Company Mission

The mission of Charles Beardsley Archives is to provide media and entertainment content producers with rare, historical visual and audio archival material.

Products and Services

Charles Beardsley Archives will derive its revenues by: 1) the licensing of archival material from its library to entertainment and informational content producers for limited use, and 2) performing professional services such as research, special acquisitions, rights clearances and audio/video production.  Long-term, Charles Beardsley Archives may elect to create, produce and market its own videos for the consumer market, especially given the emerging e-commerce and audio/video distribution capabilities of the Internet.

Charles Beardsley Archives currently has a film/video archive of more than 25,000 broadcast segments, encompassing music of all genres and ranging in date from the 1930’s to the 1990’s.  Content includes live performances, studio rehearsals as well as interviews.

Embedded in many of these film/video segments are television commercials which span six decades, and provide a valuable perspective on the development of advertising and its coalescence with American culture and lifestyle.  These commercials can be marketed to the advertising and educational communities as well as to entertainment producers.

The Market and Its Needs

Stock film/video footage is currently estimated to be a $100 million industry.  Although the industry has previously been focused on “generic” images, it is increasingly moving into the reuse of outtakes from broadcast and theatrical performances.  The market for audio/visual archival material includes, but is not limited to, the following segments:

 Television Producers
 Film Producers
 Video Producers
 Event Producers
 News Providers
 Music Companies
 Multi-Media Producers
 Museums
 Advertisers/Agencies
 Educational Institutions

Demand for archival material will continue to be driven in part by:

Continued consumer interest in nostalgia, especially that relates to music/entertainment.

Expansion in the numbers of television “channels”, which is increasing the demand for broadcast and cable TV programming.

The explosive growth of the Internet, which is driving production of new content and opening up new channels of distribution.

Continued marketing of music “box sets”- typically anthologies or retrospectives, some of which include both video(s) and CD(s).

The strong household penetration of videocassette recorders, which has created a strong market for entertainment and information programs distributed in VHS format.

Increasing popularity of the CD-ROM format and the emergence of DVD-ROM, which enable content producers to combine visuals with music, especially for documentary-type releases.

Competition

The stock film/video/photography business is currently highly fragmented.  Although companies such as The Image Bank (a subsidiary of Eastman-Kodak), FilmBank and others have helped give the industry a professional image, all have built their businesses on generic, proprietary images, and none have focused on the music/entertainment niche.

Strategy

Since the future value of many broadcast performances was not anticipated decades ago, many of these “lost performances” reside not in the media/entertainment archives, but in the film and video collections of private individuals.  As the media/entertainment companies attempt to re-package their history, they in fact must turn to sources such as Charles Beardsley Archives for archival materials to help reconstruct their past.

One of the Charles Beardsley Archives' key strategies is to use its contacts with other private collectors to acquire and consolidate the world’s most comprehensive library of music-related footage.  Additionally, Charles Beardsley Archives controls several collections of previously unreleased photographs and audio tapes, which provide the opportunity to expand beyond film/video footage.

Management

    Charles H. Beardsley II, J.D.- Charles has a law degree from University of California, Hastings College of Law, where he specialized in intellectual property and copyright law.  He owns and operates his own video production company, which has been documenting artists such as John Lee Hooker and the Allman Brothers Band since 1989.  Charles has also acted as Archival Consultant to the U.S. Library of Congress, the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, PBS and the Rolling Stones among others.

Summary

Charles Beardsley Archives is confident that the explosive growth in entertainment and information content/programming offers significant opportunities for building a profitable business with strong, consistent cash flows, revenues and margins.  Charles Beardsley Archives believes that it can take advantage of this opportunity with its current library of music-related material, and that through the acquisition of other music/entertainment-related properties, it can establish itself as one of the leading sources of archival music/entertainment material.

Charles Beardsley Archives recognizes, however, that additional resources would enable it to more quickly establish itself and accelerate its growth.  Therefore, a key strategic objective is to immediately identify a strategic partner with some or all of the following attributes:

A corporate/brand name affiliation which would add immediate credibility;

Office/Studio facilities which would provide for proper, secure storage of archival source material;

Equipment for transferring the existing material to DVD and BetaCam SP for preservation, as well as for duplicating material to be provided to customers;

Capability to market the library to certain key market segments and assist with rights clearances;

A willingness to contribute funds to acquire additional archival material.

Charles Beardsley Archives, Inc. is flexible with regard to how a possible partnership, joint venture or transaction might be structured. Interested parties should contact Charles directly for more information.  Charles can be reached by phone at 818-785-8661 or by e-mail at: [email protected]

1. This contract will confirm the understanding described below between Your Company and Charles H. Beardsley II, who will serve as a consultant, researcher and supplier of archival footage for Your Entertainment Project (herein referred to as the "Project").

2. Charles H. Beardsley II (herein referred to as "Licensor") hereby grants Your Company (herein referred to as "Licensee") a non-exclusive license to copy onto tapes, at Licensee's total and complete expense, all the archival footage referenced in paragraph #3, and to use the resulting tapes in the above described Project.

3. Licensee shall copy the following archival footage:
    Mutually agreed upon archival footage
 
4. Licensee shall use some or all of the audio/video material referenced in paragraph #3 for the Project described above, and agrees that the material will be used for no other purpose whatsoever. In addition, Licensee agrees not to copy or make any reproduction of the archival footage referenced in paragraph #3, whether for loan, sale or private use, in whole or in part, except for the use in the Project described above.

5. Licensee agrees that the archival footage will not be used in any other production or presentation by the Licensee without the express written permission of the Licensor.

6. Licensee understands that the public domain status of some or all of the archival footage referenced in paragraph #3 is unverified at present. Licensor makes no warranties or claims whatsoever, whether expressed or implied, with regard to the rights of the archival footage  involved. No rights are offered, given or implied by the Licensor with regard to the archival footage referenced in paragraph #3 above.

7. Licensee agrees to assume all responsibility with regard to the determination of copyright status of the archival footage referenced in paragraph #3, and agrees to do so prior to the use of the archival footage in the Project. Licensee also agrees to secure all clearances, and to make all appropriate payments, where composer's, lyricist's, publisher's or synchronization rights are concerned.

8. Licensee agrees to indemnify the Licensor and save and hold the Licensor harmless of and from any loss, cost, damage, liability and expense, including attorney's fees, arising out of any claim whatsoever which may be brought based on the Licensee's use of said archival footage referenced in paragraph #3.

9. In complete payment for supplying and archiving the archival footage referenced in paragraph #3 and all related archival consultant and research services, Licensee shall pay the Licensor the following:
    $25.00 per hour minimum research fee
    $50.00 per screener item with time code and/or logo burned in
    $25.00 per second with a 30-second minimum access fee ($750.00 minimum per clip)

10. Licensee agrees to credit Licensor in the completed Project, using characters that are neither smaller nor less prominent than the credit given other archival consultants, researchers and/or footage suppliers.  Licensee also agrees to provide Licensor with a copy of the completed Project immediately upon completion and/or publication.

11. Licensor acknowledges that this agreement constitutes an agreement whereby Licensee is engaging Licensor as an independent contractor and not as an employee of Licensee and in no event shall this agreement be construed to create any employment, agency, partnership or joint venture relationship between the parties. Licensor acknowledges and agrees that Licensor will be responsible for all taxes including business, payroll and income taxes in connection with the rendering of the services above and the acceptance of the compensation set forth above.

12. This agreement shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California.

Agreed on and accepted this day of this Month 1999.
 

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Charles H. Beardsley II                                                  Your Name Here
Archival Consultant                                                        Your Company Name Here
(Licensor)                                                                       (Licensee)