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. 

Publishers showed the offerings they had produced over recent months.  These  included “augmented  reality” books  (where a book held up to a webcam produces onscreen animations based on the still image in the book),  apps for the ipad and iphone sold through Apple, marketing websites  and apps to promote books, and pages for online library systems that are very similar to pages that might have previously appeared in print books.  There was much discussion about the need for extra content to be made available in digital form, content that adds value for the reader – and that content includes more images and more video.

One of the most interesting Sparks seminars shared the experience of American trade publishers. Speakers included Evan Schnittmann, Bloomsbury’s worldwide sales director and Brian Murray CEO of Harper Collins USA, who were questioned by Tom Turvey, the Google Director responsible for Google’s books programs. With Amazon’s Kindle well-established alongside Barnes and Noble’s Nook and Apple’s ipad, ebooks are producing substantial revenue for publishers in the US. Bloomsbury and Harper Collins agree that 9% of their US revenue is produced by e-books and they expect this to double in the next year. Publishers expect European uptake of e-readers to be slower, but this Christmas may be a major turning point with high anticipated sales of the ipad and kindle expected to kick start the e-book market.

What are the implications for the photo industry in terms of rights?

Firstly,  Harper Collins, Bloomsbury and other publishers emphasise that many of the new e-books sold are not replacement sales for print books – they say about 40% of their e-book sales are incremental, ie books they would not have sold if the title was only available in print.  That is significantly different from the information given by those on the frontline negotiating picture costs for digital rights and is a good argument for those licensing images to expect an additional payment to cover digital editions.

Secondly, clearing e-book rights is a major undertaking:  Harper Collins has a team of 12 people dedicated to this alone.  And authors are paid a higher percentage royalty on e-book  sales than they are on print.  Traditionally authors royalties on print books are 15-20%; whereas publishers offer 25% for ebooks.  That is equivalent to a 40-70% rise in royalties – and publishers are under strong pressure from authors and agents to increase this percentage. As publishers accept they should pay higher rates to authors for text, this is an argument that those licensing pictures should also expect higher fees to cover digital rights.

Thirdly, because digital products may be sold worldwide regardless of where the book is published, it makes sense to publishers to clear world language rights in a book.  This may have a significant impact on the UK publishing industry which has often published books in the UK and Commonwealth or for the world excluding the USA.  We may see considerable disruption in the UK publishing industry as companies here compete more directly with US publishers, and may find broader territory rights being requested by publishers.

Some publishers were keen to point out that the vast majority of their business still comes from print books and that will be true for some time to come.  But the industry has arrived at a tipping point.  Publishers are pushing ahead in trialling digital models and are bullish about the potential.  It does not appear that the book publishing industry will be as severely disrupted as the music industry was by file-sharing.   BAPLA is supportive of our industry’s clients’ as they develop digital revenue streams.  Equally we want to make sure that the rights settlement is equitable and that payment for digital rights reflects the value that our publishing clients derive from these rights.

Other key talking points were comparisons of e-readers, which currently show the iPad and Kindle as dominant, but providing different experiences (Kindle ideal for ebooks only, iPad better for those wanting to jump from one area of content to another). The US offers choices such as the B&N Nook, which are not available in Europe yet.

The Book Industry Survey Group survey “Consumer Attitudes towards E-Book Reading” (conducted Nov 09 – May 10) showed purchase of ebooks growing steadily but with rate of increase slowing slightly. 38% of respondents cited Kindle as preferred device, while Amazon was the dominant retail outlet, with 61% of respondents having used it. Outside the English speaking world, ebooks are less advanced and in territories such as Germany with retail price maintenance, print sales remain high.

Bloomsbury’s Public Library Online launched in mid 2009 and now has 7.5 million UK readers, with apparently 100% renewal rate.

Google Editions is set to launch in US by end of 2010 and in Europe in first half of 2011. This will be “device agnostic” and will also be available through small book stores.

It also apparently includes image-scrambling technology, to deter piracy, and image-blocking technology when publishers wish to block images or when rights are not cleared.

The Livres Hebdo/Publishers Weekly annual ranking of the world’s biggest publishers showed Pearson in first place for 2009 with 7,756 US$ million revenues compared to US$ 7419 million in 2008. In second place is Reed Elsevier (US$7367 in 2009), followed by Thomson Reuters (Canada), Wolters Kluwer (Holland), and Bertelsmann (Germany).

UK publishers OUP stands in 21st place, while 5 Japanese publishers are currently in the Top 40. Many major US publishers, including Harper Collins, Hought Mifflin Harcourt, Scholastic, Simon and Schuster and Reader’s Digest, showed significantly reduced revenues in 2009 compared to 2008.

Toby Hopkins (BAPLA Rights Group), Corbis
Tim Harris (BAPLA Rights Group Chair), Nature Picture Library

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 Chairman Paul Brown says, “It is really important that our industry have a united front on these new, emerging rights, to avoid confusion, and ensure a fair structure for both rights-holders and clients. Having the support of BAPLA’s larger members means we really can produce a proper industry model, and the input from smaller members means that it will indeed be suitable for almost everyone. We welcome the recent initiative by the US editorial agencies, who have essentially taken the same line as the underlying principles of BAPLA’s model, though, as will be seen later this month, our model is more tailored to the UK market and by necessity takes into account the restrictions of UK Competition legislation.”

A number of key relationships have been developed with image buyers from different sectors as a result of BAPLA’s work through publishing forums and through a 4 month research project on book publishing and digital rights. Tim Harris, Chairman of BAPLA’s Rights Working Group says “It is vital that BAPLA works closely with publishers and image buyers to work out an approach to licensing digital rights, both re-use and stand-alone, which is fair to our members but also takes into account the challenges facing the publishing industry in a period of unprecedented change. We already have much positive feedback from the publishing sector indicating the need for clarity and structure in digital rights and we now need to engage urgently with publishers to discuss and agree a way forward which will work for both our industries, which are so interdependent.”

ENDS:

Note for Editors: The British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (BAPLA) represents over 300 Picture Libraries and Picture Agencies, including all the major news, stock and production agencies in the UK, and has been a trade body since 1975. To try and put our industry’s role in media into context – a substantial percentage of images seen in the daily national newspapers, books and on television are supplied by BAPLA members as well as a large proportion of images used commercially online. Also, a growing number of members of the public are contributing content to our members to help them exploit their content commercially.

Through lobbying, education and business development programmes, BAPLA aims to create an industry where our members can thrive on a level playing field.

Press contacts:

TEL: 020 7713 1780

EMAIL: enquiries@bapla.org.uk

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.

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.

The survey showed nine out of ten freelance photographers keep their copyright rather than assigning it to their clients – despite almost three-quarters saying that they had encountered clients in 2009 who wrongly believed copyright belonged to whoever commissioned the photography.

During 2009, 71% of freelance respondents said they had been asked to give copyright to their clients, and 62% said they were pressured to give clients a more extensive licence for no increase in the fee.

Three out of every five photographers said they knew of instances where their copyright had been infringed in the previous three years, costing them on average just over £3,600 each . But only 30% of these photographers pursued all known infringements , with most citing difficulties in bring legal cases for copyright infringements . Overall, 82% of photographers said their businesses would benefit from a quicker and easier legal redress for copyright infringements.

Just over half of photographers said their businesses would be adversely affected by any ‘orphan works’ legislation – the controversial proposals which would allow photographs to be published without the copyright holder’s permission if the copyright owner could not be identified or traced. An attempt to introduce such legislation in the UK was defeated in the last days of the previous government.

Half of photographers said that current laws affecting photography in public places were a threat to their business, with 82% saying their businesses would be adversely affected by similar additional legislation.

The results show a predominantly male industry, with fewer than one in five photographers being female. 91% of professional photographers who responded were freelance, with staff photographers earning significantly more than their freelance colleagues.

The average salary for a staff photographer was £34,535 – 83% higher than the equivalent average profit for a self-employed photographer of £18,821 . 41% of staff photographers were paid between £20,000 and £30,000, compared to just 15% of freelances. Only 19% of freelance photographers made a profit of £30,000 or above, compared to 35% of staff photographers.

Only 61% of photographers surveyed said that photography was their sole source of earned income, with almost one in five professionals saying that photography was not their main source of income. Only a third of respondents said they had spent 91% or more of their working life as a photographer.
The survey showed photographers’ career paths to be less regimented, with only half having industry qualifications, and many entering the industry in middle age.

Two out of every five photographers are educated to at least degree level – but those with an undergraduate degree were twice as likely to have it in a subject other than photography.

While 73% of respondents said they thought formal photography qualifications were “essential, valuable or useful” , only 5% considered formal qualifications to be “essential” for working in the industry. Those respondents without photography qualifications are less likely to consider those qualifications to be “useful” or “valuable”.

“We believe the findings of this survey are crucial for anyone seeking to understand the photography industry in this country”, said British Photographic Council chair John Toner. “Photography is important to the cultural life of our citizens, and legislators would ignore these findings at their peril.”

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.
2. Stop 43, the group of photographers at the heart of the fall of Clause 43, have published an alternative to Clause 43. We’ll all be discussing this in detail with them at the next BPC meeting too. You should have a read of it – it’s a good starting point which raises some interesting and very challenging points. The link’s here: www.stop43.org.uk
3. BAPLA has started work on an Orphan Works manifesto: BAPLA represents a number of different groups and we recognise a one-size fits all approach can’t work. The debate surrounding the Digital Economy Bill was changing on a daily basis, making it hard to gather vast amounts of feedback – but time now, for a short while at least, is on our side. We’ll be talking to different parts of the membership and picking out the common goals our members share for an Orphan Works solution. From that we’ll create a manifesto which will be shared with the BPC and will be used for lobbying the broad position of our industry. We’re talking to members now and are creating a first draft. We’ll send you that when it’s complete and ask you to contact us with your thoughts.
4. We have new people making decisions inside Westminster: Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, the political position critical to the future of digital copyright is Jeremy Hunt, a Conservative, who met with us and other photography associations on a number of occasions during the Bill’s debate. We think this is a big move as we believe the industry has started a very good relationship with him. The new Minster of IP is Baroness Wilcox, who takes over from Labour’s David Lammy. This is another massive position and we have already been in contact with the peer to ensure she knows what BAPLA is about, who it represents and what its members mean to the UK creative industry. We have talked through our role working with publishers, creators and policy makers and the work of the BAPLA working groups to evolve new business models to ensure access to the UK’s leading photographic images both here and abroad, highlighting the growing trend of the ‘new generation’ of image buyers getting frustrated with free images and how they are looking to unlock unique content.

I’ll be sure to update you on all important aspects of the next BPC meeting and will ensure you see the headline results from the photographic survey. BAPLA members will also be in receipt of the first draft of our Orphan Works manifesto as soon as it’s ready. If she hasn’t been in contact with you yet and you feel you’d like to be involved in this first stage, then please feel free to email Linda Royles (linda.royles@me.com) with some key points on how you would like Orphan Works dealt with.

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.

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.

The big issue was metadata and Google have assured us they’re going back to the States with some very clear messages on what needs to change. They have also promised to come back and review progress from the feedback they received.

Elsewhere, Marco Oonk, founder and editor of fastmediamagazine.com, chaired two excellent panels aimed at bringing together picture buyers and sellers. The first seminar, entitled ‘What’s a picture worth in 2010’ turned out to be inspirational for many.

With the panellists Lewis Blackwell, Christina Vaughan, Tim Harris and Andrew Mitchell focussing on innovation, differentiation and opportunity, many picture sellers felt that now was the time to make a choice on the positioning of their photography. Picture buyers got a great overview of the wide range of possible solutions out there, from free images to hard-to-find and difficult to replicate photography.

The second panel was intended to give a voice to the picture buyer and we found some of the most experienced buyers prepared to clear their diary to be in the panel. Desney Ryan, Veneta Bullen and Jamie Klingler talked through their decision making processes and highlighted the challenges they are facing when finding the right images at the right price. The debate focused on price, metadata, creativity and technical excellence.

We’ll keep the debate going across BAPLA and fastmediamagazine.com and we feel encouraged that this direct contact between buyers and sellers will help companies make informed decisions. We’ll certainly continue to work on facilitating this conversation in these times of rapid change and great opportunity.

And finally, opening both days were our legal experts. Charlie Swan, a partner at Swan Turton LLP looked at the rules of using pictures in 2010 and on the second day, Nicola Solomon, consultant and Head of IP Media Department, Finers Stephens Innocent looked at how to avoid getting into copyright trouble. Two extremely useful sessions, again with some excellent Q&As afterwards. Charlie and Nicola are always great value and their presentations provided an excellent insight for both image buyer and image supplier.

To listen to Podcasts of the seminar sessions click here.

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.

Secondly, this week, BAPLA wrote to the Minister of Justice in support of the Jackson review. We applauded the government initiatives to tackle copyright infringement (that in particular deprive creators and the UK economy of revenue) and we pledged our support for the introduction of a small claims county court for copyright.

We are working hard to ensure government understands that most businesses in the creative industries are micro businesses and SME’s who are vulnerable to copyright abuse and exposed to crime because of the cost and complexities of pushing claims through the courts – and with that in mind, we have acknowledged the appointment of a specialist judiciary, who can operate in complex areas of copyright and we are making BAPLA and its 35 practical years of experience available should we be needed to help with specific points of expertise.

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.

The D&AD has been representing worldwide creative, design and advertising communities since the early ‘60s: www.dandad.org

It’s the start of our relationship and we’re currently working on a number of other ideas. Elsewhere, we started our exposure programme to the hundreds of thousands of Federation of Small Business members before PBF too. This is another key group of people with whom we are attempting to engage. We’ll update you with progress on this – but we’d welcome any groups with whom you think we should be doing similar work.

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