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The European commission has announced that it has chosen to adopt an antitrust decision that prevents European collecting societies from blocking competition.
At present, collecting societies are not required to offer services to authors and other users outside their own countries, providing composers and songwriters with a greater level of choice over who manages their copyright.
Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said: "This decision will benefit cultural diversity by encouraging collecting societies to offer composers and lyricists a better deal in terms of collecting the money to which they are entitled."
It is also hoped that obtaining licenses to broadcast music via the internet or by satellite services in several countries will be easier, as users can make EU-wide agreements with a single collection society.
The commissioner argued that this, in itself, would "facilitate the development" of such broadcasing, while also helping to boost authors' income.
Earlier this month, the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance claimed that such a system would encounter problems if societies were required to compete with each other, the Guardian reports.
