This week the DAM (Digital Asset Management) community is converging on the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard for this years DAM LA conference. The show, produced by Henry Stewart Events, hopes to shed light on DAM issues from where to start a DAM to the latest developments in technology, workflow and process. I’ve attended and participated in this event in LA and other versions of this in Chicago and New York in previous years and it is an excellent way to get connected to the latest info and guidance on DAM initiatives….it’s a very informative couple of days.
In a previous post, I opined about the state of Rights metadata management in the DAM world. So, in reviewing the program I was pleased to see that there is a session titled, “Latest Developments in Rights Management,” being moderated by Dan McGraw from Seven Dials Media (and the host of the DAM SHOW podcast) with Linda Burman from LA Burman Associates as one of the panelists along with Skiff Wager from SEW Consulting and Cheryl Besenjak of cbRights Consulting.
Following the NY DAM Show I felt that this topic didn’t get the respect and attention it deserved. Is it getting it now? Considering the session is again taking place in late afternoon timeslot on the second day…I have to wonder. Of course, it could just be a matter of the scheduling challenges and the way the organizers plot out the arc of the sessions but I still think it would get more traction if it took place on the first day. That aside, I asked Linda last week what her thoughts were on the state of rights and she said,
“I don’t think that the problem is that rights get no respect. I think rights metadata is an extremely complex topic and companies are just beginning to grasp that they have to make some rights metadata available to users rather than having every piece of information locked up in the contract that is only available to royalty and permissions managers (and lawyers).”
I would agree with her point. I think content users, whether internal or external, need to have a succinct, consistent, distilled set of metadata that easily communicates the rights snapshot and helps them make the right decisions about content use without needing to interpret contracts on demand or wait on assistance for clearance. Things move too fast and business / content decisions need to be made by those who own the responsibility for its re-use. By doing this leg work in advance you add another layer of value and dexterity to the assets contained with your DAM.