The Government has indicated that it is willing in principle to extend PLR to audio books and e-books. The Department for Culture Media and Sport issued a consultation paper (www.culture.gov.uk), to which the Society responded.
Background
The Society and other writers’ organisations have been pressing for PLR to be broadened to include audio books and, more recently, e-books. In 2007/08 there were 308 million loans of books and 11 million loans of audiobooks from public libraries. The PLR Act 1979 only covers books, so legislation is needed before the Scheme can be widened.
In the Digital Britain report the Government made a commitment to look for an early legislative opportunity to enable PLR to cover non-print versions. Provisions in the Digital Economy Bill will, if approved, allow the Scheme to be modified in due course to include non-print versions. Detailed changes to the Scheme will be worked out later.
Summary of our views
Here is an extract from our submission to DCMS
‘…the response of the Society’s Management Committee can be summarised as follows:
• The Government’s commitment to extending PLR to non-print versions is firmly supported in principle. It is hoped that enabling legislation will be included in the Digital Economy Bill;
• Authors are pleased that the Government has recognized that additional funding will be required both initially and in the long run in order to sustain and preferably increase the rate per loan;
• PLR is a right that has been conferred on authors since 1979. They would like to maintain the principle of only rewarding creators, leaving performers and producers to exercise their lending rights under the CPDA 1988.
• If the Government is only willing to extend PLR to non-print versions with performers and producers included (in order to enable public libraries to be free to lend non-print versions without further ado) most authors will probably not be minded to object;
• For many years it has been widely accepted that PLR should only be conferred on individuals and not on corporate entities. Authors wish to see that practice continue;
• It has long been considered that audio books should be eligible for PLR. They are loaned by - and returned to - public libraries in much the same way as books. Record keeping is highly automated. We assume that it would be relatively straightforward to add loans of hard copy audio books to the existing sampling system;
• While authors continue to support the general principle of e-books being covered by PLR, careful thought will need to be given as to how ‘loans’ of e-books can best be defined and circumscribed. Authors (and, one assumes, performers and producers) will not want to jeopardise any potential opportunities for the commercial exploitation of e-books, especially at a time when the digital market is changing so quickly and new forms of digital exploitation are still being developed. However, we consider that it would be wise to press ahead with enabling legislation, leaving matters of detail to be resolved when changes to the Scheme come to be considered at a later stage.
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