AI licensing offers societies and publishers a significant new revenue opportunity, but the decisions involved carry long-term consequences. Terms agreed today will shape how content is used and valued, and whether an organization’s brand remains visible as AI reshapes how people find information.
C&E brings a practical, market-informed perspective on AI licensing, grounded in:
- AI advisory work with clients
- Direct involvement in AI licensing negotiations on behalf of clients
- Ongoing analysis of AI licensing deals and emerging market practices across societies and publishers
- Extensive experience negotiating publishing and distribution agreements for societies, where AI licensing terms are increasingly central
Our services, outlined below, provide the flexibility to meet clients where they are and support them as their AI licensing needs evolve.
AI Licensing Workshops
When AI licensing opportunities arrive, most leadership teams don’t yet have a shared framework for evaluating them. OOur private workshops help staff and executive leaders build that framework, covering:
- AI licensing fundamentals and market trends
- Understanding and assessing the value of content
- Strategic guardrails for evaluating licensing partners, opportunities, and deal terms
- Decision authority and governance
For societies that publish with a publishing partner, the workshop also addresses how the publisher’s existing rights and AI licensing activities affect the society’s options.
Tailored AI Licensing Support
For organizations already fielding requests or evaluating specific proposals, C&E provides hands-on support tailored to the opportunities and decisions they face. Support can include:
- Prioritization and triage: Developing frameworks and processes for evaluating incoming opportunities and deciding which to pursue
- Strategic approach: Establishing guardrails, an approach to content valuation, and governance where these are not yet in place
- Deal support: Providing strategic advice and direct negotiation support on active deals for select clients.
AI Licensing Market Watch
The AI licensing market is evolving rapidly. C&E offers quarterly market updates that examine what has changed, why it matters, and the implications for societies and publishers.
AI Rights and Your Publishing Agreement
For scholarly journals and books, publishing agreements often grant commercial publishing partners exclusive rights to use and monetize content. In return, societies typically receive royalties based on the revenue generated.
These agreements now routinely extend to AI applications. This includes the right to license your content for:
- AI training datasets
- Generative AI systems and outputs
- Derivative content creation
- Integration into AI platforms
- Use by developers and corporations building their own AI tools and agents
Depending on the terms of the agreement, exclusivity restricts your ability to independently use or license your content for AI purposes without your publisher’s approval. This makes it critical to evaluate the scope of rights being granted and the compensation structures attached to them.
We help you navigate the AI rights relationship with your publisher, including how your organization is compensated for AI rights, what control you retain, and what opportunities you can pursue on your own.