The PPA Independent Publisher Conference and Awards 2013

In the oft repeated narrative of industry decline and economic hardship it is easy to forget that many niche, specialist and independent publishers are thriving, growing businesses. 

Nowhere is this more apparent than the PPA independent publisher conference held last week, which saw hundreds of publishers, journalists, suppliers and industry experts descend on Central London last week to share innovation, ideas and expertise.   Highlights for me were talks by Jim Bilton of Wessenden Marketing on top tips for publishers moving to the digital world and Sigaria CEO Alex Martinez who explained their transition from publishing house to membership led community.

This was also a time for recognising excellence and the PPA Independent Publisher Awards 2013 saw the publishers of The Drum, Wanderlust and Student Farmer amongst the winners.  Publishers Carnyx (Media Brand of the Year and Editor of the Year, The Drum), Think and (Team of the Year, Publishing Company of the Year and Customer Magazine of the Year) were particularly successful.

Meanwhile I had a productive time explaining to publisher delegates how NLA media access could help them deliver efficiency and growth in copyright licensing revenue, following its recommendation as a supplier by the PPA.  

All in all an excellent event - and one that makes us feel optimistic for the future of the industry and NLA’s expanding role in it.

If you are a publisher and want to find out more about how NLA media access can help you collect licensing revenues, you can email me on pangell@nla.co.uk

Patrick Angell

Celebrating 100 years of the Professional Publishers Association

Last night I was delighted to attend the PPA’s centenary dinner, celebrating its long history representing the media publishing business.

Part of the post dinner entertainment was the announcement of the PPA cover of the century; picked from a short list of member titles.  A tough decision with so many iconic designs to choose from. Time Out and the Beano came close, but the Radio Times with a Dalek cover was the clear winner from the public vote.

I feel sure the cover splash will retain central importance for many publishers, but the next hundred years will of course see a very different publishing landscape evolve.  Today’s publishing businesses – or media brands – are increasingly focused on digital subscriptions, SEO, tablet apps and video channels as they work hard to replace the decline in print revenues.

NLA media access is excited to have a role delivering one of those alternative sources of revenues.  We have recently been recommended as a partner by the PPA for the secondary licensing of magazine content, deploying years of expertise gained licensing the newspaper industry.  Demand has been high, with 77 PPA publisher members switching to NLA media access in the first wave in October 2013 - and a further 78 joining early next year. 

We admit, extended collective licensing is somewhat less glamorous than producing cover art!  But it generates an increasingly important revenue stream and we are pleased to extend our services to magazine publishers, in addition to our newspaper clients.

David Pugh

Licences for Europe

Over the past year NLA media access and the Newspaper Publishers Association have been contributing to an initiative called Licences For Europe, the European Commission's review of the state of copyright, licensing, business models and developments in the digital world.

We welcomed the chance to be involved with this initiative – particularly on improving cross border licensing.  NLA media access itself does a lot of work in this area and we already have direct deals in place with 1600 ex UK organisations, ensuring UK publisher content can be readily and legally accessed abroad, as well as cross licensing agreements with 14 countries, which we are extending to include digital rights.

A great deal of time, effort and thought goes into these initiatives from NLA media access, UK publishers and our international representatives at IFFRO and PDLN.   As the copyright consultation carousel turns once more it is worth bearing in mind that Licences for Europe, as with UK consultations on the Hargreaves and Hooper reports, arrived at the not very surprising conclusion that optimising copyright law via a licensing model works for the vast majority of stakeholders. 

And that just might be because, according to the Global Intellectual Property Index, the UK and other EU states have some of the best copyright regimes around.

Copyright Hub CEO appointed

There will be, I’m sure, a general welcome among people who value copyright and the support that licensing gives to the creative industries at the news that Dominic Young is taking on the job of CEO of the Copyright Hub at the beginning of December.

But the welcome is particularly warm here as Dominic is a former chairman of NLA media access; and has been both a staunch champion of the newspaper licensing system, and one of the most innovative and interesting thinkers about the future of copyright in the digital age - as his contributions both to our blog and his own reveal.

Dominic is taking over at the Copyright Hub at a really important time. Ros Lynch did a great job in getting the organisation up and moving forward.  The next year and beyond is the time when the organisation has to become wholly embedded in the creative sector and accepted and understood by content users.

I can’t think of anyone who has a better chance of achieving that demanding task than Dominic. He can certainly count on our support.

David Pugh

Managing Director, NLA media access

Follow the NLA on Twitter - @NLA_ltd

Paywalls - World Publishers

The World Publishers expo in Berlin last week gave the industry a valuable opportunity to discuss strategies to meet the challenge of growing revenue in the digital age.

 

Affiliate links strategies, branded content partnerships and events based marketing were all on show last week.  Much like the music industry, newspaper and magazine publishers are rising to the challenge and finding ever more creative ways to plug the hole left by falling physical sales.

 

However, for many UK publishers whether or not to implement a paywall, how porous to make it, and what to price subscription at remains a crucial strategic decision.  Reports in the Press Gazette that The Times titles have hit 350,000 combined print and online subscribers, despite the increased subscription price, is another indicator that a paywall provides a successful solution for some.

 

Whilst we wouldn’t presume to offer any individual publisher advice on their strategy, NLA media access has a natural bias to support these changes.  As we have said before any move by publishers to make the value of content clearer tends to get our vote.

Andrew Hughes

Commercial Director, NLA media access

Follow the NLA on Twitter - @NLA_ltd