November 05, 2008

By By Jen Wilson, London

CELAS has reported steady progress in the licensing of digital and mobile music rights across Europe. It offers a "one-stop shop" for pan-European licensing.

The organization, which operates from offices in London and Germany, was set up to represent EMI Music Publishing's Anglo-American repertoire across Europe for digital and mobile.

CELAS says it has deals with iTunes, 7Digital, Nokia, RealNetworks and Omnifone.

"CELAS was the first organisation of its kind to offer licences for cross border music services for online and mobile applications," said Nick Williamson and Alexander Wolf, joint managing directors of CELAS, in a statement.

"The deals we've concluded so far this year show how we are working with music service providers to deliver exciting pan-European consumer music propositions within the European Commission's framework for cross-border licensing. We will continue to work with music services to provide effective and efficient licensing solutions for both established and newer business models."

CELAS is jointly owned by UK authors' collecting society MCPS-PRS Alliance and German society GEMA.

Subscribe to Billboard magazine today!