Jagger and Jobs join EU music debate

Mick Jagger and Steve Jobs were in Brussels this week to listen to EU concerns over consumers finding the cheapest deals online for music.

At the discussion, Apple boss Jobs and Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones, heard regulators talk about their wish to stamp out territorial limitations that restrict consumers when buying digital music.

The meeting came in the same week that music website 7 Digitalannounced a deal with all four major record labels to create a MP3 catalogue of four million songs that are DRM-free.

Consumers complain that copyright rules prevent digital-music downloads between countries, even though the same songs can be bought on CD from an online retailer.

EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes wants music labels to do better for the consumer. She said that the EU will 'step in' unless artists and companies find a better way to distribute digital music in Europe.

"But if a solution to the problems we face today is not found, then the music industry can hardly complain if regulators or enforcers step in," Kroes said.

"Consumers see the internet, and the borders that exist online, and feel that they are not getting a fair deal,'' she added.

The Commissioner also argued that Europe-wide solutions are needed. "The people of Europe were promised a union, a place without borders: but on the internet they have not yet got it," Kroes said.

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