Should I send files outside ACX?

Should I send files outside ACX?

ACX

An ACX rights holder might be a publisher or agent instead of the author. In these cases, the RH may ask the narrator to submit files to the author outside the ACX system for review.

However, such a request falls outside of the contracted obligations for both parties and should be denied.

Section 6 of the ACX Book Posting Agreement, which is the RH’s contract with Audible, states:

Delivery of Completed Audiobook. When the Producer you engage finishes production of the Audiobook, the Producer will upload the completed Audiobook and one excerpt from the Audiobook to ACX’s title production page in accordance with the requirements of ACX. You will be required to approve the Audiobook and excerpt using the ACX approval submission feature for rights holders in order for the Audiobook and excerpt to be deemed approved and ready for distribution by Audible.

Section 9 of the ACX Production Standard Terms, which is the contract among the RH, the narrator, and Audible,  states:

Delivery of Completed Audiobook. Producer will upload the completed Audiobook and one excerpt from the Audiobook to ACX’s title production page in accordance with the requirements of ACX. If Rights Holder approves the completed Audiobook and excerpt, Rights Holder will approve the Audiobook and excerpt using the approval submission feature on ACX.

Sending the files to a 3rd party outside the ACX system can open the door to artistic micromanagement, schedule delays, and non-payment. A non-contracted party could easily upload the audiobook files to retail sites without the narrator’s knowledge.

 

Other resources on this topic:

 

Filed Under: ACX

What Happens After 7 Years of an ACX RS/RS+ Contract?

ACX

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:

    1. buying out the narrator’s portion of a RS/RS+ contract before the end of 7 years
    2. 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.

 

 

Filed Under: ACX