Access...an e-newsletter for Creator Affiliates: March 2013

All creators who were affiliated with Access Copyright as of December 31, 2012 are eligible to make a claim for this year's payment. The deadline to make a claim is May 31.

The eligible publication years for your 2013 Payback claim are works published in print format between the years 1992 - 2011. Works published in 2012 will be requested next year. Digital/online works are not eligible.

You do not need to submit a 2013 claim if:

You submitted a claim in the past and do not have any new (2011) works to add. Your 2013 payment will be calculated based on the data previously submitted, or
You did not publish any works between the years 1992 - 2011 in print format and for which you retain copyright.

For more information on Payback, please visit our website or contact our Distribution Services department.

Important Income Tax Information

The royalty payments you receive from Access Copyright are considered taxable income. As a result, Access Copyright tracks these payments and records the annual amount paid on a T5 slip, which were mailed out to our affiliates at the end of February.

Royalty payments are indicated on box 17 of your T5 slip. They can be reported on your income tax return in either of the following ways:

Line 101 (Other Income)
Line 135 (Self-employment Income)
Line 121 (Interest and Other Investment Income)

If you report your royalty income from Access Copyright on either Line 104 or 135 of your tax return, you may be contacted by the Canada Revenue Agency to clarify where you reported your royalty income.

For more information on reporting royalty income on your income tax return, please visit the Canada Revenue Agency website .

If you did not receive a T5 slip from Access Copyright, please contact us.

Over 90% of Access Copyright Affiliates Satisfied with Payback

Ninety-one percent of Access Copyright affiliates reported that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with Payback in a fall 2012 satisfaction survey on the annual payment, which is an eight percent increase from the results of last year's survey.

The survey, which measured our affiliates' satisfaction with all aspects of the annual Payback payment, saw an increase in our affiliates' satisfaction level with every part of the process, including their dealings with our staff, the online payment claim process and their overall satisfaction with Payback.

The survey showed substantial increases in our affiliates' satisfaction with the fairness of Payback and with the payment they received last year.

When our affiliates were asked about our staff and the customer service they provide throughout the Payback claim process, the satisfaction scores were among the highest received on the survey. Our staff works hard every year to help our affiliates to complete their Payback claims and we are pleased that survey respondents affirmed that our staff are courteous, effective and ensure that they provide the answers that our affiliates need.

All affiliates who received a Payback payment from us last year were invited to fill out this survey. Over 9,000 affiliates were eligible to take part and we had a survey response rate of 32%.

This is the second year that we have conducted a satisfaction survey on Payback.

The results of the survey are available on our website.

43% of Access Copyright Royalties Were Distributed to Creators in 2011

Last fall, Access Copyright conducted a survey to determine the amount or percentage of royalties that publishers distribute to unaffiliated creators.

The results of the survey indicate that 33.4%, or just over $2.4 million, of the total amount of royalties paid to affiliated publishers (just over $7.3 million) were subsequently passed along to non-affiliated creators in 2011.

When factoring in the amount of royalties that we distribute directly to Canadian creator affiliates, including the annual Payback payment in 2011, 43% of royalties were distributed to creators and 57% of royalties were distributed to publishers.

All publisher affiliates who received more than $200 from us in 2011 in title-specific royalties to pass along to unaffiliated creators received an invitation to fill out our survey. We had a survey response rate of 84%.

The results of the survey are available on our website.

Access Copyright's Annual General Meeting will be taking place on Friday, April 26 in Toronto at the Courtyard by Marriot. The AGM will be preceded by a one-day Summit, The Next Chapter: Summit 2013, which will provide an opportunity to discuss the collective future of Access Copyright.

Delegates to the Summit and the AGM will be selected by our member organizations.

Access Copyright Distribution Update

In 2012, Access Copyright distributed $60,042,298 to creators and publishers, a significant increase from the $23,540,374 that was distributed in 2011.

This increase was due to a number of one-time only events that will not happen again in 2013.

Ninety percent of the royalties withheld in trust under the 2005-2009 K-12 Tariff were distributed in the fall of 2012 as only a small portion of the K-12 Tariff remained subject to review by the Copyright Board of Canada after the Supreme Court of Canada decision. Almost $29.3 million of these royalties were distributed to rightsholders with the majority distributed according to our title-specific K-12 distribution model.

Six-and-a-half million dollars was set aside by the Access Copyright Board of Directors for a special, one-time payment to be shared amongst creator and publisher affiliates in recognition that the cost of the K-12 Tariff was borne by all affiliates.

There was also a marked increase in full-reporting royalties distributed last year due to improved efforts by Access Copyright staff to match undistributed royalties to the creators and publishers for whom these royalties were meant.

As well, there was an increase in distributed royalties collected from our corporate licensees.

Access Copyright will distribute royalties three times this year with the first scheduled distribution of the year in June 2013. Please visit our website for the 2013 distribution schedule.

K-12 Tariff Update

On January 18, 2013, the Copyright Board of Canada issued its redetermination on the rate for the Access Copyright Elementary and Secondary School Tariff, 2005-2009 as a result of the Supreme Court of Canada decision from July 2012 and a dispute over the tests and exams exception in the Copyright Act.

The Copyright Board released a favourable decision on the tests and exams issue. The final K-12 Tariff 2005-2009 rate is re-certified by the Copyright Board at $4.81 per Full-Time Equivalent student. The full decision from the Copyright Board can be found here: http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/decisions/2013/Access-Redetermination-18-01-2013.pdf.

A Busy Winter for Education Licensing Development

Our Education Licensing Development team, which works extensively with the K-12 and post-secondary sectors, has done a great deal of outreach with the K-12 and post-secondary communities in January and February.

Efforts have included attending the Ontario Library Association Super Conference 2013, Reading for the Love of It 2013 and the Greater Edmonton Teachers' Convention. At each conference, the department had the opportunity to meet with K-12 teachers and librarians and to discuss the value of our services to elementary and secondary schools across Canada.

They have also had meetings with several universities across Canada, including Nipissing University, the University of Alberta and King's University College, as well as presented to Faculty of Education students at Charles Stuart University and Tyndale University College.

Canadian Society for Training and Development 2013 Calgary Symposium

Rob Weisberg, Access Copyright's Manager of Corporate Licensing Development, will be presenting at the Canadian Society for Training and Development's 2013 Calgary Symposium, in Calgary from May 29 to 31.