V and A Images (case study)
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OVERVIEW
V&A Images was chosen by Ithaka as a case study in Sustainability to demonstrate a real world example of a theoretical business model. These business models were outlined in the initial report by Kevin Guthrie, Rebecca Griffiths and Nancy Maron, Sustainability and Online Revenue Models: An Ithaka Report (May 2008).
Background
The Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington, London, is the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design. V&A Images, a department of the Museum’s commercial trading company, provides digital images of objects from the V&A’s holdings for a variety of commercial, educational, and personal uses. The department’s objective is to maximise revenue, safeguard the museum’s intellectual property, and encourage the dissemination of knowledge and research.
V&A Images generates revenue in a variety of ways, including image licensing for commercial clients (both directly, and through picture licensing agencies), custom photography and research services, and on-demand generation of prints. Revenue covers most of the direct costs of the image-related services of the unit. However, the department receives a variety of in-house services, such as photography, for which it does not pay, and provides a range of services to other museum departments for which it does not charge, making it difficult to estimate the true costs of its activities and the monetary value of the services it provides. V&A Images’ sustainability is therefore dependant not just on direct costs and revenues, but also on its integration into the work of the museum.
Institutional decisions by the V&A Museum to promote access to and use of their image collections—for example, its recent decision to stop charging licensing fees for academic and educational uses of the content—directly affect the V&A’s budget in significant ways. In addition, intellectual property issues have serious implications for V&A Images’ business, and the expansion of freely-available content on the museum's public website may negatively impact the department’s bottom line. This case highlights the importance of carefully balancing market imperatives with mission-based goals.
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