NLA media access has put a premium on developing international licensing. UK press is widely used abroad and our UK clients are increasingly interested in global content. Serving these needs makes strategic and commercial sense. Which is why I drove 1500 miles in an open top car last week. Let me explain.
NLA is a member of the International Federation of Reproductive Rights Organisation – IFRRO http://www.ifrro.org/ . Through IFRRO agreements we are able to offer UK users rights to copy thousands of international titles. The full list is here. But looking closely you will see too many of these are restricted to paper rights. So – leaving the car in Zurich - first stop was Vienna by overnight train, where IFRRO the conference gave us the chance to negotiate wider rights. One agreement – allowing Irish education sector to copy UK material – was signed and others were worked on.
On to Stockholm – this time by plane – to present NLA’s new Article Impact Measurement service to 180 plus media monitoring and evaluation experts, gathering for their annual AMEC event (http://amecinternationalsummit.org/programme/ ). AIM was well received, as was the opportunity to participate in the discussion on EU copyright reform. NLA were encouraged by Eric Mamer (head of policy for EC Commissioner Oettinger), who recognises that copyright is essential to supporting the growth of content businesses. We also had many international and UK users and prospects for our eClips service at the event, so it was a great chance to catch up with them. The Abba tribute band at the awards ceremony did their bit to ensure we lightened up later in the evening.
Then another flight to Zurich for the Press Database and Licensing Network conference. PDLN (www.pdln.info) is a network of 25 international press licensing and service companies, and sponsors international licensing deals to support better cross border access and rights. Through the network publisher groups have engineered agreements like the delivery of UK content to German clients through our sister organisation PMG. PDLN is smaller, and there was less music, but it’s a group focused directly on press issues and so lots got done that will benefit users. We also welcomed a new Korean member - who we discovered has many of the same challenges as the rest of us. Major MMO groups were invited to present to ensure we listen to user needs. The PDLN events are as much about learning from each other as doing direct deals, and there was a lot of knowledge sharing.
So then it was time for the drive home. Another 700m through the Vosges and Ardennes. My transport choices were personal, but the reasons for the trip were all about improving the flow of information and revenue as press monitoring goes global.