John, this is a large can o' worms...especially
for wild soundscape and critter recordists.
Because the industry (and the culture) pretty
much devalues sound, that defensive virus has
spread to the recordists who've spent their
lives, time, and financial resources capturing
these critical voices. We get asked all the time
by commercial production houses to license sound
for $50 - 100 per sound and categorically refuse
to do it. Then the producers come back to us with
the line that "Well, your colleagues just
licensed a batch of clips for an average of $35
per and you're way out of line." But that cuts
both ways.
To the extent that we all value what we do as
recordists, pricing our efforts comparable to
what serious image houses (Getty, Corbis,
Aperature, and others) charge for a graphic,
raises the value of our work to a range that
makes some sense. Otherwise, we're buying into
the philosophy that what we do continues to have
little worth. By lo-balling ourselves, we
perpetuate the thesis throughout the industry and
nothing changes. Sound ain't worth horsy manure.
It sounds to me like you have an opportunity,
here, to realize a good result from your work. It
may be worth it to contact a NJ attorney we work
with to help you put the project together so that
you get some benefit and so that your efforts are
protected. His name: Doug Breitbart,
and he's terrific, fair with
time and charges, and knows all media inside out.
He's also completely committed to strong
environmental conservation issues.
Bernie Krause
>I'm looking for some help understanding standard practices regarding
>permissions, contracts, and fees for use of nature recordings for film
>ambiances.
>
>I recently received an email asking:
>
>"Your recordings are great! I think I would like to order some. I
>would like to use it for my job, which means for film-ambiences. (no
>re-selling, of course). Problems with this?"
>
>To which I replied something like:
>
>"Any use beyond personal listening will require special permissions
>that may or may not require a fee depending on the scope of the
>specific project."
>
>To which they replied back:
>
>"A permission for a single project is not helpful for me. I would like
>to add the records to my personal sound library and therefore need the
>permission to use it in any film, I will work on. By the way, that's
>how commercial sound libraries e.g. "Sound Ideas" handle it: You buy
>the CDs and you get the permission to use it in any synchronized project."
>
>I'm curious how others would handle a similar situation =96 especially
>knowing many on this list, besides being nature sound recordists, also
>work in music and film.
>
>John Hartog
>
>
>
>
>"Microphones are not ears,
>Loudspeakers are not birds,
>A listening room is not nature."
>Klas Strandberg
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
--
Wild Sanctuary
P. O. Box 536
Glen Ellen, CA 95442
t. 707-996-6677
f. 707-996-0280
http://www.wildsanctuary.com
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