The new Commercial Rights (1 year) and Full-Broadcasting rights (1 year) add-ons

[herrickdestin]

I noticed Fiverr made changes to the rights system. Now sellers can offer buyers a year 1 license for their deliverables (such as voice-overs). Previously, we could only offer a full buyout as a one and done thing with CR and FBR. This did bring more value to the voiceovers, getting us closer to industry standard rates. But it did not provide a means to license your deliverables, which I believe to be the true value in voiceovers. It still makes me wonder, how are we going to be monitoring these licenses? Are our orders a form of contract? 

Overall, I think it's a step in the right direction for Fiverr freelancers and drawing the brand away from the "stigma" of "$5 voiceovers".

Let me know what you think, about this.

Do you find this useful? Are you going to be editing your gigs and selling more licenses?

[chelseavo]

I just updated one gig to reflect the new 1 year option and am excited for this! I believe the order acts as the official "contract" for the license, as the placing/acceptance of an order is an agreeance that the buyer will use the deliverables according to the terms of service (which details commercial/broadcast use for VO in section 11). As long as the add on is purchased, the order would capture it (I'd assume it's up to us to monitor these ourselves though for the 1 year options). I did see they updated the "For Commercial Use" license details to reflect the 1 year options:

https://help.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011569298--For-Commercial-Use-license-details#:~:text=By purchasing “Commercial Use - 1,to extend after this period.

I'm looking forward to slowly updating each of my gigs to reflect the new 1 year option!

[mandyzines]

So, broadcast rights are still a full-buyout? If someone is using what we create as a part of a paid ad campaign then, according to Fiverr, they purchase commercial rights and broadcast rights? 

I can't even find the distinction in the Fiverr help documentation anymore. I did find this, though: 

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by mandyzines

[casey_moonstone]

Mandyzines post was spot on, but people who use Fiverr price themselves too low. It should be a buyout always. That's how Disney and every major works. Not to be evil, but because policing this worldwide and for new versions and simple duplication of the work is impossible. Now consider the people using your voice over work. They are not Sony or Warner Brothers who have big teams protecting their works world wide. Giving them a year and them forgetting about it puts them in a bad position. That's morally irresponsible as creators. Yes we want to eat, but they deserve the same compassion. Finally, let's imagine that the purchaser ops for 1 year. They put your voice onto an animated video. They decide not to pay you for a renewal. You ask them to take it down. They can take down there video, but if it was shared or copied at any point, it's out of their hands. They can do very little to take it down. This is a crucial reason why they need to pay for the full buyout and we need to make it obvious that they need to as well. We also need to charge accordingly. We all set a floor of $150 per hour or something of the sort and not undercut each other to make a sale. That leads to $5 voiceover work and lawsuits down the line.

[mandyzines]

On 1/17/2024 at 8:31 PM, casey_moonstone said:

Mandyzines post was spot on, but people who use Fiverr price themselves too low. It should be a buyout always.

It's the standard to have rights usage limitations for especially advertisement voice overs out there in the world beyond Fiverr. They can be renewed under another contract once the limit has been reached and both parties agree to it. 

Typically, big companies don't want to use the same voice actor that a direct competitor uses. So, if I do an ad for Coke and they have a full buyout, that means I won't get any work with Pepsi--ever--if it's still being broadcasted. 

Voice overs that aren't ads are a little different--i.e. corporate training--and it's common for those to have full buyouts. 

Also in the world beyond Fiverr, contracts are negotiated. A voice actor can add other specific prohibited use clauses, such as voice cloning, any alterations, or use for anything other than a specific campaign.

[casey_moonstone]

This is interesting. I haven't read a contract where this is true, but that does not mean it's not. Typically you are not bound like a record contract to 6 albums, but from inception you do give up the right to anything that is created for the product/gig/etc., therefore you are forgoing any copyright protection because that voice over never belongs to you. The terms define what it is. As for a non-compete clause, that depends on the type of business and contract. What I do know is good practice is to have a look at contract before you sign.