If the kids are united

Legal and practical context: Further political and judicial activities regarding collectivemanagement are imminent in the first half of 2007 at Europeanlevel. Key points: The author looks into the historical, practical, and legal backgroundas well as the raison d'etre of collective management of musicbefore outlining some specific aspects of relevance for collectingsocieties in the digital world. This includes the complementaryrelation of collecting societies with Digital Rights Managementand the rolling out of pan-European licences in line with theEuropean Commission Recommendation of October 2005. Conclusions: The author suggests that collective management will become evenmore important for a wide range of creative works in the digitalworld and that right holders together with their collectingsocieties are already proposing approaches fit for the informationsociety. He concludes that there is little need for politicalinterference in the nascent online market at this crucial timeof evolution.