Division (35)

The Commission considers that any coordination could only materialise to a rather limited extent since the administration of publishing rights is mainly carried out by the collecting societies (at least for the important mechanical and performance rights). The collecting societies grant, on the basis of prevailing legislation, licences on non-discriminatory terms and agree on royalties with publishers, authors and composers. The Commission also considers that, contrary to some third parties’ concerns, the concentration would not lead to the bypassing of the collecting societies by the majors as there is no sufficiently concrete evidence for such a strategy.