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Copyright Licensing Steering Group issues progress report

By | Published on Thursday 26 September 2013

Copyright Hub

The rivetingly-named Copyright Licensing Steering Group, the body that stemmed from Richard Hooper’s ‘Copyright Works’ report, which in turn was motivated by Ian Hargreaves’ government-backed review of copyright law, yesterday published a progress report telling us all just how well things are going. So that’s good news.

The Group, as you may remember, is aiming to streamline the licensing processes operated by copyright industries, like the good old music business, as well as educating the world at large on how copyright and licensing works. As part of all this, and with some government funding, the organisation launched a website called the Copyright Hub earlier this year, which is undeniably a thing.

Aside from the Hub project, the Group’s report also reported on other ventures it has been involved in over the last twelve months, including the publication of a Voluntary Code Of Practice for creating and retaining metadata in images, the development of a range of initiatives to streamline the licensing landscape for educational establishments, new digital music licensing initiatives for start-ups and app developers, and the introduction of two new joint licences from the music industry’s two UK collective licensing agencies, the music publishing sector’s PRS For Music and the record industry’s PPL.

Commenting on the report, the CLSG Chair James Lancaster told CMU: “This report demonstrates the real progress that has been made in implementing the recommendations of the Hooper report. The work over the past year has demonstrated clearly the power of all parts of the creative industries working collaboratively together with the support of government to come up with pragmatic and workable solutions to the challenges of copyright licensing. I would like to thank all the individuals and organisations who have contributed to this report.”

Meanwhile, with their joint licences getting a big name-check in the report, PRS boss Robert Ashcroft and PPL chief Peter Leathem issued a joint statement, saying: “We welcome the CLSG report, which clearly displays the progress that has been achieved by the creative sector over the last twelve months to streamline copyright licensing, while outlining a road map for future developments. This could only have been achieved through the collaborative spirit that Richard Hooper and [report co-author and CSLG leader] Dr Ros Lynch have so successfully instilled. Both PPL and PRS For Music are committed to working with the Copyright Hub, while at the same time exploring more ways that our two companies can work together to make licensing easier for users”.

Download the report for some good times here.



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