Last Friday () saw French legislation requiring music download stores to provide interoperability unless the artists affected approve the absence of interoperability. French legislature has fudged the law giving Apple (and others) this opt out. If it wasn’t for the fact that the Danish and Scandinavian countries are also addressing the same issue I’d say that Apple will have it easy. As by far the largest download service Apple wouldn’t be difficult to pressure artists into the sign off so meaning that Apple have a small administrative overhead. But maybe the risk of losing several more countries in the EU might force Apple to being do more than just a paper exercise.

At the other end of the spectrum, a coalition of the major record companies have started proceedings against another P2P network – this time Limewire. Given that Kazaa has finally completed its roll over with $100M payout, I can not see Limewire holding out very long.

Interestingly, I wonder how much of the $100M that Kazaa have coughed up will find its way into the pockets of artists – given that the money is payment for lost revenue, which means artists royalties? Not to mention how the money will be divided amongst the artists, if that actually happens.