Journalism Research and Random Meanderings

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Protect Your Copyright - Get a Healthy Bonus 

Freelance Journalism being what it is, we don't get many breaks so it's nice when we do.

I got mail from Access Copyright and even with "Pay to the Order of" showing clearly in the window of the envelope my expectations were not very high.

Those expectations were stratospherically surpassed when I openeded it. The amount represents the 2nd largest payment I have received for my work as a freelancer and it was from the unattribuatble royalties pool.

access copyright » rightsholders: "Any Canadian citizen or permanent resident who has published works in Canada in print form and is not affiliated with another RRO (e.g. COPIBEC) can apply to become an Access Copyright affiliate. This includes writers, illustrators and photographers and publishers of books, magazines, journals and newspapers. It costs nothing to become an Access Copyright affiliate.

As an Access Copyright affiliate, you will receive royalties whenever your works are copied and this copying is reported to Access Copyright. As well, each year we receive royalties that, due to insufficient information, can't be attributed to specific Canadian copyright owners. These royalties are pooled and divided among copyright owners who were affiliates of Access Copyright at the start of the fiscal year in which the royalties were collected. Most Access Copyright affiliates receive payments from this pool, but the amount per affiliate varies from year to year.

There are other benefits as well: Access Copyright may act on your behalf to protect your rights, by following up on reported infringements of your copyright and taking action which is necessary or advisable. And you'll be kept in the loop about copyright issues through Access Copyright's various publications and educational sessions."


I spent some of the money renewing my Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) membership and plan to get one of their press cards.

CAJ also has a fairly comprehensive health insurance plan