Should readers get permission to make podfic?

[jesse_the_k]

While I just argued that the act of podficcing adds "fannish value" to a work, I'm unsure that readers must obtain an OK from the writer to make a recording.

Since I'm a newbie, I did some research. While I don't think it's possible for a podfic to fundamentally change a source in the same way, I started with remixes, since there's the same "permission" issue there. It seems most remix challenges are based on a mutual remix: by participating in writing, each fan also permits their work to be remixed (with one "safe" work held inviolate).

The Fanlore Wiki told me:

 begin quote 
Though remixing in both fanfiction and vidding has become enormously popular, not all fans embrace the concept. [... snip ...] Though some fans feel any story is fair game for remixing, others believe that permission should be gained from the author first before using their work as a jumping-off point. Many fans feel it's hypocritical to reuse the original creations of the copyright holders in the canon while protesting that anyone should be allowed to remake their fanworks.
 quote ends 

Current metadata don't state whether the podfic's reader has the writer's permission. Would the absence, permission or refusal of writer's OK change how you'd choose or read podfics?

Comments

[niko]

I'm new-ish, too, so take this for what it's worth... From the "reader" side of things, even if community standards evolved to say it wasn't expected, I don't think I'd ever be comfortable just grabbing a story and recording it without speaking to the author first. I actually feel a little awkward when I find myself eyeing a story that has blanket permission, because I still have that "ask first" impulse clashing with the permission already existing.

That being said, one complication is the issue of an author having drifted away, changed addresses, or just not being around to ask permission of. Since my main fandom is 10+ years old, I'm foreseeing having that problem at some point - getting attached to a particular story and not being able to track down the author. That would definitely be a test on my "ask first" resolve.

[jesse_the_k]

Which brings it back round to the point zvi made, re: re-archiving.

I've spent most of my fannish life in Due South, where the canon closed a decade ago! Pawing through older rec lists, with the help of the Wayback Machine at archive.org, I collected enthusiastic reviews of a fic that was no longer available.

I was thrilled when I saw it on the http://audiofic.jinjurly.com archive, and yet I also wondered ... which led to my post.

I think this is also a meta-issue for producers—writers and recorders.