Copy, Right with CLA
Our position in the creative industry’s ecosystem allows us to deliver the revenues we generate (via the sale of our products) back to the creators and rightsholders, ensuring more work is created in the future.
We will continue to enhance the way we work and the impact we have. Below sets out what we have done and where we are going as an organisation.
Where our revenues go
Our organisation currently has four members:
- The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), represents the rights of authors.
- The Publishers’ Licensing Services (PLS), represents the rights of publishers.
- The Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), looks after the rights of visual artists.
- PICSEL, looks after the rights of visual artists.
We collect information about the licensed content users copy so that we can pay royalties to these organisations and international partners, who then distribute the money to their members, including authors, visual artists, and publishers.
To learn more about our distribution model and our most recent annual distributions, please refer to our Distribution Model Report.
Charitable & community
In 2019, CLA agreed a ‘Policy for Undistributed Amounts’. From 2020 onwards, any monies that are over three years old and relating to non-UK rightsholders, but that we are unable to distribute, may be reallocated to our members for distribution or added to our Development Fund.
The Development Fund supports good causes in the creative industries and assists in developing collective licensing overseas. Since 2020 CLA has donated to a number of different charities and full details of our charitable donations are included in the Annual Transparency Report.
The donations have been very gratefully received.
Listening Books simply could not continue to deliver the wonderful benefits of reading via the spoken word without such generosity. We particularly appreciate your support at this challenging time, when our audiobook service has become more vital than ever for our members
Community activity
Each year our people volunteer to take part in community activity that has a positive and responsible impact on the communities in which we work, while also being a great benefit to staff and their well-being.
Over recent years, teams from our offices in Edinburgh and London, together with some of our field-based workers, have taken time out to support charitable organisations working on local environmental projects.
In the last 5 years, our people have helped:
2023 – KIDS, London
2021 – Tree Time, Edinburgh and KIDS, London
2019 – Gorgie Farm, Edinburgh and Trees for Cities, London
2018 – Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and Vauxhall City Farm, London
2017 – Marine Conservation Society and Dulwich Park, London
Staff organised fundraising events
CLA Sports Day and Bake Sale held in Greenwich Park raised £210 for Team Phoenix Foundation in 2021
Initiatives
Bursaries
We are delighted to be launching the CLA bursary programme.
Check out our live bursaries
Principles for Copyright and Generative AI
With the interests of creators and rightsholders at the forefront, CLA has developed a set of principles to help ensure that generative AI is developed safely, ethically and legally.