ABSTRACT
The music industry continues to lobby the EU to close what it considers a loophole. Its try-before-you-buy approach offered composers the opportunity to work with a publisher without locking either side into a long-term deal. The days of composers completing their academic studies before participating in such "emerging composer" schemes as the London Symphony Orchestra's Panufnik scheme or the London Sinfonietta's Blue Touch Paper project to help secure a publishing deal seemed distant. The buzz words were "outsourcing" and "exploiting synergies".' Besides increasing market share through acquisition, strategic partnerships grew in prevalence in a bid to reduce duplication, share expertise, and lower overheads. A composer's place on a publisher's roster was once virtually guaranteed for life, we have seen that by the turn of the century this was no longer so, and that commercial realities were forcing publishers to reassess their stance.
