Why Digital Rights Management is Essential for Publishers

The publishing industry thrives on creativity, but efficiency is equally crucial in the digital age. Managing vast quantities of digital content, navigating complex rights acquisition processes, and ensuring copyright compliance can quickly become overwhelming. Statistics show that publishing piracy has risen 189% in the five years from April 2017 to March 2023. This is where Digital Rights Management (DRM) emerges as a cornerstone of streamlined publishing workflows.

The Evolution of Rights Management

Traditionally, rights management has been a labor-intensive process, reliant on manual tracking and communication. Permissions for text excerpts, photo usage, and other media could take weeks to secure, creating bottlenecks in content production. While basic DRM software addresses content security, it often falls short in streamlining the overall rights management landscape.

Understanding the Pain Points

For Research Authors: The process of identifying rights holders and obtaining permissions can be a significant hurdle. Studies show it may take up to 3 months to secure a single permission. Authors in the throes of writing cannot afford such delays. They are forced to plan far ahead, follow up relentlessly, and adjust their content strategy based on permissions timelines.

For Publishers: Managing the digital rights of their copyrighted images presents a distinct set of challenges. Securing permissions for text excerpts and photos often takes weeks with traditional methods, significantly slowing down content production. Spreadsheets for managing text permissions are error-prone and inefficient, while scattered contracts and permission documents create a lack of transparency and control over ownership and usage rights. Collaboration with internal and external teams on rights management can be cumbersome, and publishers often struggle to gain insights into ongoing projects or manage budgets effectively. Additionally, the inability to easily identify and mitigate risks associated with rights ownership, or repurpose existing assets due to unclear rights or difficulty locating relevant documentation, can lead to wasted resources and missed opportunities.

How DRM’s Empowers Publishers with Asset Management:

Tools like iRights transcend basic DRM by providing a suite of tools that caters to the specific needs of publishers.

• Boost Productivity: Real-time risk management and asset repurposing capabilities minimize wasted time and resources.
• Streamlined Text Permissions: Ditch error-prone spreadsheets. Tools like iRights offer a centralized system for managing text permission requests and approvals.
• Seamless Collaboration: Efficient communication and user access control within the platform foster collaboration with internal teams and external vendors for rights management.
• Comprehensive Project View: Gain valuable insights across ongoing projects with a centralized dashboard, facilitating informed decision-making.
• Effortless Scheduling and Budgeting: User-friendly tools simplify scheduling and budget management for maximum efficiency.
• Integration with Stock Vendors: Streamline asset acquisition with direct integration to preferred image stock vendors.

Tools like iRights transcend basic DRM by providing a suite of tools that caters to the specific needs of publishers. Its functionalities include:

• Simplified Retrieval of Asset Documentation: Store contracts, assets, and rights metadata associated with photos/rich media and text permissions within a centralized system.
• Impeccable Contract Management: iRights meticulously manages all contracts associated with acquired photos and other digital assets. This ensures clear ownership records, simplifies licensing processes, and protects you from copyright infringement.
• Centralized Portal for R&P Management: A unified system that enables user access control to operate in any aspect of the asset management workflows, ensuring clarity and streamlined rights management.

For authors and publishers interested in learning more about how to streamline their research and content workflows, can explore our free white paper titled “Mastering Rights and Permissions: A Strategic Guide to Streamlined Content Management in the Digital Era“. This white paper dives deeper into the challenges faced by authors and publishers and offers practical strategies for navigating the rights and permissions landscape.

Publishers seeking a more in-depth exploration of iRights’ capabilities and how it can transform their rights management processes can request a free demo.