Rights Purchasing??

[fiveroptic1]

Hi all - I just wondered what the forum view is regards Commercial & Broadcast Rights?? This specifically relates to VO gigs, but if it applies elsewhere, please feel free to impart your wisdom.
I'm sure this has been covered before, but what do forum members do when it's blatantly clear that the buyer will be using their product for commercial means and don't pay for 'rights'. As an example, I recently received a script from a buyer - it was abundantly obvious that the 'end' client was able to, and should have, paid for rights. (I recognized the company I was doing this vo for). The middleman, who I received the order from, has not paid - well, so far anyway! 

So, the options as I see them are:
a) to send my buyer repeated messages asking them to pay, threatening to report them.
b) Tell them not to use my vo if they don't want to pay. (They may then cancel the order if they refuse, which of course I don't want them to do).
c) Ignore and just put up with it.
d) Or, something else.     

Look forward to your thoughts.
Thanks

 

[theratypist]

4 hours ago, fiveroptic1 said:

threatening to report them.

Haha I am sure this is just your choice of words, because the threatening might make the situation worse.

I think you should try your best to converse with said buyer about it in a kind and professional matter before anything else.

Talk to Customer Support........ (But I bet they will just say to try it to do your best and sort it out with the buyer)...

Talk to your success manager! I think they will have more input than CS 😆

And lastly, if you ask them to not use the VO. You might have to accept  that the order may get cancelled and who knows what, they still end up using the VO because they already did receive a copy. And you might have to go more lengths to get it taken down. 

[fiveroptic1]

Hi @theratypist, yes of course - the 'threatening' was not meant literally!  Maybe 'aggressive passive persuasion' would have been a better choice of words. 😃
It's a difficult one - but chatting to my success manager, doh - good idea!  I suppose this is something that all content creators have to deal with at some point...  

[gina_riley2]

Just out of curiosity, aren't almost all voice-overs done for either commercial or broadcast? 

(I honestly don't know the difference between the two.)

Wouldn't it be easier if you built your price to include the license? It's easier to keep honest people honest, then to try to convert dishonest people to be honest.

 

 

 

 

[fiveroptic1]

2 hours ago, gina_riley2 said:

Just out of curiosity, aren't almost all voice-overs done for either commercial or broadcast? 

(I honestly don't know the difference between the two.)

Wouldn't it be easier if you built your price to include the license? It's easier to keep honest people honest, then to try to convert dishonest people to be honest.

@gina_riley2, Fiverr actually makes the distinction between the two in its own ToS. I won't go into boring detail here, but there is a difference on which rights are required, dependent on eventual usage. In reality, there are a few exceptions, but they are normally required. 
Re incorporating them into a gig's base price - I agree, in theory a sensible solution and one I have considered, but in practice, the benefits would be offset by the headline price of a gig being uncompetitive. As a newbie, that is something I obviously want to avoid.