THE STANDARD By
Frankline Sunday |
February 2nd 2021 at 10:37:29 GMT +0300
US entertainment giants are fronting the enactment of tougher copyright laws as part of ongoing negotiations in the free trade agreement between the two countries.
The United States wants Kenyan authorities to introduce tougher copyright laws in a move that could significantly change the technology and entertainment industries in East Africa’s largest economy.
The demands are part of negotiating objectives in the Kenya-US trade talks that require Kenya’s commitment before the bilateral deal between the two countries is signed.
In a letter to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, more than 3,200 companies, led by entertainment giants including Netflix, Walt Disney Studios, Universal City Studios and Warner Brothers, have asked Kenya to overhaul copyright legislation by introducing tougher penalties for both individuals and corporates aiding copyright violations.
Good e-Reader
Digital books are enjoying a resonance and the format sold 191 units in 2020. This was an increase of 12.6% over 2019 and the first time ebooks sold these many units since 2015. According to NPD BookScan, Kristen McLean, attributed the improvement in ebook sales to several factors, including their immediate availability when stores were locked down and people were doing lots of shopping online. Adult fiction had the largest sales increase among ebook categories, followed by adult nonfiction, and McLean said she expects digital sales to continue to do well in 2021.
Meanwhile, the Association of American Publishers has a little bit more data. In their last report, they said that ebook sales were up 15.2%, and generated $1.0 billion USD for the first eleven months of 2020. When December figures are available next month, we might seen a few percentage points difference, likely around 15.5% and maybe around $100 million in additional revenue.
Jan 29, 2021
Helped by big gains in downloadable audio sales, overall sales of audiobooks posted eight consecutive years of double-digit increases through 2019, according to the Audio Publishers Association’s annual sales survey (conducted by independent research firm InterQ). And 2020 looks like it will have a similarly sunny result. In its monthly StatShot report, the Association of American Publishers said sales of downloadable audio from trade publishers were up 15.2% through the first 11 months of the year over the same period in 2019, offsetting declines in the much smaller physical audio market. Downloadable audio found more of a home at independent bookstores last year, with Libro.fm reporting that the number of units sold through indies in 2020 jumped by 200% over 2019.
AAP PROSE Awards: The 2021 Category Winners
From biological science and ‘The Ethical Algorithm’ to legal studies and ‘Demagogue for President,’ the AAP PROSE category winners embrace 45 fields of study.
The apse mosaic of Sant’ Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna’s patron saint. Judith Herrin’s ‘Ravenna: Capital of Empire Crucible of Europe’ from Princeton University Press has won the 2021 European History category PROSE Award. Image – iStockphoto: Sergio Delle Vedove
Swann: ‘Exceptional Scholarship’
You’ll remember
Today (January 28), we have the winners in those 45 subject categories in this, the 45th year of the PROSE Awards’ operation. And that puts us halfway through the selection-announcement cycle of this long-running award program.