NLA licensee satisfaction results

Every month NLA invites clients to complete a Satisfaction Survey following their licence application or renewal. In 2013, just under 400 clients provided feedback on our service performance.

Our service measures include being easy to understand, fair and reasonable and timely and responsive.

In 2013 over 84% of licensees advised they were ‘Satisfied’ with our performance of which 30% advised they were very satisfied.  Our clients rate our licensing advisers very highly with satisfaction in excess of 90% year on year. You’ll find a breakdown of the 2013 results here and further information in our Code of Conduct.

Thank you to all licensees who completed the survey in 2013.  We will provide an update on 2014 results later this year.

Independent Code Review publishes its Report

Walter Merricks the Independent Code Reviewer, has today published his Report on Collective Management Organisations’ (CMOs) Codes of Conduct.

The Review and the Report were commissioned by the British Copyright Council (BCC) on behalf of its member CMOs in November 2013, a year after individual CMOs introduced their Codes.   The Call for Evidence ran between 15 January and 28 February 2014 following which there has been further consultation with CMOs and their stakeholders.  An Independent Code Review every three years is a key part of the self-regulatory process put in place by UK CMOs.

The BCC is pleased to have played a leading role in setting up and facilitating this self-regulatory initiative, in association with CMOs and with the support of the BCC’s wider membership, while preserving the independence of the Review and Call for Evidence process.  The Report and its analysis, conclusions and recommendations are the work of the Independent Code Reviewer alone.

The Independent Code Review is the latest stage of a process that, between 2010 and 2011, saw the development of the BCC Principles of Good Practice for Collective Management Organisations and their adoption by CMOs, including a commitment to introduce new codes of conduct or adapt existing ones by November 2012 to bring them into line with the BCC Principles.   The appointment of the Independent Code Reviewer in August 2013 was carried out by an independent panel made up of representatives of organisations of rights holders and representatives of organisations of users of copyright protected works, one representative from the collective management organisations and an observer from the Intellectual Property Office.  The Reviewer’s task was to assess, in the light of evidence submitted and the Government’s own minimum standards, whether the BCC’s Principles remained fit for purpose and that the CMOs’ Codes are compliant with the BCC Principles. 

The BCC welcomes the Reviewer’s support for self-regulation (a view it shares) and the Reviewer’s positive comments about the BCC’s role in initiating the current self-regulatory regime.  In circumstances where self-regulation has been followed in April 2014 by the Government putting in place “backstop” powers for statutory regulation, one of the Report’s recommendations is that  “the BCC should consider whether it wishes to maintain its own set of Principles for Codes of Conduct alongside the standards contained in the Licensing Body Regulations”.    This is something for the BCC’s members to decide and the recommendation will be discussed by the Council with a decision before the end of the year.  However, the BCC feels that this independent self-regulatory process has been invaluable in helping CMOs to develop consolidated codes and to ensure their accessibility.

Chair of the BCC Codes of Conduct Working Group Kevin Fitzgerald CMG commented

“The publication of this report is a milestone in the self regulatory process put in place by UK collective management organisations. While the report shows self regulation to be generally fit for purpose it contains some thought provoking recommendations that will require careful consideration.”

The BCC thanks Walter Merricks for his independent report.

The full report is available to review on the Independent Code Review website at

http://www.independentcodereview.org.uk/files/5714/0170/7349/ICR_Report_2014.pdf

More information about the British Copyright Council can be found at www.britishcopyright.org.

To contact the BCC call 01986 788 122 or e-mail janet@britishcopyright.org. 

RNIB members benefit from NLA media access partnership

We spoke on this blog recently about how NLA media access are able to provide other services on the back of the significant investment that national newspaper publishers have made in our eClips database. Most of these services are aimed directly at publishers in line with our “supporting journalism” tag line, however there is one free service we help provide which benefits thousands of other people every day.

This service has been created through our strong relationship with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Publishers who have titles on the eClips database have the choice to ‘opt in’ to an XML feed delivery service that the NLA manage daily to the RNIB. The NLA make over 100 newspaper titles available to RNIB as early as 01:00 on the morning of publication, allowing adequate time for RNIB to turn NLA-generated text files into several formats:

-       ‘Daily online service’

Unabridged versions of a particular title chosen by an RNIB member is made available for viewing or download from a dedicated RNIB website. Each issue is available online for 7 days. Depending upon the specific visual impairment of the RNIB member and the equipment they use, these online titles can also be converted into other formats such as electronic braille and synthetic text-to-speech.

-       ‘Weekly Audio CDs’

Selected weekly highlights from any one title, read and recorded onto Audio CD by volunteers for RNIB members who prefer to listen to human audio.

-       ‘Weekly Digest Daisy’ (Digitally Accessible Information System) CDs 

Topic-specific compilations of articles of interest chosen by an RNIB member (e.g. Women, Current Affairs, Arts and Entertainment) read and recorded onto Daisy CDs, which offer advanced navigation features for blind and visually impaired people.

2014/15 will see vast improvements in the service that RNIB are able to provide to blind and partially sighted people. Through significant investment in their service offerings and technology platforms, RNIB will soon be able to provide three further services:

-       ‘Daily Email Service’
Unabridged single titles chosen by an RNIB member and sent by email to their inbox as early as 07:00 each morning, making this content available to those who cannot easily navigate through the website service described above. The email text, automatically created from eClips content in the NLA database, can be further converted into electronic braille or text-to-speech using an intelligent voice synthesiser according the needs and desires of the RNIB member.

-       ‘Daily Braille Service’
Unabridged single titles chosen by an RNIB Member can be requested on paper Braille formats, normally arriving 2 days after publication date

-       ‘Smartphone App’
Unabridged single titles chosen by an RNIB Member which on RNIB's smartphone app will categorise according to the unique sectioning that the NLA apply to every article that is loaded into the eClips database - eg Sport, Features, Letters.

"We are delighted with the proactive partnership between NLA and RNIB and the tangible positive benefits it brings to our diverse community of blind and visually impaired users. Offering different formats according to individual needs means RNIB can ensure that the exceptional content created every day by NLA members can be shared with and enjoyed by our RNIB members at the same time as everyone else", says Clive Gardiner, Head of Reading Services at RNIB. 

As magazine publishers continue to see the benefits of switching to NLA licensing and key titles join the eClips database, we will be able to provide more content to RNIB who in turn will be able to expand the portfolio they can make available to their members.

If you are a publisher and want to find out more about how NLA media access can supply your news content to the RNIB (free of charge) to help those who are blind or partially sighted, you can enquire through publisherservices@nla.co.uk

Matt Aspinall

Production Services Manager, NLA media access 

First Journalism Diversity Fund recipients of 2014 announced

I’m pleased to report that the first group of young journalists to benefit from the Journalism Diversity Fund will shortly receive their bursaries.  Seven were picked in this year’s first cohort of bursary recipients, with round two recipients to be announced shortly.

The Journalism Diversity Fund is a charitable cause close to our hearts and NLA media access has been supporting the foundation financially since its launch in 2005.  It was set up to help journalists from ethnically and socially diverse backgrounds with bursaries for training.  Last year it also began offering paid internships to help promising students with additional placements.

Past recipients, who otherwise might not have been able to start a career in journalism, have benefited from the scheme and gone on to start careers at national and regional publishers.  One of last year’s recipients Khaleda Rahman, now a trainee reporter for the MailOnline, wrote about her experience for NLA media access last year, pointing out that; “many young people from ethnic backgrounds shy away from pursuing a career in the media – but that’s slowly but surely changing thanks to the fund.”

We wish the best of luck to the latest group of trainees.

No copyright on a good idea

There is no copyright on a good idea. In addition to its work licensing content, NLA media access acts as a forum for sharing ideas between publishers. Following the recommendation of the PPA Executive last year NLA now represents over 2361 magazines and websites.

As part of its work with PPA NLA is now running a series of seminars for magazine publishers – at which both PPA members and non-members are welcome. These aim to share ideas and best practice between publishers in the areas most relevant to secondary licensing. The topics include rights management, how database applications support content exploitation, and tools for managing copyright infringement. Speakers include Head of Rights and Content Acquisition, The Guardian, Sophie Hanbury, Content Partnerships Director, Daily Telegraph, , Fergus McKenna, Head of Syndication & Licensing, Trinity Mirror. Details of the events and registration details are now live at http://www.ppa.co.uk/events/