The commission governing the sale of digital music in Europe has simplified the process by which MP3 suppliers get their music on the continental market.

The European Commission, the governing commission for the European Union (EU), has agreed that companies wanting to sell music online need only get a single licence to do so. Music services will no longer be required to negotiate licence deals with individual member countries.

In the past music suppliers had to obtain country by country approval. The bundle of red tape meant serious delays for companies like Apple when it came time to roll out their iTunes store in Europe. Other industry heavy hitters like Yahoo have opted out of tackling the mess in the EU all together. But this could all change with the commission’s decision to do away with territorial restrictions.

The EU’s Internal Market and Services Commissioner issued a statement saying: "These licences will make it easier for new European-based online services to take off."

The Commissioner said it would take action against countries who failed to comply with the decision to allow digital music services to launch throughout the EU.

The decision is not only a win for music providers hoping to score big in Europe, but for artists who, in the past, have faced difficulties receiving royalties because no unified payout structure was in place.