At this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair’s Virtual Program, Ingenta’s CEO, Scott Winner was honoured to moderate a panel discussion about best practices for fully exploiting IP rights across multiple media platforms. The discussion, It’s 2020, Do You Know What Rights You Own?, addresses emerging areas in global rights deals, including podcast and streaming rights, and brings together four experts from book publishing, film, TV and music:

  • Rana DiOrio, Founder and CEO of Creative Mint
  • Cate Miller, Licensing Director of The Harry Fox Agency
  • Lucy Stille, veteran book to film agent, now with Lucy Stille Literary
  • Paul Sweeting, veteran industry analyst and host of Rights Tech Roundtable

Watch the video now, with free registration for a My-Book-Fair Account, or keep reading to find out the highlights:

“As COVID-19 accelerates the convergence of entertainment, media and technology, publishers who want to fully exploit their IP across multiple platforms must first understand what rights they own, what rights they can sell, and what royalties they must pay, or risk violating the rights of others,” said Ingenta CEO Scott Winner.

“The publishing industry needs to think about how they will deploy the financial and intellectual capital to build the infrastructure needed for the many new use cases for IP. The Book Industry Study Group is working on a rights taxonomy, but it will also need standards for communicating data. If the information about who owns what, and who needs to get paid for what, isn’t there or isn’t easily accessible, then opportunities are simply going to be lost. The challenge is to find the balance between making sure you are protecting the rights you own, and making sure the rights accessible and licensable so they can be monetized and exploited,” said entertainment industry analyst Paul Sweeting.

“Publishers are in a unique position to exploit and monetize brands. But instead they often sit on rights until a book is a success, then call the film agent, and eventually the merchandising agent. It takes forever, and no one makes that much money. Why not find a financial partner with a vision to develop IP across platforms and execute from there?” asked Rana DiOrio of Creative Mint.

“Agents protect all print rights, ebook, audio, sequels, prequels, graphic novels, comic books, podcasts for authors. We want recital rights so that authors will be able to read their work in libraries and bookstores. We try to retain live radio and live stage rights — which are very competitive because so many movies have turned into theater — and also podcast rights. Podcasts are cheap to make, and to put out there. But there’s not a lot of money in them unless they become a TV show or film. When Gimlet sold the podcast that became Homecoming, the real money was in the TV show with Julia Roberts,” said literary agent Lucy Stille.

“Podcasts are generally not regulated – for now. They can be a publicity channel or a revenue stream. The Music Industry has historically taken some time to adapt to new mediums and introduce new rates, so it will probably be some time before we see an agreed upon rate for podcasts.  If you’re able to get in early and negotiate positive revenue terms, it gives the opportunity to set precedent. That’s better than waiting and taking cues from the medium as it evolves.” said Harry Fox Agency licensing director Cate Miller.

If you are in need of a customisable and robust solution that provides you with an understanding on what rights you hold and helps support the ever evolving and increasingly complex Intellectual Property processes, Ingenta can help you find that balance.

 

Nick Weir-Williams

Nick.Weir-Williams@ingenta.com

Tel: +1 732 564 6891