Collecting society
A collecting society is a trade body that manages the interests of musicians, authors and other artists. They collect and distribute royalties from commercial use of their members' intellectual property.

Content
Content is a generic term used to describe information in a digital context. It can take the form of web pages, as well as the information contained in files such as sound, text, images and video

Copyright
Copyright is the legal right granted to an author, composer, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, or artistic work.

Digital
Digital is a term used to describe the storage and transmission of data in binary form. It also describes data created by or held on a computer or electronic device. Common formats such as MP3 and MPEG are ways of storing music and video in a digital form.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)
DRM refers to the administration of rights in a digital environment. DRM solutions may use technologies to protect files from unauthorised use, as well as manage the financial transaction processing, while ensuring that rights holders are compensated for the use of their intellectual property.

Download
Downloading is the electronic transfer of data such as text, images and music files from one electronic device to another - usually from a source such as the Internet, to end user devices such as PCs or handheld devices.

Encryption
Encryption is the conversion of data into a form that cannot be understood by unauthorised users. Decryption is the process of converting encrypted data back into its original form, so it can be understood.

Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting embeds a digital signal in text, image, audio or video files, which may contain information on the end user. This can be used to trace the source of copyright infringement.

Levies
Levies are sums of money, similar to a tax, which are added to the purchase price of an object or service. In the context of digital distribution, levies are used as a means of collecting money due to rights holders from use of their intellectual property.

Metadata
Metadata is simply data used to describe other data. It can be used to describe information such as file type, format, author, user rights etc. and is usually attached to files but invisible to the user.

Rights Holder
Rights Holder is the term given to the person or company that owns the reproduction rights to a piece of content. In the case of digital commerce, DRM ensures that copyright is adhered to, and that rights holders are compensated for each transaction.

Storage
In the context of digital distribution, storage relates to the electronic retention of digital information on a computer or electronic device. Common forms of computer storage are hard drives, floppy disks and CDs.

Superdistribution
Instead of vendors simply distributing content from to user, superdistribution allows content to be passed between users, allowing a much wider and faster spread of files such as music, text and video.

Technical Protection Measure (TPM)
TPMs are technologies such as encryption, watermarking and access control, that are designed to prevent or discourage the unauthorised use of digital files.

Watermarking
Watermarking embeds a digital signal in text, image, audio or video files, which may contain information and proof of rights to a product's owner or publisher.

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