If you have not yet seen such contracts, you will. This is not the wave of the future. At ASJA, we are asked more and more often what should be in a good electronic rights clause and what to watch out for . Thus, this paper.
Periodical publishers try to acquire new-media licenses in several ways.
Others ask for electronic rights in addition to ordinary print rights. You license specific uses of it. Electronic uses are not like ordinary print uses. If your article is in a printed magazine, it's part of a publication typically sold on newsstands for a week or a month. Then it's gone, and you may exercise your right to do other things with it.