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

[pekover]

I'm surprised by how many people think an author's permission isn't needed. I wonder if the response would be the same at a community centred around writers rather than podfics?

For me, I post my stories under f-lock. I want to control who has access to them. I'd be more than a little upset if someone took one of my stories out of f-lock and posted it openly as a podfic. I know I'm fooling myself, thinking that I have any sort of real expectation of privacy on the internet, but I would still be upset if anyone deliberately circumvented what meager control I have tried to find.

I don't really know how I feel about podfic of stories that aren't under f-lock to begin with...

[(Anonymous)]

"I wonder if the response would be the same at a community centred around writers rather than podfics?"

There are f-locked communities to which I belong where a reposting outside the community of the original (arguably transformative) author's work, without the original author's permission, is grounds for a ban from that community.

I guess that might not matter to a podficcer who's not a member of that community.

But I also guess I'm wondering what's so sufficiently compelling about the act of podficcing that a potential podficcer wouldn't at least consider a request for permission – particularly in cases, as you say, where deliberate attempts have been made to limit works' exposure.

signed,
lr