After the initial 7-year distribution period, the rights holder (RH) has concluded their contractual obligation with the producer/narrator.
A RH then can pull the book from Audible after the 7-year distribution term expires and then upload it back to Audible (and/or any other site) without any compensation or even notice to the narrator/producer.
The only way the author can remove the narrator from a Royalty Share/Royalty Share+ (RS/RS+) contract is by pulling the book from Audible. RHs can remove the narrator/producer from the contract in 2 ways:
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- buying out the narrator’s portion of a RS/RS+ contract before the end of 7 years
- pulling the book any time after the end of 7 years by sending a notice to Audible terminating distribution at least 60 days before the end of the distribution period
If they end distribution after 7 or more years —and consistent with their rights over a Per Finished Hour (PFH) project on ACX at the moment they pay for it — the RH owns the RS/RS+ audiobook files outright. They can do whatever they want to with the files, including re-distributing the audiobook through Audible and other sites. They also can license the audio rights to a production company or personally hire another narrator to re-record the book.
The 7-year Distribution Term and termination notice requirements are outlined in section 5 of the Book Posting Agreement, which is the RH’s contract with Audible.
Section 10 of the Production Standard Terms, which is the narrator’s contract with the RH and Audible, covers file ownership:
Subject to the restriction on audiobook production rights above and the distribution rights granted by Rights Holder to Audible, Rights Holder will retain all right, title, and interest in and to the Book and the Audiobook, including the copyright in the Book and the sound recording copyright in the Audiobook. Producer agrees that the Audiobook is a “work made for hire” to the full extent permitted by law, with all copyrights in the Audiobook owned by Rights Holder. Producer assigns to Rights Holder all right, title and interest Producer may have in and to the Audiobook, including, but not limited to, all copyright or rights of authorship in the Audiobook.
Be aware that the narrator has no responsibility or obligation to furnish the original masters of the audio files to a RH after the contract has ended. They fulfilled their part of the contract by delivering the completed audiobook. If the RH wants the files, they must download them from ACX.
Other resources on this topic:
- Note that rights holders who choose an RS/RS+ contract MUST have Exclusive Distribution with Audible per Section 13(2) of the Book Posting Agreement for 7 years unless they buy out the narrator. This means the audiobook legally can be sold only on Audible, Amazon, and Apple. If you learn that your RS/RS+ audiobook is being distributed any other way before the end of the 7-year term, the RH is in breach of the contract.
- On a related topic, I want to point out that a RH cannot add your RS/RS+ book to a bundled series unless you narrated all the books in the series. Refer to this ACX Help page for the rules about bundled audiobooks.