Schools Licensing Review

NLA media access has reviewed its schools licensing policy. For the past 10 years NLA has offered schools a free copying licence covering paper copying of most UK newspapers.

This approach runs counter to most UK and international licensing practice which ask schools to pay a modest licensing fee. Following a thorough review, the NLA media access board has therefore decided that an appropriate fee should be applied.

We will consult with relevant parties and conduct further research before fees are applied. We will also seek to ensure any new process for licensing is simplified and streamlined to minimise the administrative burden for any school or educational establishment that might require access to our copyright content.  We expect charging to start in 2014.

Andrew Hughes

Commercial Director, NLA media access

Follow the NLA on Twitter - @NLA_ltd

Press Database and Licensing Network

We have blogged before about how NLA media access works with other newspaper owned licensing bodies to create better international licensing and supply solutions for media monitoring service users through the Press Database and Licensing Network www.pdln.info.  PDLN aims to simplify content access and licensing in a global market.

PDLN’s biggest and best conference so far took place in Stockholm last month. There is growing interest in working together to create cross-border solutions. 49 attendees from 19 countries  worked through a packed program including the formal admission of five new members (organisations from New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Finland and South Africa), a presentation on a significant number of EU legal developments from ENPA secretary general Francine Cunningham. Jan Hellin the Editor in Chief of Aftonbladet the leading Swedish tabloid paper, gave an inspiring talk on addressing the digital challenge. They now have more readers on mobile than the web, and far more on either than in print. Jeannette Gustafsdotter the head of the Swedish publisher association showed that the digital market for news has grown from 4 to 70bn KR from 1980 to 2013, but the proliferation of channels puts traditional media under huge pressure.  Dawn Conway of leading global MMO Cision spoke on media evaluation and US market developments. There is growing demand for copyright clearance for media monitoring from US agencies and customers, but the failure of the Newsright project has dampened hopes of a comprehensive solution.

For many the presentations from the growing membership on their successes and challenges were especially interesting. CEDRO (Spain), DALRO (South Africa), Promopress  (Italy) and Visapress (Portugal) discussed the challenges of establishing effective press licensing status in their countries, and reaching effective and fair agreements with local MMOs. The conference was also attended by rights licensing organisations from USA, Finland, and MMOs from USA and Europe as PDLN seeks to engage a wider range of stakeholders in its development.

Andrew Hughes

Commercial Director, NLA media access

Follow the NLA on Twitter - @NLA_ltd

Copyright Hub pilot phase launched today

The pilot phase of the Copyright Hub has launched today. This is a significant achievement, not only for Richard Hooper and his team, but also for the various Collective Management Organisations who have contributed to the project. NLA media access, like many others who want to streamline copyright licensing, has supported the project from the outset with time and money and we hope that the learning from this pilot consultation will lead to further stages that benefit the users of copyright.

David Pugh
Managing Director, NLA media access

Follow the NLA on Twitter - @NLA_ltd

Update from journalism diversity fund intern at Newsquest

The first graduate of the Journalism Diversity Fund’s 3-month paid internship scheme has just written an interesting blog on her experience at Newsquest here. Further recipients and placement details are to be announced shortly. To be eligible for the scheme candidates must be a Journalism Diversity Fund recipient and have achieved NCTJ Gold Standard (A-C in all modules and 100wpm).

David Pugh

Managing Director, NLA media access

Follow the NLA on Twitter - @NLA_ltd

NLA expands magazine portfolio

Following news last week of our name change and rebrand, NLA media access today announced an expansion in its range of licensed content, with an increase in the number of magazine and online titles we now represent.

NLA media access has represented a number of magazine publishers for some time now - notably adding the Economist to the portfolio in 2007. Today we are announcing an expansion in our repertoire, to include over 750 trade and consumer titles. Licensing of these titles commences in October 2013.

NLA licensing focuses on the commercial media monitoring market. Those publishers transferring from the CLA to NLA (following a recommendation from the Professional Publishers Association) recognise that in this market, the NLA media access model delivers significant benefits.  The Economist, for example has experienced a 35% compound royalty growth since joining the NLA.

Clients do not need to do anything at this stage, but will be able to add magazine titles when renewing their licenses after October 2013. Publishers interested in exploring the benefits of NLA licensing  should contact Patrick Angell, Publisher Services Manager pangell@nla.co.uk

With a new company name and a growing news portfolio, we remain committed to:

1. Providing clients with easy access to content and a suite of copyright licences to meet their news monitoring needs.

2. Supporting journalism by ensuring that publishers earn a fair reward for their investment in content.  

You can see the full list of magazine publishers licensed through the NLA from 1 October 2013, on our website.

David Pugh

Managing Director, NLA media access

Follow the NLA on Twitter - @NLA_ltd