"If Access Copyright didn’t exist, an organization like it
would need to be created."For me, 2024 was defined by listening and learning.
When I joined Access Copyright in January of last year, it was important to me to hear from the organization’s membership, its affiliates, and other representatives of Canada’s wider cultural sector. Their perspectives served to complement the knowledge and expertise of Access Copyright’s staff and Board of Directors.
I wanted to understand how Access Copyright is perceived in today’s publishing ecosystem. I also wanted to know how our community envisions Access Copyright’s future.
In these conversations, I was often encouraged to hear that despite the many challenges that Access Copyright has faced, it continues to serve as an important piece of Canadian cultural infrastructure. If Access Copyright didn’t exist, an organization like it would need to be created.
This was reinforced on the many occasions I had to engage with our international network during the past year, including at the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organization’s World Congress and General Assembly 2024 in Quebec City, admirably hosted by Copibec, our Quebec counterpart. Collective licensing remains a best practice for copyright management in markets around the world, and the opportunity to learn from international reproduction rights organizations, including those serving the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Belgium, has been invaluable. As Access Copyright looks to the future, we can draw inspiration from the rest of the world for marketing our corporate-licence offering more effectively, as well as developing collective-licensing solutions related to the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
This outreach is part of an effort to rededicate ourselves to Access Copyright’s primary mission of content licensing and royalty distribution, along with copyright education and collaborative advocacy work, which we continue to pursue in partnership with colleague organizations in both English- and French-speaking Canada. These efforts were bolstered by important work to reduce our expenses, which contributed to increasing distributions to rights holders and shaping a sustainable financial future.
Guiding our work is a new three-year strategic plan, which sets out an ambitious path forward for Access Copyright. We will develop and implement a new sales strategy to grow our corporate-licence customer base, take steps to re-engage with Canada’s educator sector, continue to raise awareness about the importance of copyright, and strive to increase Access Copyright’s operational efficiency.
The plan is the result of the efforts of many from across the Access Copyright community who provided insight and input. We are grateful for the high level of engagement the planning process generated. Thank you to all who participated in the process; the plan is stronger for your contributions.
At its core, the strategic plan provides a renewed sense of purpose and meaning to the work we do here at Access Copyright. We are eager to build on the foundation that is already in place, to apply the lessons of the past, and to imagine new ways of serving and collaborating with our community.
On we go!
When I joined Access Copyright in January of last year, it was important to me to hear from the organization’s membership, its affiliates, and other representatives of Canada’s wider cultural sector. Their perspectives served to complement the knowledge and expertise of Access Copyright’s staff and Board of Directors.
I wanted to understand how Access Copyright is perceived in today’s publishing ecosystem. I also wanted to know how our community envisions Access Copyright’s future.
In these conversations, I was often encouraged to hear that despite the many challenges that Access Copyright has faced, it continues to serve as an important piece of Canadian cultural infrastructure. If Access Copyright didn’t exist, an organization like it would need to be created.
This was reinforced on the many occasions I had to engage with our international network during the past year, including at the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organization’s World Congress and General Assembly 2024 in Quebec City, admirably hosted by Copibec, our Quebec counterpart. Collective licensing remains a best practice for copyright management in markets around the world, and the opportunity to learn from international reproduction rights organizations, including those serving the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Belgium, has been invaluable. As Access Copyright looks to the future, we can draw inspiration from the rest of the world for marketing our corporate-licence offering more effectively, as well as developing collective-licensing solutions related to the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
This outreach is part of an effort to rededicate ourselves to Access Copyright’s primary mission of content licensing and royalty distribution, along with copyright education and collaborative advocacy work, which we continue to pursue in partnership with colleague organizations in both English- and French-speaking Canada. These efforts were bolstered by important work to reduce our expenses, which contributed to increasing distributions to rights holders and shaping a sustainable financial future.
Guiding our work is a new three-year strategic plan, which sets out an ambitious path forward for Access Copyright. We will develop and implement a new sales strategy to grow our corporate-licence customer base, take steps to re-engage with Canada’s educator sector, continue to raise awareness about the importance of copyright, and strive to increase Access Copyright’s operational efficiency.
The plan is the result of the efforts of many from across the Access Copyright community who provided insight and input. We are grateful for the high level of engagement the planning process generated. Thank you to all who participated in the process; the plan is stronger for your contributions.
At its core, the strategic plan provides a renewed sense of purpose and meaning to the work we do here at Access Copyright. We are eager to build on the foundation that is already in place, to apply the lessons of the past, and to imagine new ways of serving and collaborating with our community.
On we go!