The Hargreaves Report

Image by tuija via Flickr

There’s so much being said about the Hargreaves Report that I scarcely need to repeat it here, but if you’d like to read the original, here’s the link: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipreview.htm

And here’s the press release announcement.

There’s lots of online comment, most of it positive. But, as with all things, there will be winners and losers. For me, one of the most  interesting things that’s being discussed is digital rights direct payments. Thinking this through, this could have an additional impact on micropayments for journalism if implemented – as well as those artists – including photographers – who currently use third parties (like istock) to sell on their wares if they want payment.

This could absolutely change the face of paid journalism and create an egalitarian market where good quality work is sought after and rewarded.  It will be interesting to see where this pans out. If I was Twitter, one of the content distributors but still looking for a revenue model, I might be keeping a very close eye on this potential lifeline.

Related articles

• Tech Weekly podcast: Crowdsourced gadgets, Hargreaves report, Google Chromebooks (guardian.co.uk)
• Hargreaves Report: Patently Sensible Stuff (opendotdotdot.blogspot.com)
• David Prosser: Hargreaves Review is just the beginning (independent.co.uk)
• Creative industry welcomes Hargreaves’ fair use rejection (telegraph.co.uk)
• Hargreaves intellectual property review: Putting rights right (guardian.co.uk)

Startup Metrics for Pirates

This presentation is two years’ old, but it was shared on LinkedIn today – and still makes a surprising amount of sense.

It’s shared here because as a PR person who often works with startups, there are some key questions I have to ask potential clients: I have to understand the challenges they face, and also understand whether I think they’ll be around in the long term. When I take on PR for a client, I’m staking my reputation along with theirs.

Anyway, enough waffle – here’s the presentation: