On the face of it, usage licences for voiceover recordings can seem complicated and arbitrary.
It can come as a surprise to some people than when they commission a voiceover recording, they don’t actually end up owning the voiceover recording. Rather, they have purchased a licence to use the voiceover. Even if the script was written and created by your own fair hands, and you own its copyright, the voiceover performance copyright remains with the voiceover talent.
You buy the licence to use it – commonly known as usage licence.
This licence can put restrictions on where, how and how long you can use the voiceover recording you have commisioned.
4 Factors To Consider When Deciding What Licence Is Appropriate For You
- Geographical Locations : Where will the voiceover be heard? Are you targeting a specific local market on a local radio station? Or a world-wide audience on the internet?
- Amount Of People that will use, see or hear the product? Your voiceover may only be used for an internal presentation and therefore have a much limited exposure than an VO that’s used on a national TV commercial for example.
- Number of Platforms/Media the voiceover will be used on. If you have permission to use the voiceover at a trade show, for example, it does not give you rights to then upload the voiceover to the internet.
- Duration of Licence : How long are you planning to use the voiceover? Would a 3-month licence be adequate, or would a yearly licence be more suitable for your purposes?
So if you want a licence to cover all locations, for all platforms for all time, then this will cost significantly more than a licence for 1 location, a single platform for limited time span.