There’s been a lot of news and discussion lately around the reuse and protection of online content, with User Generated Content Principles being announced from major publishers like Disney, Viacom and Fox as well as proposed solutions from Google for monitoring videos on YouTube. Our client Attributor offers a neutral approach for the online “Content Economy” with a monitoring and analysis platform for all types of content across the entire Web. While the company has made several large customer announcements with the Associated Press and Reuters, we just recently announced the official enterprise product launch.
Given the timeliness and importance of Attributor’s solution, the news was very well received by content creators and the press, with stories in The New York Times, Editor & Publisher and a couple posts on TechCrunch, among many others. Attributor’s product offers a big picture solution because it’s focused on increasing business and revenue opportunities (as opposed to policing and blocking content) in order to help the Content Economy grow and enable content owners to get their due.
In addition to the product unveiling, and to highlight the potential for marketing and sales opportunities, Attributor released some really interesting research about the reuse of song lyrics online, showing how unofficial lyrics sites are ranking higher in search engines than official sites that are paying royalties to content owners. The effect is that sites copying the material get more traffic and gain revenue opportunities from ads plastered next to the copied lyrics. Nobody (except of course those inappropriately grabbing the original content) would agree that this is a fair and sensible model for the future. Content owners need an easy way to request attribution or compensation for their work and Attributor provides the platform to enable these connections.
Attributor is off to a fantastic start, and it’s been very rewarding to work closely with their execs for the past year and share their technology and vision with the world. More to come!