Sherman tells industry to simplify online licensing.

The RIAA's Cary Sherman says the music industry must simplify its licensing practices if it wants to grab new business opportunities on the internet.

In a lively keynote address to last Wednesday's BPI AGM, the senior executive vice-president and general counsel warned that unless the industry made it easier for customers to gain access to content it would never realise opportunities for incremental revenues. "Licensing in the music industry today is unacceptably complex," he said. "No-one outside the industry even understands it."

Whatever business models record labels developed for the internet, the RIAA executive said it was clear they would be licensing their content more broadly than ever before. However, this would go against what has generally happened until now in the US where companies have been ...