From Kristine Kathryn Rusch:
Gloria and Emilio Estefan have an estimated net worth of 700 million dollars. Jimmy Buffett has an estimated net worth of 550 million dollars.
What do those artists have in common? They kept control of the copyrights to their songs. They maintained control of those copyrights starting in the 1970s, when other musicians signed away those rights because they were told that to keep those rights was a deal breaker.
Both Buffett and the Estefans walked from deals that wouldn’t allow them control. They understood the value of hanging onto the work they created—and they eventually learned how to leverage those works into a variety of other businesses.
. . . .
For example, Buffett maintained the rights to “Margaritaville,” which was such a major hit in 1977 that it seemed to be on the radio 24/7. Songs that sold better in 1977 aren’t even played much anymore, including “Undercover Angel” (yeah, that song), and “Best of My Love.” Yet “Margaritaville” has spawned restaurants, hotels, and casinos, as well as a tequila brand, beach wear, and shoes, among other things.
And Buffett didn’t just expand his empire with that one song. For example, he now has a bunch of bars named for a hit song he had with Alan Jackson called “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.”
The licensing and business opportunities don’t keep Buffett from pursuing his art. He still writes songs, and tours, playing music and managing his empire (which has more than 5,000 employees).
All because he was both savvy enough and desperate enough to hang onto his copyrights.
Fiction writers who are traditionally published rarely hang onto their copyrights these days. It’s almost impossible to do so and sell a book into traditional publishing. The contracts have changed so much from the 20th century that writers are essentially signing their rights away just to get $5000 and the chance to see their books “in print.”
. . . .
But with the disappearance of major bookstore chains, and the decreased distribution of paper books, as well as the downward sales trend of overpriced ebooks, you’d think that traditional publishers would go the way of the Dodo, but they’re not.
And why not?
Because their business model is changing.
The major traditional publishers, the ones we call the Big Five or Big Four or Big whatevers, are part of international conglomerates. And those conglomerates have become rapacious—not for works they can publish effectively—but for intellectual property.
Since the rise of Silicon Valley and the growth of venture capital in the past decade or so, intellectual property has become a valuable commodity. Technically, it was always a valuable commodity, but convincing courts and financiers of that used to be difficult as hell.
Not any longer.
In fact, the growth in IP (intellectual property) valuation—figuring out (guessing) how much a particular intellectual property will increase in value over the 70 years after the author dies—has become a business in and of itself.
. . . .
What the large traditional publishers are doing, though, isn’t copyright theft at all. They’re taking advantage of writers’ ignorance. They’re legitimately buying all of the licensing rights in a copyright, and hanging onto those rights for the term of the copyright. They are transferring value from the writer into their own traditional publishing company.
Publishers aren’t the only ones doing this. Major literary agencies are doing the same thing. Their contracts with writers call for a shared piece of the copyright of anything they represent, usually 15% of that copyright.
Fifteen percent of Jimmy Buffett’s net worth is 82.5 million dollars. And that’s in 2016 numbers. Who knows what 15% of his empire is worth in 2018 dollars.
. . . .
Those traditional publishing companies are gambling on the ignorance of the writers. The companies, remember, are small cogs in the gigantic wheel of a conglomerate. And those conglomerates aren’t just random compilations of unrelated businesses. Most of them are multimedia companies. They own gaming companies, TV networks, movie studios, and all kinds of other media companies that will allow them to easily activate parts of the copyright to a book that writers would normally sell separately.
These conglomerates want properties they can then turn into franchises. Right now, the book publishing arms are terrible at knowing what kind of IP they actually have. For example, if there is suddenly a poodle craze across the U.S., most publishers have no idea if they have novels featuring poodles.
But give the companies a decade or so. I’ve already heard of employees coming into the companies to go through the IP and list the keywords about each property. At some point in the not-so-distant future, someone at a traditional publisher might hear about a poodle craze, and have an employee compile a list of all of the poodle IP in stock. Those books might be reissued or licensed for film or become graphic novels or t-shirts or stuffed animal poodles—and the authors might not see a dime from any of it, because of the contracts they’ve signed.
. . . .
So…while writers and editors are lamenting the possible demise of Barnes & Noble, and are actively wondering what will happen next to these “endangered” traditional publishers, the conglomerates that own those publishers are increasing in value with each book contract signed.
Traditional publishing as we knew it in the 20th century is long dead. The possible demise of Barnes & Noble is just a last gasp of the old order disappearing.
Traditional publishing in the 21st century shouldn’t even have the word “publishing” attached to its name. The publishing part is skimped over, so that the asset gets activated. Then it becomes part of the company’s portfolio.
Personally, I’d rather keep my own copyrights and control of my own work.
Link to the rest at Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Here’s a link to Kris Rusch’s books. If you like the thoughts Kris shares, you can show your appreciation by checking out her books.
I think I just threw away $11 on NordVPN. I tried to set it up for one month for $11. I’m using Chrome, and the setup is not at all well documented. After paying them, they then say NordVPN doesn’t work well with Chrome and the protocols will be cancelled in December.
The guide they provide does not match what one sees when adding a private network on Chrome. Chrome wants a group name that VPN doesn’t mention anywhere in their documentation. Then they say Nord doesn’t work with certain versions of Chrome.
I also think they tried to upgrade me from a one month subscription to a two year. After forcing me through various screens where they tried to get me to go for two years, they stick a coupon code in an option field on the payment screen. I think if I did not erase the coupon field it would have signed me up for two years.
Nothing works. On net balance I no longer want anything to do with them. I don’t trust them. I’ll set up a VPN, but it won’t be NordVPN.
Chrome as in Chromebook?
Check this:
https://www.ipvanish.com/vpn-setup/chromebook/
Kristine Kathryn Rusch provides a nice overview of the perils of being a writer in a corporate world hungry to capture our IP rights.
“What do those [musician] artists have in common? They kept control of the copyrights to their songs.”
Which copyrights is she referring to? The “musical compositions” or the “sound-recording masters” or both?
“I’m not going to explain this in great detail except to say never ever give out your registration number”
Once the Copyright Office has cleared a registration, it will issue/mail the author/copyright claimant the Certificate of Registration and publish it in its on-line public database. Third-parties can search this database using the authors/claimant’s name, title of work, address, and/or registration number.
After I submitted a copyright registration I started getting a lot of incessant span from Dorrance Publishing, wanting to publish my book. Irritating, but easy to deep six. They are obviously scraping registration submissions for contact info.
Then I started getting junk phone calls from them. That really pissed me off. At least they left voicemail messages, which is how I discovered their phone calls. (I NEVER respond to unknown phone callers if they don’t leave a message.)
I deleted the voicemails and never responded to them. At first, I thought it was an ASI imprint, but Dorrance is based in PA, not IN. Still a classic vanity press, however.
Since I have my own publishing company, I’m totally uninterested in having someone else publish my stuff.
Fortunately, the number seen on the public side of the database is not the secret registration number. IF they have that, and the date, they can then log into the back end and change the details of your actual registration. Then it gets into a ‘I said, they said’ situation that can land in court to prove one side or the other. Better not to get into at all by keeping that registration number and date a closely guarded secret.
J.A. Marlow wrote, “Fortunately, the number seen on the public side of the database is not the secret registration number.”
I’ve been timely registering my creative works with the US Copyright Office for the last 20-years. I have never heard about any secret registration number. Are you referring to the SR (Service Request number) aka Case Number: 1-XXXXXXXXXX? For registered photograph works, the SR # is now included in the Certification of Registration and listed in the on-line public database.
J.A. Marlow wrote, “IF they have that, and the date, they can then log into the back end and change the details of your actual registration.”
If the copyright author/claimant/authorized agent has completed the copyright registration application and paid the filing fee and uploaded the deposit, the work can only be changed by contacting the Public Information Office or a Registration Specialist.
Where is this “back-end entry” to log-in to make changes after the registration application has been filed?
Can you please elaborate or provide links. Thanks.
I think this is one of the most important blog posts of the year. My opinion.
It’s a mistake to think publishing survives when the owners redeploy the balance sheet and keep the same name.
The saying…
“There’s a sucker born every minute.’
Comes to mind.
Have you seen this, too, PG? I’m not easily shocked, but I’ll admit that when she wrote about it a while back, I was surprised by the brazenness of it.
KKR shares a lot of valuable insight and info, which is why I’m happy to support her on Patreon.
I just searched for the article you mentioned here and it blew me away. How dark a heart does a person need to have in order to do that kind of thing to another person for a company? Seriously, how dark does a company need to be to do that as a policy? Unbelievable.
I’d love to hear PG’s take on that.
The grab that is most interesting is the “you can’t do anything else without our permission” grab, either with a given character, world, or in an extreme case, any output at all. It seems to approach indentured servitude.
Consider, if you would, a world where an entity could effectively purchase the productive output of the rest of your life for a one-time payment, and that life was such that you had to enter that agreement in order to deal with a significant personal issue.
Taking out a large mortgage or going into hock to the company store are similar, but we’re talking about a “we own you now” sort of thing. Apprenticeship and Indentured servitude were both time limited.
Just imagining…
Kris, you are so awesome. Thank you. I wish everyone would read your blog. I can’t wait to meet you in Vegas!