> PRELINGER ASSOCIATES, INC. > xxx xxxx Avenue > San Francisco, Calif. 94118 USA > 415 nxx-xxxx > Fax: 415 750-0607 > footage@panix.com > > > July 13, 2004 > > > Matthew Hill > Programme Manager, BBC Charter Review > Broadcasting Policy Division > Department for Culture, Media and Sport > 2-4 Cockspur Street > London SW1Y 5DH > UNITED KINGDOM > > Dear Mr. Hill: > > You have, no doubt, received many letters in support of BBC's Creative > Archive initiative. Please allow me to add our names in support of > this important project. And if I may take the liberty, I would like > to contribute a few words describing our own company's experience with > free online archives. > > Prelinger Associates, Inc. (known in the trade as Prelinger Archives) > entered the stock footage business in 1983, providing both proprietary > and public domain historical imagery to producers in all media and > markets. Since few other libraries offered what we did (advertising, > educational, industrial, amateur, and documentary material) at the > time, we quickly became a resource for many producers, including the > BBC. Like other stock footage companies, we zealously controlled the > reproduction of our material, limiting the dissemination of research > materials, requiring the return of all master tapes, and policing > footage reuse by clients. > > At the same time that we attempted to preserve the value of our > library by pursuing this "model of scarcity," we encountered an > escalating number of requests for our material by parties manifestly > unable to pay our license fees: students, educators, nonprofit and > community organizations, artists, local access television producers, > and many others. We tried to meet their needs as best we could, > serving dozens of qualified users every year without charge except for > recovering hard costs of duplication. This, however, distracted us > from pursuing revenue-generating projects, and often cost us more than > we were able to recoup through duplication fees. Gradually we became > aware that our library possessed significant historical and cultural > value, and that there was a contradiction between the demands of the > marketplace and what we recognized as desirable public cultural policy > - re-injecting documentation of the past into the present so as to > historically contextualize our experience today, and providing > contemporary scholars, students and mediamakers with imagery needed > for study and discourse. > > On our own, we lacked the resources to appropriately address this > issue. In 2001, however, a new means of distributing our archival > collection emerged. We partnered with the nonprofit Internet Archive > (http://www.archive.org) to build an online moving images archive. > Initially making 1,001 archival films available, the collection has > now grown to over 1,900 titles. Our notion was to make a body of > rather elusive historical material available online to all without > charge. We chose to make material available in a variety of formats > and resolutions (including MPEG-4 to MPEG-2) so as to enable both > viewing and actual reuse of footage in new projects, and licensed it > under a Creative Commons license. > > Though initially I had real reservations about this project and its > potential deleterious effects upon our commercial stock footage > business, which continues to serve as our primary source of income (we > are now exclusively represented by Getty Images throughout the world), > we have been pleasantly surprised with the consequences. Two million > digital video files have been downloaded. Our footage has turned up > in literally hundreds of productions ranging from mainstream > television to nonprofit community-oriented videos. Since most of > those using our material would not have been in a position to pay > normal stock footage license fees, they do not represent lost income > to us and we are very pleased that the material can be more widely > used. In cases where our material has appeared in commercial > productions without payment of license fees, we have found that the > exposure and credit has quite frequently led to new business. Many > paying customers are also using the free online collection at the > Internet Archive as a source of lower-resolution footage for rough > editing, and then proceeding to order high-quality submasters through > Getty. > > One might ask why anyone would continue to pay license fees, given the > availability of our material online without charge. The reasons are > simple. First, if a user wishes access to physical materials > (videotape or film) for editing purposes, they must contact Getty > Images and pursue a normal (paid) stock footage transaction. Second, > if a user is not satisfied with a Creative Commons license and wishes > a written license agreement executed specifically in their name, an > agreement that carries the customary warranties, representations and > indemnities, they must pay Getty for such a license. Third, it has > been our experience that many users are eager to pay a stock footage > library for their curatorial and artistic advice and judgment. Getty > Images itself often refers customers to the Internet Archive site, and > references it in their new promotional magazine. In short, we have > created a two-tier distribution system, and it works extremely well. > > The increased visibility of our archival material and the publicity > surrounding this resource have brought us greater revenue, in 2003 and > 2004 some 20 percent above that of preceding years. I find this > striking because the stock footage industry has until very recently > been in a recessionary period. All in all, it has been a positive > experience. We are continuing to add new material to the free online > collection and have encouraged others to do so as well. > > I believe there is a lesson here for the BBC Creative Archive. Besides > all of the manifest educational and cultural benefits of this project, > I strongly suspect that it will also benefit BBC Worldwide and its > footage licensing business. As the Creative Archive grows to > encompass a greater percentage of the BBC's legacy output, it will > serve to promote a greater range of content to commercial media > producers and others who must pay license fees, as well as making that > content available to the educational and nonprofessional sectors. > We have found that the "model of scarcity" no longer pertains to > intangible assets such as archives. Images and sound gain value > through ubiquity. The more our images are seen, the more people > request to license them. Reorganizing our business model into a > two-tier distribution structure and taking every opportunity to let > our non-paying users serve as promotional agents has been a successful > experience for us, and I hope that the BBC will consider our > experience as it debates the shape and scope of the Creative Archive. > > With all best, > > > Rick Prelinger > President > > > -- > > Rick Prelinger > Prelinger Archives http://www.prelinger.com > P.O. Box 590622, San Francisco, Calif. 94159-0622 USA > footage@panix.com > > Online film collection at Internet Archive: > http://www.archive.org/movies/prelinger.php > - - - - - - - - - Rick Prelinger Prelinger Archives. San Francisco footage@panix.com