I am! Definitely.
On 7/1/2011 9:38 AM, Ball, James (jmb4aw) wrote:
Just got my first offer from a distributor who wants to work
on flexible pricing. Who else is interested?
Matt
______________________________
Matt Ball
Media and Collections Librarian
University of Virginia
434-924-3812
"If the library community wants to figure out a
way to assure distributors they will literally sell 10
times the number of copies if they sell titles at $30 a
pop, I guarantee you distributors would jump at the
chance."
It's
not up to the library community to make assurances for the
distributors, but together we can figure out a pricing
model that's mutually beneficial. It is interesting that
you mention Kino because they are one of the few
distributors I know of that do follow my suggested pricing
model, around $30.00 with no PPR, and I can tell you that
I bought a lot more from them last year than I did from
the other distributors.
As
for the 10 times guarantee, I just
made that very promise. And I'm even flexible on the
price. How about $60.00 with no PPR?
Erika's
offer looks pretty interesting too. Anybody want to take
a test drive?
Matt
______________________________
Matt Ball
Media and Collections Librarian
University of Virginia
434-924-3812
Trust me, educational distributors would be thrilled if
they could sell copies at $30 and basically make the same
sum at selling it at $300, but it will never happen. I
don't doubt you and James will buy a copy of films you
would not otherwise, but many educational titles deal
with very specialized subjects and they are not going to
sell 2.000 copies. Keep in mind that it would also require
a lot more time & money from a company and the real
kicker is they would still have to only do direct sales,
nearly all to institutions. In order for a film to be
really retail they would have to sell 20 times as many
copies since wholesalers would take up to 50% of the
price.
Years ago I did a little experiment at Kino to see if
there could be a middle ground. I curated a 3 title
collection of silent films directed by women. I believe it
was something $50 for institutions and $25 for
individuals per title with a discount for the set. Sold
about 200 at $50 each( or less as a set) did come close
to covering the costs and a few dozen to individuals.
Luckily there had been a TV sale which allowed me to fund
the project. I thought $50 and $125 seemed like a nice
middle ground but in truth had I sold them two or three
times that, they would have made more money. Most of the
institutions would still have purchased them and more than
made up for some that would not have.
If the library community wants to figure out a way to
assure distributors they will literally sell 10 times the
number of copies if they sell titles at $30 a pop, I
guarantee you distributors would jump at the chance.
Filmmakers would be especially happy because there films
would be seen by more people. Sadly it is just not
realistic for the vast majority of educational films and
small distributors are not going to cherry pick one mildly
popular title try to sell it for a lot less.
On Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 10:36 AM,
Peterson, Erika Day - petersed
<peter...@jmu.edu>
wrote:
Hear, Hear.
Jessica is correct in saying that there's a
limited market for the films independent
distributor's deal with. We, the librarians,
know that better than anyone because there's
limited viewership for those titles once
they're in our collection. It's impossible
for me to justify purchasing a film for my
collection that costs $200, $300, $400 or more
just because *I*
think it looks like a worthy title. It has to
be for a direct and immediate academic need.
Then there's the added temptation once we do
have it, to lock-it up like it's the Hope
Diamond, because we paid a small fortune for
it. Thus, even further reducing the film's
exposure to a broader audience.
If I could purchase films for $30, no PPR,
I would buy a lot more titles and be marketing
them to my academic community much more
aggressively.
In fact I'm willing to pinky swear that I
will spend the same amount of money OR MORE
this fiscal year as my average over the last
five years with any distributor that will make
this deal.
Erika
* *
*
*
*
*
Erika Peterson
Director of Media Resources
Carrier Library, James
Madison University
A lot of the collecting I do is
based on faculty requests but they're
requesting Glee and Twilight. An
equally large chunk of the collecting I
do, though, is based on what I think we
*should* have to support broader
curricular needs, and a lot of that
comes from distributors like Bullfrog,
Icarus, Women Make Movies, etc. But
those titles are so expensive that I can
only afford to buy a few per year.
However, if independent documentary
filmmakers sold their films for $30.00
each I would increase my total purchases
from them times ten, probably more. I'm
not kidding. Nothing would make me
happier than flipping through catalogs
with a shiny red marker circling all of
the titles I would love to have. For me,
I would be getting amazing content at a
cost that aligns with a pricing model
that's supportable under the constraints
of my institution's collection development
strategies and budget priorities. For the
filmmakers and distributors it means that
I would be buying more titles, possibly
multiple copies, of videos that I wouldn't
have even considered before, and if I'm
willing to do that then I bet there are at
least four other media librarians who'd do
the same.
There, the filmmakers are still making
money (maybe more) and the visibility of
their films has increased five-fold. Or
is it four? Anyway, you see my point.
Elizabeth, Meredith, Karen, are you
interested? $30.00 per title, no PPR, and
I promise to buy at least 10 times the
number of titles I bought last year.
Or perhaps there's another mutually
beneficial pricing model out there...
Matt
______________________________
Matt Ball
Media and Collections Librarian
University of Virginia
As someone who works with independent
documentary filmmakers, let me tell you
they would be THRILLED to sell their films
at $25 or $30 if they had a chance in hell
of selling 5 times as many as they would
at $250. The subject matter is generally
geared towards the academic community or
at least not to the popular topics that
sell in the thousands and they have a lot
of expenses to recoup and it is a bitch to
distribute. These are simply not the same
as the more popular $19.95 to $29.95
videos you will find at the retail level
and keep in mind the distributor only gets
back 60% or so on thing sold through third
parties like Amazon. I assure you if 1500
institutions would actually buy a
wonderful series of films on the post
genocide justice system in Rwanda or even
one on Gerrymandering ( to plug the ones I
deal with) the directors would be over the
moon to sell them for $25 knowing more
people could see them. When good
documentaries are carried by public
libraries at a fraction of the rate of bad
action movies then you will see a huge
drop in prices, heck if just one in every
500 university libraries bought them you
would see the same.
On Fri, Jun 24,
2011 at 7:31 PM, <ghand...@library.berkeley.edu>
wrote:
---------------------------- Original
Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: [Videonews] How do you
know when you’ve become an artist?
From: ghand...@library.berkeley.edu
Date: Fri, June 24, 2011 4:31 pm
To: "Video Library News" <videon...@lists.berkeley.edu>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem isn't solved if the expensive
title they've taken out and lost is
out of distribution.
All depends on the mission of your
collection (and whether preservation
for long-haul to support teaching and
research is part of it)
Gary (who's cool in Berkeley)
> At the University of Southern
California we have in our collection
> at least 750 documentary films
costing $250 or more. And no effetism
> here. All such films fully
circulate. And if a student happens
> to lose such an item then said
student is fully obliged to reimburse
the
> costs of the film. Problem
solved--and it is a policy that seems
> very much to work for us.
>
> And greetings from ALA and New
Orleans!
>
> Cheers!
> Anthony
>
> *******************************
> Anthony E. Anderson
> Social Studies and Arts &
Humanities Librarian
> Von KleinSmid Library
> University of Southern California
> Los Angeles, CA 90089-0182
> (213)
740-1190 antho...@usc.edu
> "Wind, regen, zon, of kou,
> Albert Cuyp ik hou van jou."
> *********************************
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: jwoo <j...@cca.edu>
> Date: Friday, June 24, 2011 12:33
pm
> Subject: Re: [Videonews] How do
you know when you’ve become an artist?
> To: Video Library News <videon...@lists.berkeley.edu>
>
>> I like this video a lot, but
because the institutional price is
>> $250, it's in the "rare book"
section of my library and students
>> never bother to page it for
in-library viewing. If the library
>> were able to purchase a
home-use copy for $30, the video could
be
>> placed in the circulating
section, and I'm sure many more
students
>> would enjoy and benefit from
the production. IMHO, this is how
>> filmmakers shoot themselves
in the foot. Very few people are
going
>> to see their work if it's
priced for effetes only.
>>
>>
>> On Jun 23, 2011, at 1:54 PM,
Working Title Info wrote:
>>
>> >WORKING TITLE: Career,
Identity and the American Artist
>> >
>> >WORKING TITLE offers
insight and inspiration to students of
all
>> ages who aspire to follow the
courageous path to professional
>> careers in the arts. By
offering a rare and honest glimpse
into the
>> daily lives of five diverse
visual and performing artists, the
film
>> asks important questions,
from the practical (how do you support
>> yourself as a professional
artist?), to the personal (how might
>> this career choice affect
your personal relationships and other
>> life choices?) to the
philosophical (how do you know you are
an
>> artist, and how do you make
peace with that knowledge and come to
>> embrace it as central to your
identity?). This film is a "must-
>> have" for arts educators, and
it gave the undergraduate students at
>> my university new-found
confidence to nurture and celebrate
their
>> artistic aspirations. ~ Paula
Birnbaum, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,
>> Department of Art +
Architecture, University of San
Francisco.
>> >
>>
>
> VIDEONEWS is an electronic
clearinghouse for information about
new
> services, products, resources,
and programs of interest to video
> librarians and archivists,
educators, and others involved in the
> selection, acquisition,
programming, and preservation of video
materials
> in non-profit settings. The list
is open to all interest individuals
and
> list submissions are unmediated.
However the list owner reserves the
right
> to revoke subscriptions to the
list in cases where the intent of the
list
> is routinely violated or where
general listserv etiquette and
protocol are
> infringed.
>
Gary Handman
Director
Media Resources Center
Moffitt Library
UC Berkeley
510-643-8566
ghand...@library.berkeley.edu
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC
"I have always preferred the
reflection of life to life itself."
--Francois Truffaut
Gary Handman
Director
Media Resources Center
Moffitt Library
UC Berkeley
510-643-8566
ghand...@library.berkeley.edu
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC
"I have always preferred the
reflection of life to life itself."
--Francois Truffaut
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the
broad and lively discussion of issues
relating to the selection, evaluation,
acquisition,bibliographic control,
preservation, and use of current and
evolving video formats in libraries
and related institutions. It is hoped
that the list will serve as an
effective working tool for video
librarians, as well as a channel of
communication between
libraries,educational institutions,
and video producers and distributors.
--
Jessica Rosner
Media Consultant
224-545-3897
(cell)
212-627-1785
(land line)
jessicapros...@gmail.com
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage
the broad and lively discussion of
issues relating to the selection,
evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic
control, preservation, and use of
current and evolving video formats in
libraries and related institutions. It
is hoped that the list will serve as an
effective working tool for video
librarians, as well as a channel of
communication between
libraries,educational institutions, and
video producers and distributors.
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and
lively discussion of issues relating to the
selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic
control, preservation, and use of current and
evolving video formats in libraries and related
institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve
as an effective working tool for video librarians,
as well as a channel of communication between
libraries,educational institutions, and video
producers and distributors.
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively
discussion of issues relating to the selection,
evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control,
preservation, and use of current and evolving video
formats in libraries and related institutions. It is
hoped that the list will serve as an effective working
tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of
communication between libraries,educational
institutions, and video producers and distributors.
--
Jessica Rosner
Media Consultant
224-545-3897
(cell)
212-627-1785
(land line)
jessicapros...@gmail.com
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and
lively discussion of issues relating to the selection,
evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control,
preservation, and use of current and evolving video
formats in libraries and related institutions. It is
hoped that the list will serve as an effective working
tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of
communication between libraries,educational
institutions, and video producers and distributors.
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and
lively discussion of issues relating to the selection,
evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation,
and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries
and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will
serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as
well as a channel of communication between
libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and
distributors.
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
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