Old-fashioned red tape is delaying the eagerly awaited European launches for iTunes and Napster.
A maze of licensing contracts, music release dates that differ by country and incompatible billing systems have combined to sidetrack the services, which many recording executives still hope will make their European debut in the first half of 2004.
"We will be here this year. I'm not going to announce the date at this time, but we are working very hard," said Eddy Cue, vice president of applications and Internet services for Apple Computer. Cue, one of the principal architects of Apple's iTunes, told a gathering of music and technology executives the layers of bureaucracy in the European music industry were limiting the number of songs it could offer consumers here.
Chris Gorog, CEO of software firm Roxio and owner of online music store Napster, voiced similar grievances on Saturday. "We're struggling to get the rights clearance to launch a meaningful catalogue in Europe," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual MidemNet music conference on the French Riviera.
View: Yahoo News UK
A maze of licensing contracts, music release dates that differ by country and incompatible billing systems have combined to sidetrack the services, which many recording executives still hope will make their European debut in the first half of 2004.
"We will be here this year. I'm not going to announce the date at this time, but we are working very hard," said Eddy Cue, vice president of applications and Internet services for Apple Computer. Cue, one of the principal architects of Apple's iTunes, told a gathering of music and technology executives the layers of bureaucracy in the European music industry were limiting the number of songs it could offer consumers here.
Chris Gorog, CEO of software firm Roxio and owner of online music store Napster, voiced similar grievances on Saturday. "We're struggling to get the rights clearance to launch a meaningful catalogue in Europe," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual MidemNet music conference on the French Riviera.
View: Yahoo News UK
Cue said one hurdle Apple has run into is the age-old practice of staggered release cycles. Marketing and distribution timetables often prevent music labels from a pan-European launch of an artist. A German music lover may have to wait weeks to buy what his friends in the UK are already enjoying, yet shortly after a track hits the radio airwaves a listener has already downloaded it and is swapping it on a file-sharing network.
"One of the things we are working with the European labels on is to get them to understand how the business works in the online space, and having them change some of their business practices," Cue said.
While the industry has made big strides in the past year to make music available for paid downloads, the red tape is still a major gripe of the online vendors. In Europe, the issue is more complicated than the United States as scores of national rights bodies, publishers and collection agencies have yet to agree on standard licensing fees. The morass, both labels and online vendors agree, will make it tough for new Internet music stores to stay in business and the industry expects dozens of new entrants into the market this year -- from Amazon to German ISP T-Online.
"Until somebody gets to 50 million, 100 million, 150 million downloads per month, which by the way is not impossible, we are all going to lose money," said John Rose, executive vice president of EMI Music Group in the U.S.
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