With more than 18 million songs in its database, the iTunes Store is an easy, affordable and legal way to download and enjoy music.
However, despite the store being available in other EU countries, the popular store is not available in Malta, and according to Apple there are no plans “to announce today” to change that, causing many to resort to illegal MP3 downloads.
Contacted by The Sunday Times, an Apple spokesman said music content often had different licence holders in different territories, so Apple needed agreements with all the copyright (records and publishing) holders before it could sell music and offer the same large catalogue in a new country in the iTune Store.
Ironically, while Maltese bands can sell their music in the 23 territories where the iTunes Store is available, they are not able to sell the download to the local market. Maltese users can only buy iPhone apps and download podcasts from the iTunes Store.
Other stores that do not sell digital music to the local market include Amazon.co.uk, HMVdigital and Play.com. UK-based site eu.7digital.com, meanwhile, does sell to the Maltese market, albeit with some restrictions on payment methods.
According to Steven Corn, the CEO of BFM Digital, a Los Angeles-based digital distribution company, the lack of available download stores in Malta is a combination of business and legal factors, and it could be that “the services don’t think it is worthwhile to spend legal energies to focus on Malta”.
“While there have been several efforts to make pan-EU digital download agreements, most have had only limited success at best. The reason is that each country typically has its own mechanical rights society,” Mr Corn said.
Reproduction of copyright, which is determined by a nation’s legal system, will vary from country to country.
Therefore, services like iTunes or Amazon are told they are responsible for securing a mechanical rights licence from the in each country before they can sell downloads.
“Negotiating this rate is sometimes easy and straightforward. But sometimes, it is very difficult.
Right now Canada has set rates that are not only expensive, they are confusing. So Amazon has decided not to open a Canadian store.”
Jeanine Rizzo, a local entertainment lawyer, believes the Digital Agenda for Europe, which the EU is working on, “might propose some answers. However, this must be married with willingness from the industry to open up shop in Malta”.
“Possibly they see the Maltese market as being too small, but the consequence is that people wanting to buy music are only given the option to buy physical CDs instead... unfortunately they are turning to illegal downloads and this, unfortunately, has made Malta a known hub for downloading.”
If the industry were to realise that 85 per cent of Maltese households have broadband connection, easing digital delivery, perhaps they would be tempted to offer this service, Dr Rizzo said.
Though the situation is complex, Martin Pursey from the UK’s Performers Rights Society believes there could be a way of making an online store such as iTunes work.
Since PRS has amalgamated with the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, which collects royalties on music sales, both based in the UK, the pair could possibly convince iTunes they would be able to collect the necessary royalties of downloads sold locally, Mr Pursey said.
There would be another hurdle – the record companies themselves – and the challenge was to lobby their collection society and inform them there were territories in which music cannot be legally downloaded, Mr Pursey said.