Ins and Outs of Content Licensing: Updates and Insights
Jinfo Blog

By Robin Neidorf

Abstract

FreePint keeps you on top of changes in key aggregrators' collections with monthly updates from Anne Jordan on vendors including EBSCO, Eureka, Factiva, Nexis and ProQuest. Now FreePint's Community of Practice calls offer the opportunity to hear from industry experts and discuss with peers key points to consider around content licensing - from aggregator profiles to licensing restrictions and the economics of licensing.

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Every month, FreePint contributing editor Anne Jordan chases the latest news from key aggregators regarding what's been added to or removed from their collections.

Anne covers the biggest of the vendors every month:

• Check out the latest updates on Factiva and Nexis
• Along with periodic coverage of ProQuest, Eureka, and EBSCO. 

As anyone who manages a contract with an aggregation platform knows, it can be an enormous challenge to separate the wheat from the chaff with regard to changes in licensed content. Anne's efforts save you time and frustration, by organising changes according to industry and importance.

She also scrutinises the follow-up questions that invariably come up when reviewing a basic list of changes:

• Why has access to an archive changed?
• Is the same content now available elsewhere or in a different format?
• How frequently will this new content be updated?

Understanding the Bigger Aggregation Picture

But there's a bigger picture to understand with regard to aggregated content. Aggregators invest significant resources in content acquisition and licensing, each according to its particular content and market strategy. At the same time, individual publishers have a wide range of reasons for choosing to make their content available via aggregated platforms... or not.

The ins and outs of content licensing can seem mysterious to researchers, which is why I'm so pleased to announce that FreePint's Community of Practice conference calls in January 2014 will eliminate much of the mystery and help you become a better negotiator and user of aggregated content products.

My co-presenter for January's calls will be Chris Broekhoff, president of MEI Global LLC, an information industry consultancy that helps publishers license and distribute their digital assets. MEI Global negotiates deals on behalf of its clients with a wide range of content aggregators, syndicators, redistributors and other companies in the information industry.

Chris' insight into the hows and whys of content licensing enable him to unpack for us such complex topics as:

• Aggregator Profiles: what content strategies are exhibited by the main players in aggregation services?
• The Right to License: what restrictions might a publisher place on content it enables aggregators to license and why?
• Economics of Licensing: who holds the economic power in content licensing? How do publishers make money, and why should researchers care?

During the session, we'll work through some specific case studies to demonstrate how content may be added to, removed from or otherwise restricted in an aggregator. 

Register for a Call

If you've ever had questions about why a publisher's website includes different content compared with its coverage in an aggregator, if you're frustrated by content being removed from platforms, or if you simply want to better understand this critical component of the value of aggregators, this CoP call will be a valuable hour of your professional development.

Chris and I will be offering "The Ins and Outs of Content Licensing" on Thursday, 23 January (11 am EST/4 pm UK) and Monday, 27 January (9 am EST/2 pm UK).

If you have a FreePint Subscription at the Team level or higher, your participation in all CoPs is included in your subscription at no additional cost. Seats are limited. Register now.

We also make a limited number of seats available in each CoP call for those considering adding or upgrading a FreePint Subscription. To be considered for a seat, please complete the registration form.

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