Frankfurt Bookfair Overview

When publishers from all over the world met in Frankfurt in early October for the annual Bookfair, the hot topic of conversation was not print books but digital content.   We are offering an overview of the activity as a follow-up to the BAPLA Book Publishing Survey August 2010 available to members here.

The Bookfair’s headline attraction was its “Sparks” program, a wide range of seminars around digital content and delivery. These seminars explored the many ways that publishers are adapting to derive revenue from digital versions of books and digital offshoots from their print publishing.

There is a rapid and marked change in the way that UK publishers and packagers approach digital projects.  At last year’s Frankfurt the general attitude seemed to be “we should do something about digital”. This year, many publishers had already published digitally and planned to do more.  In particular, there are now digital revenue streams for illustrated books. 

BAPLA press release: Creating a Protocol for Digital Rights

Working with image buyers, sister associations and its members, the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (BAPLA) is on the verge of releasing its first draft of a Digital Rights Model.

BAPLA has engaged with small members, and has met with a number of the biggest BAPLA members in order to create the model, which it will reveal to the broader membership at its AGM later this month.

Protecting the longevity of the picture licensing industry is pivotal to everything BAPLA does; more so now, than in all its 35 years of existence and whilst the digital era provides many opportunities for BAPLA members to exploit, it also poses threats, and this year, BAPLA has spent considerable time conducting far reaching research on the issue of Digital Rights.

Simon Cliffe is BAPLA’s Executive Director: “We absolutely believe Digital Rights are essential in providing a multi-media platform that’s relevant to the 21st century, but, in our opinion, they are not ‘free’ rights, and BAPLA has always urged its members to give nothing away and negotiate everything. Being unable to establish a consistent value for digital content now, risks loss of revenue and, BAPLA also believes, risks the future business model for the industry if we set dangerous precedents at this stage”

BAPLA AGM

The date for the AGM is October 21^st with a very prompt 5pm start.

This year we’ve decided that the London Canal Museum will make an ideal venue. There’s plenty of space, it’s a short walk from the station and the building is really rather beautiful and ideal for some post-AGM drinks!

We would like to get an idea of numbers, so for those BAPLA members wishing to attend, could I ask you to please let Damalie (Damalie@bapla.org.uk) know if you’re able to join us.

Address:
London Canal Museum
12-13 New Wharf Road
London
N1 9RT

Click here for directions.

BPC Industry Survey shows true value of photographers’ copyright

Retaining copyright could be one of the best business decisions that freelance or self-employed photographers make, according to new research from the British Photographic Council. The survey was completed by 1,698 photographers working in the UK market who were asked about themselves, their views on copyright, their income and the threats to their businesses.

The results show those freelance photographers who keep their copyright earn on average 33.2% more than those who routinely give their copyright to clients.

British Photographic Council chair John Toner said: “Copyright is not only the cornerstone of the creative industries, it is the foundation stone of creativity. Without it, creators would find it impossible to survive.”

Freelances who said they retained their copyright reported an average profit of £19,272, compared to £14,471 for those who said that they gave it away by default.

BAPLA launches Orphan Works manifesto for members

So Orphan Works is back on the agenda.

Actually, it was never OFF the agenda, but work has been going on in the background and most of our communication since the Digital Economy Bill debate has been dedicated to the Picture Buyers’ Fair. But with that over, a new Prime Minister installed and indeed a new IP Minister in place, it’s time for your say.

Since the fall of Clause 43 from the Bill (the clause that proposed to licence Orphan Works and create Extended Collective Licensing schemes) – a number of things have happened.

Here are four key points to update you on now:

1. The British Photographic Council (BPC) has met: Through this body, BAPLA, along with the likes of AOP, EPUK, NUJ and other photography groups are discussing the next stage to move the debate forward. Working through the BPC is the best way for photography groups to work together and BAPLA is absolutely committed to it. Our next meeting is in June, where we’ll be reviewing the results of BPC’s second annual photographic industry survey which was launched last week. I sent a link for BAPLA members – if you’ve yet to fill it in, then you need to click here. The survey should give us some very useful information on the photographic industry.

Grass Roots – A message from Tim Harris, BAPLA chair of the Rights Working Group

The BAPLA Rights Working Group has some early Christmas presents for those BAPLA members looking to get better at negotiating prices with buyers. We started our Grass Roots project a couple of months ago, with the aim of providing members with useage and rights information on specific sectors. This first quarter is concentrating on book publishing and our research has stumbled across some interesting facts. It’s so important we all have the best information to hand when it comes to talking money with picture buyers at the negotiating stage, and although we’re still working through our findings, there is some of our research we’d like to share with you now.

Feedback from the London Book Fair Seminars showed that publishers are as challenged by ebooks as picture libraries are, and especially concerned re piracy issues.

The ASPP conference in Boston produced an interesting dialogue on the future of content licensing, which pointed out major reductions in budgets in US educational publishers, and the need for streamlined processes.

Price is a much more important factor in this market than it used to be – typically it’s no longer the best picture that is used but the one that is good enough (and at the right price).

We have also updated our tips on fee negotiation, to produce the Top Ten Tips for Fee Negotiation, which we hope will be a very useful guide for BAPLA members negotiating fees and rights in today’s fast-moving market. This document is available from the members’ area of the BAPLA site, so do download a copy, and please remember that any feedback would be very welcome.

The next stage of this project will be to provide members with a mini-report on the state of play re pricing and rights in the books market. We aim to have that to you very soon.

How Google plus BAPLA equals bold promises to rights holders

Based on the feedback we’ve had, the visitor research we conducted and the fact a number of sessions were ‘standing room only’, it would certainly seem this year’s PBF seminar programme was the best we’ve staged in quite some time.

We focused on ‘The Future of Content’ and the line-up included Matt Zitzmann, a project manager for Google Images who defied ash clouds and cabin crew strikes to make it to the Barbican Exhibition Hall for both days!

Matt looked at two subjects; ‘Search for Images’ and ‘Pictures Adding Value’. Both gave an extremely unique insight into how Google view the world of images and were followed by excellent Q&A sessions with some very direct questions from the audience.

For the first time, Google Images were engaging with photographers, rights holders and image buyers in the UK. People had direct access to them, which for some was a unique opportunity to put over their fears for the industry and make their opinions heard.

Getting copyright cases to court

A fair percentage of calls to the BAPLA office are from members asking for advice on what to do when someone steals their images. Those that have considered placing the matter into legal hands are often deterred by the costs, risks, and difficulties of doing so.

There are two updates for you on this. Firstly, over the next couple of months, BAPLA is meeting with a number of media law experts. Our plan is to generate the very latest information on copyright infringement and introduce a number of new legal tools to help BAPLA members understand their rights and feel more confident in the law.

What we’ve been doing to get more ‘new’ buyers to your BAPLA profile

Feedback before, during and after the PBF has backed up what we’ve been seeing in the office over the last few months; and it’s quite an exciting trend that’s growing. Elements of this ‘new generation’ of image buyer, the generation that’s grown up in the middle of the online explosion, many of whom have no skills in the art of picture researching, appear to be growing bored of free and cheap and are now looking for sources of unique content.

BAPLA is doing all it can to exploit that and drive those interested to your profile pages on the BAPLA website. Designers, especially the smaller companies, seem keen, based on the type of calls we’ve had and the feedback we’ve heard, so we’re working hard to talk to them. We thought you’d be interested in seeing some of that work, so here’s an article that went out to the thousands of members of the D&AD ahead of PBF.

CEPIC Congress

The CEPIC Congress is just around the corner, both time-wise and the location! Taking place in Dublin from 9th-13th June, it is especially easy to get to from the UK.

This is absolutely the best industry event for any agency wanting to develop an international agency network, or to meet existing agents to develop business. Personally I still find it invaluable to my business, and the event I always recommend at the BAPLA training academy international training events.

This may seem like a blatant plug for the event, and it is, but that is simply because it fulfils one of BAPLA’s aims, which is to bring new business opportunities to members. If you are thinking about attending but haven’t booked yet, do give me a call, or drop me an email at paul.brown@maryevans.com. I will be happy to answer any questions you have, and you are welcome to grab me for a chat or advice at the Congress should you decide to attend.

In the meantime, here is a list of other reasons to attend,  just issued by CEPIC.

To book, follow these links:

• Registration for CEPIC Members
• Registration for Non CEPIC Members
• Register to the New Media Conference

I hope to see you there.

Best regards,
Paul Brown