Comment/Responses
Clare Alexander, President of the AAA, made the following comments after reading the report:
- even as things stand, the BBC wants the right to put things onto their website thus radio readings are available indefinitely and this conflicts directly with audio download rights which are being requested by publishers so there are already direct conflicts of interest…
- as with digital publishing rights, there is nothing here about term of license and real dangers that, once the BBC have broadcast something, there will be no way of retrieving rights which they may hold onto in perpetuity (in a way it is easier for us since we can stipulate thresholds of sales and income below which rights revert to the author so that simply having a book available to download need not fulfill the criteria of having a book ‘in print’)
- the notion of ‘Download, edit and share’ is very scary and in fact is in direct contravention of the copyright holders moral rights. However new technology does indeed seem to be driving towards the consumer being able to slice and dice content in a way that authors will want to be consulted over – but will this be possible? And if so, how?
30 November 2006
Tony Peake, literary agent and AAA member, also attended the seminar, and sent the following email to the members:
I was only about half-way through writing up my notes on the PMA seminar when Caroline's brilliant summation arrived, thus making me feel very tardy - and agreeably let off the hook, because she really has encapsulated the morning superbly.
Nothing much to add, then, except:
It was the PMA who were responsible for organising the seminar - and whatever one thinks of the content, they did a terrific job of it
It interested me that, unsurprisingly, the figure of a third of the population not having a relationship with TV rose to 50% or more among the young.
Jane Tranter, when talking about the end of the 'brief candle' era of TV, also made the point that her mantra now is: fewer, bigger, better. ie - the BBC are looking for fewer pieces that can be shown again and again in as many forms as possible to maximise impact. Not unlike the drive in publishing towards the best-seller?
The search is clearly on for programmes that have a multi-platform existence - ie on TV and on the web, etc etc – such as Lost. So the field is wide open for creative ideas that fulfil this goal, because the BBC sure as hell didn't seem to have many.
As did Caroline, for all the brightness of the presentations, I detected a distinct whiff of panic from the BBC as to the future.
1 December 2006