The Ann Arbor Chronicle reports on this excellent presentation by Eli Neiburger, the associate IT director at the Ann Arbor District Library.
His quotes are really spot on, such as:
| In general, the publishing industry wants a distribution method to guarantee that its electronic offerings won’t be widely distributed among users without payment. That’s counter to how computers work – with the ability to easily share files – so libraries are experimenting with other approaches, Neiburger said.
The challenge is to develop licensing models that embrace and deliver on the potential of digital media, as opposed to using technology to emulate how physical objects are bought and circulated. People are accustomed to the immediacy of buying an eBook, so it’s frustrating when they’re told there’s a waiting list to download an eBook from the library. That’s not a good situation, he said. |
Neiburger then goes on to present some of the "issues" (I use the term nicely) presenting problems for libraries such as DRM and platform lock-in.
The Ann Arbor district has a license to Magnatune's catalog, which for only $0.10 per card holder, per year, gives all their library card holders unlimited access to our catalog. This is part of Magnatune's Digital music for library collections offering.
The story continues, discussing Magnatune:
| Neiburger then gave some examples of how AADL is experimenting with licensing for digital content. One of its first attempts was by striking an agreement with Magnatune, a digital music publisher. In early 2011, AADL negotiated a deal with the firm for about 12,000 songs – or the equivalent of about 1,200 albums. The library bought a license for each of its cardholders at about $10,000 annually – so that anyone can download tracks with no waiting. Magnatune’s standard charge for the service to individuals would be $15 a month. It’s akin to annual subscriptions for databases, paying a flat fee for unlimited use. Though Magnatune doesn’t offer current “hot” performers, it provides a broad collection with a wide variety of genres, including classical, world music blues, hip hop, and alt rock.
Since launching Magnatune in April of 2011, there have been about 62,500 downloads by AADL patrons, Neiburger reported. That works out to a cost per use of about 25 cents per track. He noted that as a rule of thumb for public libraries, anything less than $1 per use is considered a good deal. |
I'm very pleased that 62,500 downloads at Magnatune have occurred thanks through the Ann Arbor system. In part, I expect this is due to the excellent integration they did, including a full web interface to our catalog.
It's also nice that someone at the meeting asked about how musicians get paid from all this, and the right answer was given:
| Jan Barney Newman asked how much Magnatune paid the musicians who are part of their collection. Neiburger said the company pays musicians 50% of the revenues it receives based on usage. |
We're still pressing ahead with getting more libraries on board with our catalog, as Magnatune is the only company in the world offering a DRM-free, Creative-Commons licensed catalog of high quality music to libraries.
You can read the whole article at http://annarborchronicle.com/2012/08/24/aadl-board-briefed-on-public-library-trends/ (scroll down to "Public Library Trends" in the article)
Here is the "Public Library Trends" section of the article:
http://annarborchronicle.com/2012/08/24/aadl-board-briefed-on-public-library-trends/
| Public Library Trends: Digital Content
Eli Neiburger’s talk covered some of the same ground as a presentation he’d made to the board in February 2012. He noted that the AADL currently provides access to eBooks through a proprietary service called Overdrive, which allows the library to buy temporary licenses for eBooks that can then be used one at a time by patrons. There are certain technical requirements to use Overdrive, he said, and a lot of people don’t make it through that process of updating software and making other modification before they can use the service. Eli Neiburger, AADL’s associate director of IT and product development, preps for his presentation on digital publishing trends for public libraries. The challenge is to develop licensing models that embrace and deliver on the potential of digital media, as opposed to using technology to emulate how physical objects are bought and circulated. People are accustomed to the immediacy of buying an eBook, so it’s frustrating when they’re told there’s a waiting list to download an eBook from the library. That’s not a good situation, he said. Neiburger described a matrix to illustrate the current options and potential future of digital media and publishing in relation to public libraries. The X axis showed a range of market types – from closed markets like Overdrive on one end, to open markets like eBay and the Internet on the other. The Y axis ranged from the publishing industry dying back on one end, to a thriving industry on the other. He noted that it’s unlikely publishing would die off completely, likening it to candles that were once critical as a light source but that now are used primarily for ritual or ambiance. Neiburger described four quadrants of possibilities along these axes.
Neiburger then gave some examples of how AADL is experimenting with licensing for digital content. One of its first attempts was by striking an agreement with Magnatune, a digital music publisher. In early 2011, AADL negotiated a deal with the firm for about 12,000 songs – or the equivalent of about 1,200 albums. The library bought a license for each of its cardholders at about $10,000 annually – so that anyone can download tracks with no waiting. Magnatune’s standard charge for the service to individuals would be $15 a month. It’s akin to annual subscriptions for databases, paying a flat fee for unlimited use. Though Magnatune doesn’t offer current "hot" performers, it provides a broad collection with a wide variety of genres, including classical, world music blues, hip hop, and alt rock. Since launching Magnatune in April of 2011, there have been about 62,500 downloads by AADL patrons, Neiburger reported. That works out to a cost per use of about 25 cents per track. He noted that as a rule of thumb for public libraries, anything less than $1 per use is considered a good deal. Another example of AADL’s alternative approach to licensing digital content is the 2009 "Grown in Detroit" documentary, produced by Dutch filmmakers. The DVD cost $175 and at one point the library had a wait list of 60 people. So AADL approached the film’s creators, who were willing to negotiate a deal to allow library patrons to view the documentary through online streaming video. The library paid a flat fee, and anyone with an AADL card can view it. Since May of 2012, about 300 people have viewed it, Neiburger said – many more than would have had access to a DVD version. The final example is an eBook version of the graphic novel "Poopy Claws," about a boy and his cat, Stinky, who doesn’t use the litter box. The library negotiated a digital content license for four years, at a price set by the author for unlimited downloads by AADL patrons – $400. Neiburger said the next target is audio books. In general, creators know that distributing their work doesn’t erode, but rather builds, their audience, he noted. For "Poopy Claws," people who read it online might then want to buy the physical copy, or other items like T-shirts, for example. Nancy Kaplan asked whether the library had enough space to accommodate its needs for digital content. Neiburger said the storage space that’s needed is trivial – he could keep 200,000 copies of "Poopy Claws" on his cell phone. Digital space is extremely compact, he added, and the cost of adding a file is negligible. Jan Barney Newman asked how much Magnatune paid the musicians who are part of their collection. Neiburger said the company pays musicians 50% of the revenues it receives based on usage. Segueing to the next part of the presentation, Neiburger noted that the library has built a very efficient system for circulating its traditional collection of materials. But circulation, shelving and building design are set up to house and circulate objects of a certain size. As that changes, one challenge is where and how to store non-traditional collections. The library’s tracking/circulation software is well-suited for it, because that system doesn’t care about size, he said, "but the shelf sure does." |
Ann Arbor's library system is awesome. Last month they launched a program to loan out synths and other musical instruments, complete with an awesome presentation from the Bob Moog Foundation.
Posted by: Josh Woodward | August 24, 2012 at 05:22 PM
Another example of the innovative Magnatune approach to future potential business models and income streams. I don't know the exact number of libraries currently operating in the US, has to be in the tens of thousands. If this idea takes off it could be very good news for the company and their artists. Good luck!
Posted by: Peter Crossland | October 03, 2012 at 06:52 AM