Creative Commons

This dissertation was written as part of the MA in Art Law and Arts’ Management at the International Hellenic University. Collective Management Organizations have a long history. Starting from the 19th century they established efficient techniques to enforce copyrights at a time when rightholders and users were too many for the authors to individually manage. The appearance of new technologies led CMOs to expand their actions to other fields such as the radio and television. The advent of the digital era and the internet resulted into questioning the relevance of traditional CMOs especially the ones managing rights of musical works. Since the early 2000s new forms of digital distribution were introduced and the consumption of music shifted to internet based services. The system that CMOs developed over the years worked well in the analogue world but its adaptation to the online one has been unsuccessful. This situation and the natural monopolies that CMOs enjoyed led to a number of cases in which the organisations caught themselves in situations violating competition law. The EU legislator intervened and advanced to policy decision. The Directive on collective management of copyright and related rights and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use in the internal market entered into force in 2014. This Directive was introduced in the Greek legal system via Law 4481/2017. This thesis aims to present and interpret the legal framework concerning the organisations dealing with multi territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use and evaluates its effectiveness. Subsequently, an extensive presentation takes place regarding the historical context and European jurisprudence that paved the way to the adoption of the Directive. Finally, the provisions of Articles 23-32 of Directive 2014/26 are examined in parallel to examples occurring in the present and recent past. Τhe research conducted has been based primarily on literature and desktop research utilising sources from Greek and foreign bibliography and articles- , as well as in jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union and in decisions of the European Union Commission. References have been made to electronic sources in various chapters of this dissertation.