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Samuel Wilson is an attorney and versatile business consultant. Sam attained his law degree at the George Washington University Law School and received a B.S. in Finance and International Business from The University of South Carolina and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. In Sam's blog he focuses on the legal and business aspects of content management, digital asset management, and multi-channel publishing.

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February 25, 2009

A New Era: Artists' Digital Rights Get Organized

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I recently read an interesting white paper about digital content and the protection of publishing rights written by Bill Rosenblatt, the Founder of Giant Steps Media. Titled Google's Settlement with the Publishing Industry, Mr. Rosenblatt's piece outlines a recent settlement between the search engine behemoth and the book publishing industry in which the two "sides" agreed to facilitate the creation of a Book Rights Registry - a centralized rights repository for literary publishing rights that will be administered by a newly created not-for-profit organization. This new model of digital rights management (generally speaking) piques my interest in many ways:

As a businessman who helps organizations devise strategy around how to use technology and digital marketing techniques to channel and monetize their content, I am relieved that major players in the publishing/media/entertainment industry (which now includes Google, ironically) are acknowledging the need for a new way of doing things. This new system will allow all publishers of content, both large and small, to have a centralized place to store their work that is protected by a neutral organization who's primary purpose is to facilitate the channeling of content and document its use.

As an attorney who focuses on helping artists and business owners achieve monetary objectives, most often by developing and nurturing some sort of proprietary intellectual property or business idea, I am pleased to see a more intense focus on protecting the rights belonging to those who dare to be creative and exhibit their work for the public to appreciate.

As a musician, I am delighted to see some much needed changes in the way that digital rights are stored and administered. Taking the executive power out of the hands of a few and giving it back to the artists themselves will promote more creativity and innovation rather than forcing artists to work with a few profit-driven corporations who have the exclusive means and relationships for promotion and distribution. A new era of artistic independence, both in the creative and business processes, is upon us.

Beyond the proposed Book Rights Registry and the model derived from the litigation with Google, Mr. Rosenblatt touches upon business models contemplated for the future. All signs seem to point to a more fragmented publishing market (i.e. "long-tail") in which independent and self-promoted publishers and content creators are able to enjoy the same protections and rights management mechanisms that were previously only available to "major" artists and creators. In this new era, where blogging is rampant, recording music has never been easier, and new channels to promote artistic freedom are created everyday, it's time to get organized. I commend the book publishing industry for taking these first steps, and I hope that others in similar industries quickly follow suit. As for the artists, the days of relying on others to "break" our work is over. I can't wait to see what we come up with.

Posted at 10:08 pm by Samuel Wilson