Sadly Jane we had an experiment with this and it failed miserably. This was admittedly less about tiered pricing and more about the high price of many titles. Most of these titles were NOT sold retail so not exactly on point but the idea was to see if companies could sell titles for less if more librariesbought them. One company ( Sorry I forget which) tried and offered to lower the price from say $195 to $30 if 100 libraries would buy it but I think they only got 20 bites.
I have said before that most filmmakers and distributors would LOVE to sell at lower prices if they could sell enough copies to cover this. This is a separate issue from the "Amazon" issue. In my view once a filmmaker allows a title to be sold in the retail pricing they decided their film is "big" enough for that and they can't expect to sell copies at higher prices to institutions unless the institution needs streaming or PPR rights ( There is an unspoken tension here because many institutions are streaming entire feature films without license or payment). However most "educational" films are not sold on Amazon and I think it is very important for institutions, filmmakers and distributors to work on formula so that people can afford to make these films and libraries can afford to buy them. On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Hutchison, Jane <hutchis...@wpunj.edu>wrote: > I concur with my colleagues in response to the tiered pricing. It seems > that we can compromise and help determine where the bottom line is for > volume sales versus the educational pricing. If prices were lowered, then > the volume of sales would increase. Where is that magic number? It would > be interesting to see if any company would try this and determine if it is > economically feasible to lower the pricing resulting in an increase in > volume purchases and still make it economically beneficial to the filmmaker > and the distributor. Perhaps a discussion at the National Media Market? > **** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > Jane B. Hutchison**** > > Associate Director**** > > Instruction & Research Technology**** > > 300 Pompton Road**** > > Wayne, NJ 07470**** > > (w)973-720-2980**** > > (cell) 973-418-7727**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > *From:* videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto: > videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] *On Behalf Of *Moshiri, Farhad > *Sent:* Tuesday, February 26, 2013 9:54 AM > > *To:* videolib@lists.berkeley.edu > *Subject:* Re: [Videolib] A Distributor's Response**** > > ** ** > > I would like to thank the staff of New Day Film for their contribution to > the never ending discussion of tiered pricing of educational video > programs. But I want to try to break the myth of educational institutions > ability to afford this pricing system. I have been the audiovisual > librarian at a small private university for over ten years. I believe the > main problem is that publishers and distributors of educational video > programs treat all universities and colleges the same not recognizing the > huge differences in library budgets between a well founded large university > and a small university with little money for its AV resources. We use an > allocated formula for our library budget so all disciplines can get > something for their instruction resources. The allocated amount for each > discipline hardly gives them the ability to purchase 1 or 2 video programs > for the whole year with the current institutional pricing the publishers > and distributor have set for their programs. In most cases, when our > faculty, looking for a quality program on a specific subject for their > field, become aware of the pricing, ask me to find a commercial popular > feature film on the same subject instead of the quality educational program > because they need several programs for their courses each year and cannot > afford buying one or two high priced programs. Sometimes I feel that > publishers and distributor are living in another world or on an ivory tower > and do not see what is going on economically in our educational system. I > completely understand the cost of producing a quality film and the small > number of customers that makes the filmmaking expensive. But we should find > a way to see the other side’s point of view too.**** > > ** ** > > Farhad Moshiri**** > > Audiovisual Librarian**** > > University of the Incarnate Word**** > > San Antonio, Texas **** > > ** ** > > *From:* videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [ > mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu<videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu>] > *On Behalf Of *Susan Albrecht > *Sent:* Tuesday, February 26, 2013 8:02 AM > *To:* videolib@lists.berkeley.edu > *Subject:* Re: [Videolib] A Distributor's Response**** > > ** ** > > *From:* videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [ > mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu<videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu>] > *On Behalf Of *Jacqueline Ochs > *Sent:* Tuesday, February 26, 2013 8:30 AM > *To:* videolib@lists.berkeley.edu > *Subject:* [Videolib] A Distributor's Response**** > > ** ** > > We'd appreciate your adding this to the conversation with regard to > Institutional and Home DVD Pricing:**** > > ** ** > > We wanted to share our perspective on the recent spate of emails on the > list serve about the topic of tiered pricing connected to one of the titles > in our collection. When filmmakers complete a film, they look for the best > opportunities to distribute their work to different markets and usually > work with different distributors who hold rights to different types of > markets. New Day Films, as many of you know, is a cooperative distribution > company that distributes to the educational market, which includes > university and college as well as public library, K-12 and community > organizations.**** > > If a filmmaker affiliates with New Day, that means that New Day has the > film's rights to the educational market for his or her film. New Day, like > most other distribution companies, has a tiered pricing system. The cost > per film for academic institutions is higher, for example, than the cost to > a community group or a high school. New Day is responsible for educational > sales, but other types of sales, including sales to individuals, are > handled differently by each individual filmmaker. Most of our members have > some other arrangement in place to sell their films to home or individual > users, and those prices are typically much lower.**** > > The assumption behind the range of prices is that academic institutions > will be able to use their copy of the film for years to come, showing it > multiple times, to large numbers of students. The assumption behind the > home user prices is that it is for one person or family to use. We > understand it is not illegal to purchase a DVD intended for home use from > Amazon and use it in the classroom, but independent filmmakers survive > because of the honor system that Anthony Anderson wrote about in his post. > If our higher-ed customers stopped paying the institutional rates, > independent filmmakers would never be able to continue producing the high > quality films on social issues that faculty and students depend on.**** > > We always are open to finding a solution to pricing concerns so that our > films get used and shown. We also have developed different options for > digital streaming licenses to accommodate the institution that only intends > to use a film one or two times. We always are looking for ways to > creatively work with the video librarian field to fine tune product > delivery and pricing structures that work for higher ed and for the > filmmaker. We hope this helps to explain the tiered pricing approach that > many independent filmmakers use.**** > > ** ** > > Jacki Ochs and Debra Chasnoff, on behalf of New Day Films**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > Let me put out a couple of thoughts in response to this.**** > > ** ** > > I completely get what you’re saying – I really do. However, keep in mind > that – in spite of our best efforts as library/media people – many, MANY > times the only use a documentary gets is individual checkout by interested > parties. It is hardly the case that each documentary I purchase for our > library gets screened by scores of students. Hell, I’m thrilled when I see > a double-digit circulation stat for a documentary.**** > > ** ** > > Here’s my other issue with an academic price vs. a community > group/community college/public library price. Not all colleges and > universities are the same! We, for instance, are extremely small (FTE875), > and while we are not poor, our budget for materials is GOING to be small > compared to institutions with 5,000, 20,000 or 40,000 students. Requiring > a school our size to pay the same as a University of Michigan or University > of Maryland really doesn’t make sense to me. Heck, community colleges are > often much larger than we are. Why the assumption that one “educational” > price is appropriate for all institutions of higher education?**** > > ** ** > > So I admit I balk a bit at the “honor system” comment. I am the steward > of a very modest budget, and while I REALLY believe in high quality > educational & documentary films, I have to be careful. Do I come home from > NMM each year and see what’s available elsewhere at Home Use prices? You > bet I do. I do what I can to support the kinds of films I can get from New > Day, MEF, Bullfrog, Icarus, Video Project, Filmakers Library, Cinema Guild, > Kino, Landmark, ro*co, Passion River, Film Ideas and all the other awesome > distributors out there, but I do also purchase some DVDs at home use prices > from third party sellers. I do it: 1) because my budget won’t allow me to > buy all of the films I want at educational pricing; and 2) when I’m fairly > certain that there won’t be a public screening of a particular title on our > campus. (On occasion, I’ve been wrong about that and have gone back to add > PPR. THAT, for me, is the honor system part of this.)**** > > ** ** > > While I recognize that it would be a pain on the distributor’s end, > offering at least **one** alternate price for institutions under a > certain size would be wonderful. That, or working with smaller schools (as > one vendor already does, and I love them!) to grant them the K-12/public > lib/comm college pricing. **** > > ** ** > > Just $0.02 from the small school POV.**** > > ** ** > > Susan Albrecht at Wabash **** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > ------------------------------ > > This email and any files transmitted with it may be confidential or > contain privileged information and are intended solely for the use of the > individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you are not the > intended recipient, please be advised that you have received this email in > error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of > this email and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received > this email in error, please immediately delete the email and any > attachments from your system and notify the sender. Any other use of this > e-mail is prohibited. Thank you for your compliance.**** > > 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.
