Fishburn Hedges

22.04.2009

At our ‘What’s next for…Copyright & Enterprise?’ event on 23 April, a distinguished panel of creative industry experts gathered to discuss the link between copyright and enterprise.

Joining our chair Lord Chris Smith, Former Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport and Chairman, ASA were:

• Richard Charkin, Executive Director, Bloomsbury PLC & former CEO, Macmillan Publishers Ltd
• Peter James, best-selling author and film producer
• Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor, Alex cartoon
• Feargal Sharkey, CEO, UK Music and lead singer of The Undertones
• Martin Smith, Ingenious spokesman & creative industries consultant

What's next for...copyright and enterprise? from Fishburn Hedges on Vimeo.

On the one hand, artists understandably want to maximise their control over their work.  On the other, consumers seek unfettered access to enjoy it.  And often in the middle is an industry seeking to maximise its return balancing this supply and demand.

Today, whilst creative activities are important for the aesthetic creativity that they embody, they are also crucially important for the UK economy. This is still true even in a time of recession, arguably more so.

Copyright as a retail issue 

Copyright lies at the core of the business models of all of the creative industries. However, while in the analogue age copyright was essentially a business to business issue and was relatively easy to defend, in the digital age copyright is a business to consumer issue.  It is a retail issue.  That is the challenge for policy makers. Consumer education should form an important part of the solution.

Does it encourage creativity?

In the original Copyright Act rights owners were given seven years to exploit their medium: now copyright in the most part expires some time after the death of the artist/author. Is it realistic to think that artists decide whether or not to create based on when their copyright will run out? 

Perhaps not, but at the least copyright protection gives artists the opportunity and money to devote themselves to their art.

What we will see in the next five years is a strong consumer lobby that recognises and demands that copyright is not just an ownership right for generations. 

Criminalising its own audience

Efforts should be made to deter those that are making a commercial gain, by operating outside the boundaries, not the consumers who copy CDs to their iPods or share their love of music with their friends. An industry that seeks to criminalise its own audience is ultimately bound to die.

Monetising sharing 

What most creative industries have to look at is not how they stop people enjoying sharing content, but rather how they are still able to make a return.

The music industry for example has already taken great strides: most of the big record companies are looking at entirely new business models and it is in that kind of thinking that the future lies.

The challenge is a huge one. After all, there is no business model, new or otherwise, that competes with free. 

This summary reflects just a small amount of views expressed on the night. For further information please visit the campaign site at www.copyrightandenterprise.com.