protect your voiceover work online

Protect Your Voiceover Work Online: Four Helpful Tips

In this time and age of the internet, voiceover work opportunities are more accessible. However, this has also exposed voiceover files to unscrupulous use and outright abuse over the Web. As a voice actor, how do you protect your voiceover work online?

In this blog, we have listed four helpful tips for online voiceover work protection:

  • Copyright

Anything that you produce as voiceover material, just like pictorial works and literary works, is protected by copyright. This means that no one has the right to use your material without your permission. In the same way, no one is allowed to imitate your work, or to modify and distribute it for public consumption, without your explicit consent.

  • Digital Watermarking

Digital watermarking is an effective way for you to protect voiceover material on the Internet. With this method, you can embed data into a digital voiceover material in order to hide information, rendering the recording incomplete. Digital watermarking also offers a way to alert you, the voice actor, in case there is an unauthorized download, or someone unknown accesses your material. Once accessed, a digitally watermarked voiceover work may also provide an automatic link that redirects listeners to you as the original owner of the recording.

  • Ask Questions

Once the voiceover recording leaves your hands, it can be difficult tracing whether it is being used rightfully or already abused unnecessarily. Prior to selling your material, make sure you ask the right questions to your client. You will want to know where they will use the voiceover work and for how long. Some clients will also opt to no longer credit the voice actor once they purchase the material. Different arrangements work for various people, so make sure you completely understand what your client is proposing to you. 

  • Know Your Responsibilities

As a voice actor, you may be susceptible to copyright lapses yourself. Be careful with impersonating the voice of popular actors or plagiarizing in your scripts. If the script is not originally yours, take time to run through it so you can inform your client of possible plagiarism and copyright issues. Remember, protecting other voice actors’ materials is just as important as safeguarding your own.

The internet has opened vast opportunities for voice actors all over the globe. But this doesn’t mean that any accessible recording should be downloaded without the owner’s consent. As a voice acting professional, you have the responsibility to protect your voiceover work online and to always be mindful about copyright infringement yourself.

 

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