While the focus for ALLi's news is the Anglophone marketplace, it is often the case that stories from other territories are of direct interest. And that's the case with this week's first story, looking at a recent report from Italy. Thanks to Publishing Perspectives for highlighting this.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
The headline announcement from the report, based on a survey of 3,800 individuals, is a claim that piracy accounts for almost a third of the whole Italian market. A quarter of those over fifteen years of age had downloaded an e-book or audiobook from a piracy site, and 36 percent had committed some kind of piracy. As I work in a university by day, I was particularly taken by the claim that 76 percent of university students had committed an act of piracy in the past year.
Of course, the usual caveats around the impact of piracy apply. Had each of those downloads not been from a pirate library, would the downloaders actually have paid out for the retail download? I am fairly sure some would, meaning that lost income is real, but not all.
AI Summaries and Copyright Confusion
AI use and attitudes also come under the spotlight. One of the most interesting findings is the prevalence of AI-generated summaries and reworkings of copyrighted works. Twelve percent of respondents had used them. And really interestingly, there was a 70 percent satisfaction rate amongst them with the results. And finally, and rather worryingly, two-thirds of those questioned didn't realize that uploading copyright works to AI models is illegal.
Content Marketplaces for AI Training
And that brings us to the other AI story that is of real interest to all of us: the emergence of “content marketplaces.” A content marketplace is somewhere rights holders can upload works, and tech companies can pay to license those works for training AI. Microsoft launched its marketplace earlier this month. And Amazon announced concrete plans to do something similar.
Interestingly, as Mark Williams notes, all the early adopters of the Microsoft platform are news media publishers, not those who deal in trade or academic books.
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
If you’re an ALLi member, head over to the SelfPubConnect forum for support from our experienced community of indie authors, advisors, and our own ALLi team. Simply create an account (if you haven’t already) to request to join the forum and get going.
Non-members looking for more information can search our extensive archive of blog posts and podcast episodes packed with tips and advice at ALLi's Self-Publishing Advice Center.
