JK Rowling has filed a lawsuit against a fan who intends to publish an unauthorized reference book based on the Harry Potter series.  The guide, as I understand it, began online as a fan site and was something that even Rowling gave praise for and used to connect with her fans.

Until he decided to publish his work in a book.

“Rowling said she was especially irked that the site’s owner and the lexicon’s would-be publisher, RDR Books, continued to insist that her acceptance of free, fan-based Web sites justified the efforts.”

RDR Books defends the publication as a legitimate literary activity. I don’t know much about the world of publishing, but a quick search for ‘unauthorized reference guide’ on Amazon turns up all kinds of goodies on Charmed, Ally McBeal and The Da Vinci Code for starters.

But this exerpt from Reuters was of interest to me- the fan who is a “a librarian, had spoken at Harry Potter academic conferences in Britain, Canada and the United States and that a timeline he created was used by Warner Bros. in DVD releases of the Harry Potter films.”

Is it justifiable for Rowling and Warner Brothers to use his content but he cannot use hers? This fan has probably done a lot to promote her work and it’s not likely she gave him any of her billions (yes, billions) of dollars for his time and effort. Maybe Rowling got too close to the fan site? Maybe she shouldn’t have acknowledged it at all. Or mabye she should have acquired the site? In any case, this is what I would do at this stage: I would authorize it, cut a deal for a percentage and give my proceeds to charity. But maybe that’s not how it works in the publishing world- I’m not sure.

In a related note, a few weeks ago I was working on something and I needed to grab a clip of a game for our archives. It was just for internal reference (nothing we’d post back to the site or make money on). I ended up on Youtube because I know that fans can put the best trailers and tributes together because they’re so passionate. And there it was, a complete video on how to play- complete with voice over and edits.

Your fans are your business.  They can be your PR department and in some cases- your content creators. Suing your fans or content creators is not good business.

In the early 90s, I became a hardcore fan of Throwing Muses-a band that started in the 80s by Kristen Hersh and step-sister Tanya Donnelly.  Hersh is a quirky and skilled songwriter whose changing tempos and melodic picking style really appealed to me and influenced my own songwriting. Her unique style and attitude towards breaking the angry-young female stereotype was also refreshing and something I could relate to.

According to Wikipedia:

“The New York Times pointed to Hersh’s explorations of “rage, aggression and mental chaos” as evidence that there were at least a few female rock music artists by the early 1990s pushing against gender role boundaries to express “more than simply vulnerability or defiance” in their work.”

This year, that same tenacity saw Hersh starting a new phase of her career by introducing CASH Music. Hersh is dropping the artist-label norm for a business model that is “akin to public radio’s listener supported programming and Community Supported Agriculture’s subscriptions to underwrite crops.”

Hersh says: “Music is a tenuous profession in good times, hard times mean some of us disappear. I’m not looking for pity, but collaboration. Coming to you is the best way I can think of to continue being a musician.” You can read the full manifesto here.

Essentially Hersh licenses her work through Creative Commons and offers up her Pro Tools mix stems to the public. Her followers can mess around with them all they want as long as they agree to the same license when uploading their collaborative work back to her site. She then features the remixes and ‘works inspired by’ on her site. What caught my eye though, were the subscription packages and sponsorship opportunities that she is offering.  As a fan, what could be cooler than a visit to the studio or a credit on her CD?

As an aside, I’m also really liking how artists are taking advantage of Youtube as a tool to interact with their community. Here’s an example of a contest that Hersh promoted on Youtube that required her fans to cover one of her songs (or lip synch). Tori Amos has also taken advantage of Youtube for contesting. Both are excellent examples of not needing to reinvent the wheel in order to interact with your audience.

I find it inspiring to see artists like Hersh seeking out new opportunities. And with bands like Radiohead exploring digital download models and reporting success, I figure these are growing pains and it’s only a matter of time before the music industry transforms and adopts a business model that works for everyone.