David Ferguson once played in a seminal art-rock band in Britain, but much of the money for his house and his son's education came from writing music for a children's television program, "Moondial," which has been rebroadcast many times over.
"I guess you could say it was my equivalent of having a smash hit record," said Ferguson, who is 55. "I never knew 'Moondial' was showing in so many different countries, but still I made money."
Ferguson and thousands of composers and songwriters like him say they rely for their living on a copyright system enforced by national organizations that collect money on their behalf from a variety of outlets that play their music -- from national television stations to local hair salons.
Without these "collecting societies" and the monitoring they perform in faraway locations, artists say they would be unable to keep track of when their creations are used, and might see little financial benefit from their intellectual property.
Now the system in Europe is about to undergo significant changes, as antitrust regulators prepare to require the societies, in some cases established in the 19th century, to adapt to the digital world of the 21st century.
The regulators want to end the current European system, under which the collecting societies effectively have domestic monopolies. By requiring societies to compete for the right to protect an artist's copyright, the regulators say, they will drive down artificially high administrative costs and stimulate the cross-border flow of music.
In a draft decision viewed by the International Herald Tribune, the European Union competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, has concluded that "collecting societies totally eliminate competition between each other" in "repertoires for satellite, cable and Internet broadcasting use." She said that the societies have "long-entrenched monopolistic positions" and that "creates a barrier to entry which is impossible for a newcomer...

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