Who owns the name of a magazine subscriber — the publisher or the agent who sold the sub?
That question is being asked with increasing frequency because of a list put on the market in June.
The Magazine Subscribers of America (MSA) master file contains the names of 1.6 million subscribers, selectable by title.
And that has publishers worried, although none would speak for the record.
Dave Florence, chairman of Direct Media Inc., said publishers “probably don't like it for two reasons: It could be taking rental income away from them, and competitors could be renting their names.”
One publisher, who asked not to be identified, agreed. “My competitors could go in and rent our titles and we wouldn't know about it,” she said. “Publishers are really losing control of their names.”
MSA president Dan Davis maintained in an interview that he owns the names and will continue marketing them.
But Davis acknowledged that he has received calls from several brokers and publishers with concerns about the file, including Newsweek and National Geographic. He also received a cease and desist order last month from one publisher, but declined to name the company.
Ryan Lake, CEO of the Lake Group, sent an e-mail to clients on June 6 warning them about the file.
Lake wrote that the list may be tied to Publishers Services Exchange (PSE), a Washington-based company that is being sued by the state of Oregon and Time Inc. over its subscription marketing practices.
But Davis challenged that. And on June 18, Lake sent out a second e-mail, reporting that he had spoken to Davis who stated that MSA was “in no way linked or connected to” PSE.
Lake continued that he advised Davis that publishers would likely sue his firm over the file, and that Davis defended the practice of renting subscriber names saying that they “belong to him.”
Davis told Lake that the file is comprised of subscribers to more than 900 magazines that his 17 year-old firm has sold through direct mail and telemarketing.
Davis said he works with 10 clearing houses but intends to keep that information confidential.
The Magazine Publishers Association reportedly is developing a task force to deal with list security issues and other concerns relating to agents, sources said.
Florence pointed out that survey lists often contain specific information on magazine subscriptions.
In April, Publishers Clearing House, one of the largest subscription agents, put its magazine subscriber list of 1.9 million names on the market. That file — selectable by subscription category, not magazine title — is managed by List Services Corp. in Bethel, CT.
Pete Pederson, a spokesperson for PCH, said the firm has not received complaints about the file and has the right to market the names.
“There is nothing in the contracts [with publishers] that specify that there is any one particular person that owns a name,” he said.
That may change.
“I'm not sure how comfortable publishers are with subscription agents renting names,” one source said. “We may see changes in what the contracts are reading. In the past this wasn't happening.”
