information, Communication & Society},
	abstract = {This paper examines the implications for European music culture of the European Union’s (EU) Digital Single Market strategy. It focuses on the regulatory framework being created for the management of copyright policy, and in particular the role played by collective management organisations (CMOs or collecting societies). One of the many new opportunities created by digitalisation has been the music streaming services. These depend on consumers being able to access music wherever they are, but such a system runs counter to the management of rights on a national basis and through collecting organisations which act as monopolies within their own territories. The result has been ‘geo-blocking’. The EU has attempted to resolve this problem in a variety of ways, most recently in a Directive designed to reform the CMOs. In this paper, we document these various efforts, showing them to be motivated by a deep-seated and persisting belief in the capacity of ‘competition’ to resolve problems that, we argue, actually lie elsewhere – in copyright policy itself. The result is that the EU’s intervention fails to address its core concern and threatens the diversity of European music culture by rewarding those who are already commercially successful.},
	keywords = {collective management organisations, copyright policy, Digital Single Market, frontpage, geo-blocking, music industry},
}

Individual Licensing Models and Consumer Protection external link

Guibault, L.

2016

Abstract

Copyright law is not primarily directed at consumers. Their interests are therefore only marginally accounted for, as the copyright rules exempt specific uses of works from the right holder’s control. This chapter examines the impact of digital technology on the position of consumers of licensed copyrighted content. While ownership of the physical embodiment of a work does not entail the ownership of the rights in the work, how does copyright law deal with ‘disembodied’ works? Whereas digital content is now commonly distributed on the basis of individual licensing schemes, what does it mean for consumers? Do they have a claim under consumer protection law against copyright owners for the impossibility to make a copy for private purposes, the lack of interoperability between devices, and the geo-blocking of their account?

Bibtex

Other{nokey,
	title = {Individual Licensing Models and Consumer Protection},
	author = {Guibault, L.},
	url = {http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2713765},
	year = {2016},
	date = {2016-02-05},
	abstract = {Copyright law is not primarily directed at consumers. Their interests are therefore only marginally accounted for, as the copyright rules exempt specific uses of works from the right holder’s control. This chapter examines the impact of digital technology on the position of consumers of licensed copyrighted content. While ownership of the physical embodiment of a work does not entail the ownership of the rights in the work, how does copyright law deal with ‘disembodied’ works? Whereas digital content is now commonly distributed on the basis of individual licensing schemes, what does it mean for consumers? Do they have a claim under consumer protection law against copyright owners for the impossibility to make a copy for private purposes, the lack of interoperability between devices, and the geo-blocking of their account?},
	keywords = {Auteursrecht, Consumer law, consumer protection, Copyright, digital content, geo-blocking, Intellectuele eigendom, interoperability, private copying},
}