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11/25/08

EUobserver: Mick Jagger in Brussels for online retailing chat with Neelie Kroes and Charlie McCreevy - by Leigh Phillips

Mike Jagger in Bruxelles


For the complete report from the EUobserver click on this link

Mick Jagger in Brussels for online retailing chat with Neelie Kroes and Charlie McCreevy - by Leigh Phillips

The original "street-fightin' man" Mike Jagger no longer needs to throw cobblestones to get the attention of the centers of power like his 1968 incarnation. These days he is warmly invited to the top floors of the EU Commission building for a friendly chat with Europe's competition guardian Neelie Kroes and a host of other key figures in the business of commerce on the web. Ms Kroes is worried that shoppers frequently find themselves up against barriers to buy what they want online, for items they would have little problem purchasing in the real world."Why is it possible to buy a CD from an online retailer and have it shipped to anywhere in Europe, but it is not possible to buy the same music, by the same artist, as an electronic download with similar ease?" Ms Kroes asked the knighted pop star and other guests.

Ms Kroes told the rock star and the merchants: "The world is always more complicated than we would like it to be. But that is no excuse for inaction," adding that she intends to look "very carefully" into online retailing practices.


SShe warned that the commission will step in if musicians, record labels and retailers do not overcome their differences and produce a more consumer-friendly environment for the distribution of digital music.

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