Press Release: Mergers: Commission opens in-depth investigation into a joint venture for online music licensing between collecting societies PRSfM, STIM and GEMA

On 14 January 2015 the European Commission reported that it had opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether the proposed creation of a joint venture between three collective rights management organisations (CMOs) in the online licensing of musical works was in line with the EU Merger Regulation. The CMOs contributing to the joint venture are PRS for Music Limited (PRSfM) of the United Kingdom, Föreningen Svenska Tonsättares Internationella Musikbyrå u.p.a. (STIM) of Sweden and Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (GEMA) of Germany. CMOs manage the copyrights of authors, performers and writers of musical works.
The Commission’s preliminary investigation indicated that the combination of the music repertoires currently controlled by each of PRSfM, STIM and GEMA could result in higher prices and worsened commercial conditions for digital service providers (DSPs) in the European Economic Area (EEA).