ITunes is everywhere. In eight years it has become the world's biggest music store, covering 37 different countries and selling more than 16 billion songs as digital downloads.
But not in the Middle East.
The iTunes Store is being held back, according to experts, by the difficulty of making sure the right people get paid for their music.
Instead, consumers have to buy CDs in shops or - as almost 95 per cent of the world's population do - download tracks illegally.
According to Dubai music expert Hussain Spek Yoosef, an iTunes Store would help protect the music industry here, but he said the lack of a proper music rights society made it too difficult for the company to set up shop.
"If iTunes wanted to enter the UAE, they would be forced to spend a huge amount of time and money to identity each rights holder of the music pieces, so they would need to make a significant investment to find out who owns what," he said.
The Dubai-based Lebanese-Swedish pop singer Therese Neaime, who released her second album, Stronger, in November, says the lack of an iTunes Store was "greatly affecting" her as an artist.
"I get emails every day from people asking me where they can buy the album - they think it's not available when they can't buy it online," she said.
Neaime, who launched her album through the Music Master label, said it was "important" to bring iTunes to the Middle East, as musicians were losing "a lot of money".
Her album can be bought on CD in Virgin Megastore, but she said the online market was where the big money is.
"People are spoilt because they're so used to everything being available on the internet. It's the main platform of today."
Nor is the absence of iTunes the only problem for musicians here. Shopping malls, hotels, radio stations and TV channels all routinely play copyrighted songs without paying a penny in royalties to the artists or labels who made them.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a music collection agency, said it was "unheard of" that the UAE Government did not implement its copyright law, which was established in 2002.
"It is detrimental, in particular to the development of the local industry, that artists and companies cannot collect royalties when their music is used by radio and TV stations and other commercial users," said Lauri Rechardt, the IFPI performance rights expert.
According to Mr Rechardt, the IFPI has made "several attempts" to enter talks with the Government about setting up a local collection agency, which have yet to bear fruit.
"It [the Ministry of Economy] has failed to publish the proper guidance on how to apply for a trade licence, so the industry cannot legally start collecting."
Mr Yoosef said that unless the Government set up a proper one-stop-shop for all things music, the growth of the creative industry would be "stunted".
"Addressing that issue will be the first integral step in resolving the intellectual property quagmire in the music industry," he said.
* Marie-Louise Olson
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
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Parents should watch out for behavioural changes in their children.
When children are being bullied they they may be feel embarrassed and isolated, so parents should watch out for signs of signs of depression and anxiety
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724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
