Rights Black Holes

Much of the last 90 years of human-created audio recordings, visual art, written texts, and video– billions of created works that now exist in the digital world– are subject to copyright and other rights, such as name, images and likeness, trademark, publicity, and moral rights (in jurisdictions that have them), specific contractual terms, among others. Most of this content remains trapped in ‘rights black holes’: Works are inaccessible and unusable because of their rights protections, which results in frustration and economic challenges for rights holders, new content creators, and customers.

Ownership, usage rights, and licensing terms for everything rights protected are obscured, unknown, or nearly impossible to ascertain and navigate effectively. Why? In the digital age, undigitized content, lack of organized data, lack of transparency about who owns rights to what, and the growing volume of rights-protected content have created black holes.

Money lost & creativity stifled
Most rights holders are unaware of their rights or how to exercise them, leading to untapped value and lost revenue. Without improved transactional efficiency, rights holders are being left behind. Creativity, economic opportunities, and innovation are being stifled: Valuable works remain inaccessible to new creators who might license them, preventing the creation of new intellectual property. Transformative works remain trapped in limbo, denying creators, consumers, and rights holders the benefits these works could provide. Engagement with content that educates, enlightens, and entertains is being limited.

Obstacles and potential solutions
Managing rights in the digital age is a black hole that must be fixed now. The current set of tools– email, spreadsheets, inventory management software, and digital asset management systems (DAMs)– are all failing rights holders and their managers. Off-the-shelf information management and workflow systems are often not designed specifically for rights management, resulting in workflow gaps, workarounds, and gross inefficiency. Additionally, overly customized systems can create technical debt and data silos, which hinder business intelligence and analytics. The lack of an integrated and purpose-built rights management solution disadvantages rights holders and collaborators.

Proof of rights ownership and chain of custody is essential for building trust and adding value: Documented and digital provenance is necessary. When provenance information is not digitized, connected to rights data, or stored in your DAMs, it undermines current discovery, search, and fulfillment. We need a better system to track, contact, and negotiate with rights holders. The creation of machine-readable metadata for automated workflows and AI software platforms should be a priority to enable IP owners and creators to collaboratively support new and derivative content creation.

There are also significant privacy and security concerns with the absence of effective rights management systems. Without them, the contact information and identities of rights holders may be at risk, leading to potential privacy breaches and erosion of trust. Licensing request processing timelines can stretch from days to years, leading to significant delays or even the cancelation of requests. Unclear, arbitrary, and hidden licensing and usage fee schedules, as well as inconsistent pricing, further undermine trust. These issues obstruct automation and burden those involved in the rights process with excessively manual tasks, costing agents and rights owners significant dollars left on the table.

Getting it done
How can we address these challenges? First, if you are an IP owner or their representative, have you asked your rights & reproduction teams, “How’s it going” lately? They will tell you they are underresourced and underperforming. First, if they had better systems, they could help cut costs, increase efficiency, and increase licensing revenue through improved rights management. Second, bring executive leadership, licensed legal counsel, and information technology to support better management of intellectual property. Third, engage with expert industry consultants who can guide you in optimizing your assets and rights information through software-based solutions that integrate with other critical business systems, such as contract management, relationship management, eCommerce, and enterprise content management software. For example, ask them if your DAMs alone provides the best solution to automating rights management or if an integration with a verified and vetted third-party is the best solution.

Rights holders and managers must prioritize robust asset and rights management to capitalize on immediate and future revenue and engagement opportunities. Cloud-based rights management solutions, including specialized software platforms and integrations, are essential tools for navigating the digital economy. By illuminating ‘rights black holes’ and unlocking the vast potential of 20th and 21st-century human-created assets, these solutions empower rights holders to enhance financial health and sustainability, delivering significant benefits to themselves and their customers.

This article is a collaboration between Nicholas Cipolla, Data Strategist at CultureTech, Richard O’Leary, President at CultureTech, and Neal Stimler, President of Stimler Advantage.

To learn more about how rights management software can assist you, please visit culture.tech.

Stimler Advantage is an executive management consulting firm offering licensing and rights management services.

For informational purposes only: This article does not offer legal advice. Please consult a licensed attorney for legal questions.