reprinted from an ImageSpan press release:
LAS VEGAS, NV January 31, 2008 ImageSpan Inc., which provides an enabling infrastructure for automated content licensing, and billing, and Wedding & Event Videographers Association International (WEVA), the worlds largest trade association for professional videographers, today announced that all WEVA members now will be able to easily license their digital video locally, nationally and globally, thanks to a new, long-term agreement. The agreement provides the nearly 10,000 WEVA and WEVA Latino members worldwide with access to ImageSpans LicenseStream service, a new and simple-to-use content licensing service via the Web.
LicenseStream, a subscription-based content licensing service that costs non-WEVA members $99 annually, offers a revolutionary new way to license content in minutes anytime, anywhere, and drive revenues by speeding the pace of transactions. With a few mouse clicks, videographers and content creators may upload, register, describe, define rights to their work and then license that work online without paperwork, pricing hassles or middlemen. LicenseStream also helps WEVA members collect royalties while cutting traditional licensing costs by up to 90 percent.
We are excited to bring licensing-with-a-click an intuitive, step-by-step approach to sophisticated content licensing to WEVAs huge membership of professional videographers, said Iain Scholnick, chief executive officer, ImageSpan. By taking care of many back office tasks, LicenseStream helps videographers and other content creators focus on what they do best: create innovative, powerful content and get that content to market as fast as possible to drive revenues and profit from their work.
The new service will be enhanced through ImageSpans creation of a Internet video portal, customized for WEVA members, that will provide each member with access to two gigabytes of storage where they can keep content, create license terms, review usage history, manage their licenses and track usage. The portal will provide automatic Flash previews of any piece of content it stores, enabling both videographers and their clients to quickly locate videos for licensing.
With the demand for all types of video increasing worldwide, WEVA members will now have an easy way through LicenseStream to profit from this emerging market, said WEVA International Chairman Roy Chapman. Using LicenseStream, WEVA members can access many exciting and groundbreaking IT benefits, including online video marketing, content licensing, and automated e-commerce transactions. LicenseStreams encoding also offers our members a simple way to protect their intellectual property, including their online promotional demos and digital images without additional expense. WEVA members will now have an easy way to market, license, and sell their work on a global scale.
Cutting-edge advertisers and media companies already are taking advantage of ImageSpans licensing technology through CurbStream, an ImageSpan online service that provides access to WEVA members worldwide and streamlines the contracting process. WEVA members shoot local footage and upload the raw content via CurbStreams easy-to-use interface. ImageSpan then manages all licensing and sharing of content, ensuring that it is immediately rights-cleared and licensable for use.
WEVA members access to LicenseStream will provide benefits that would otherwise cost individual members hundreds if not thousands of dollars. For example, photographers have long relied on stock photo licensing to earn additional income. The LicenseStream service makes stock footage licensing for WEVA members a quick and easy process.
LicenseStream provides unlimited video and still photo licensing, including standard and customizable licenses. These features allow a videographer to choose predefined licenses or define extensive licensing terms before putting content online, including geographic parameters, timeframe, purpose and fees. LicenseStream can process all aspects of the license, including billing, collections and royalty payments.
The licensing technology developed by ImageSpan uses standards created by the Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS) that simplify the process of granting, obtaining and managing the permissions necessary to use photographs and illustrations. PLUS has been adopted as a creative industry standard by leading enterprises, groups and agencies.
