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

[zvi]

Is there a generalized reason why you don't want some stories podfic'd, or is it peculiar to you/the stories?

I find it interesting that you're saying it's polite to let the author know a recording is being made. It seems to me that if you tell the author mid-process, prior restraint on publication seems more reasonable than if somebody had already finished the whole thing. Was that intentional or not?

[unovis]

I didn't want specific stories of mine podficced. The main one is a work in progress that's been revised a few times. To be honest, there are other stories of mine I wouldn't want to have read aloud because a component of their structure is visual -- they weren't created with recording in mind. Yeah, I know the argument about reading your work aloud to see if it's well constructed, but I also know that there are good stories that sound like crap read that way. Try reading Wodehouse aloud, some time. Different effect altogether from the impact on the page.

However, in one case I refused any recording by a podficcer who had recorded and distributed other authors' work without permission or notification. For some reason, she asked me about a planned podfic and was astonished (and felt persecuted) when I was annoyed about her other recordings. It got nasty.

So, with that in mind, I meant "is" as the ongoing as well as the immediate harvesting of an author's work.

I realized after the encounter with the unauthorized podficcer and the friends to whom she distributed her recordings, that some people will do whatever they want with fan work. They bristle at the idea that they need the author's "permission" but might dimly understand that it's polite to let the writer know that the recording of her work is taking place.

[anatsuno]

I'm not sure I understand correctly so I'm going to ask: you were annoyed with podficcer X, because they had recorded some stories written by other writers without asking their prior permission, and so this annoyance/disapproval was then the basis of your decision to not give them permission to record a story of yours when they did ask permission? This is what I think I understood; I'm just not sure it's what you meant.

[unovis]

Yeah, regretting having mentioned this, and no, that's not exactly what happened -- I summarized it badly and I don't want to open the wank again.

[anatsuno]

okay, no problem. :)