NLA media access, one of the UK’s media licensing agencies, is launching an awareness campaign to help UK magazine publishers claim historic and future royalties for use of their content.
The microsite will host a series of blog posts published as part of a ‘Content Masterclass’ over the first quarter of 2014, on topics from copyright and copying to royalties and rights management.
Drawing on expertise from veteran journalists and publishers including Elisabeth Ribbans and Brian MacArthur, the masterclass aims to:
The NLA, which began life managing content licensing and data feeds for newspapers, paid out around £25m in royalties to newspapers in 2013. Last year, it was asked by the Professional Publishers Association (PPA) to take on responsibility for royalty collection for magazine publishers. Following the PPA’s recommendation of the NLA to its members, over 150 publishers – over 40% of the market by value – have signed up with the NLA over the past nine months.
However, there are still hundreds of smaller magazine publishers who are not signed up to receive royalties from companies copying their content.
David Pugh, Managing Director of NLA media access, comments,
“Many smaller publishers are focusing on creating great content for their readers, and are often not even aware that they could be generating an additional revenue stream from royalties. Every time a publisher’s content is used, republished on the internet, or supplied as a PDF clip to a PR company they are owed publishing royalties.
“It's difficult for smaller independent publishers to collect this money on their own. That is why organisations like NLA media access and the Publishers Licensing Society exist to help complete the process quickly and efficiently.”
To help magazine publishers understand how royalty collection and payments work, the NLA have set up a dedicated microsite at nla.co.uk/royalties, where a brief video shows how royalties are generated, FAQs should answer common queries, and there’s a contact form direct to the royalties team.
To learn more, get in touch with the NLA, or to sign up for the masterclass posts, visit nla.co.uk/royalties.
Key facts about signing up with the NLA
About NLA media access
Originally called the Newspaper Licensing Agency, NLA media access was set up by eight national newspaper companies to protect the industry's copyright through collective licensing. It now represents the rights of over 200 publishers.
NLA media access gives permission for organisations to copy from an extensive range of newspapers, magazines and websites and provides database services to both media monitoring agencies and publishers. In 2013 more than 200,000 organisations relied upon NLA media access annual licences.
Eighty per cent of the company’s revenues are returned to the publishers to be invested back into the industry. In 2012 NLA media access revenues equated to the salaries of 1100 journalists.
Contact: Andrew May andrew.may@theopen-road.com / 0203 542 1119