The Fannish Life of a Podficer
So, last week I got metafandomed for that post I made on why people listen to podfic. A conversation in the comments however got into ownership of podfic (how much control does the author vs. podficer have) and, well, it got me thinking. So I want to talk a little bit about what I've experienced as a podficer and my thoughts on it, and invite any other podficers to chime in.
When it comes to ownership of podfic, I think it's a 75%/25% split.
Theoretically the podficer has 75% ownership. It's their work and they can do with it what they will once they have permission from the author. The author has some claims on it since it's their story but anything they want done to the podfic has to go through the podficer. But since the podficer has most of the ownership they can choose to not do what the author asks after permission has been given. This is very much supported by the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
podficmeta post "Author Control (After Initial Permission)".
Practically the author has 75% ownership. As a podficer I think of a podfic as my creation. However getting into a fight with an author is... not fun. And you don't want the author leaving hating you and spreading the word that you're a horrible fannish person. Author's carry a lot more weight in fandom than podficers do. One author can complain and then their flist goes and dogpiles the podficer (hey, when I sort of had that happen to me, the author didn't even mention my name and I had everything down in under 3 hours of her making the post and I still had someone find my journal and leave a comment). And hey, even if the podficer can handle it personally, there are now all these people in fandom who are distrustful of podfic and won't allow it for their works.
So, even though I feel like my podfics are my babies, I end up giving up my ownership over it to the author, if they ask, to avoid rocking the boat. And I'm not the only one, as this post by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
general_jinjur shows.
And, the thing is, that's a terrifying place to be as a creator, having someone else control my works. At this point in my fannish life, podfic is my biggest contribution to fandom. I have more podfic than I do vids and fic put together. I've run a couple comms/challenges but a decent number of those were podfic related. So. It's extra scary because podfic is obviously my passion but the author may not even care about it beyond how it's applied to their fic.
I've dealt with 21 authors when it comes to podfic and have gotten the whole range or responses. I had one author who didn't even acknowledge me (they had given blanket permission and so I dropped them a comment and they never responded), I've had another author who created a podfic page on their website and made a special stats page so I could see the hits she gets on it, I've had one author tell me to take my podfic down and I currently have one author actively involved with my podficing process. Most authors fall somewhere in the middle, where they'll be happy and flattered when you ask permission and will pimp it on their journals/fic post when it's done but others can be indifferent. Only a handful of those authors have shown actual interest in my podfic beyond it being their story.
And I'm ok with all of that. I don't actually make podfic for the author. I make it for myself, for the podfic community and anyone who might be willing to give podfic a listen. If that includes the author, awesome! But I don't podfic with them specifically in mind.
But there's always the fear that because the author's are only interested in my podfic as it applies to them that they aren't going to... I don't know. Take into consideration what the podfic means to me and others. In some ways, as horrible as it sounds, I almost welcome the indifference from authors because maybe then they'll forget about what I've done and just leave me with it.
And, obviously, I would never want what I made to hurt someone else. If the author was in some kind of RL trouble and my podfic could get her in more trouble, then I'd gladly take it down. But, there are a lot of people that create things and then later decide they want to take it down (for non-critical reasons, like maybe they just don't like it anymore). And the idea that they'd just tell me to take my stuff down because they no longer like it? It's not a fun one! The one author who asked me to take my podfic of her story down never gave me a reason for it (it was a messy situation and so I felt I couldn't ask) and it still bothers me.
Podfic is still a newly popular(ish) thing. A lot of us are still stumbling around trying to decide how this is going to work. The podfic community is talking it out and deciding how we want things but there certainly isn't universal agreement (is there ever? :P). And the problem is, that the podficers and listeners are only 2/3 of the interested parties. Right now a lot of author's don't even know to get involved. They aren't taking the time to define what they want out of podfic. It's hard for a standard to be set when only one group is negotiating as a whole and the other group only has random representatives. And, as I said above, author's really aren't consistent in their attitudes toward podfic.
In the end it makes me feel kind of powerless, because I see what rights I want to have as a podficer but I also realize that they're called into question every time someone challenges them. I don't know, maybe I think about this a lot more than the average podficer because I had that one situation where I had to take my podfic down but I am nervous about this.
I can't really think of any way to fix this other than to meta about it. So, watch me meta :)
When it comes to ownership of podfic, I think it's a 75%/25% split.
Theoretically the podficer has 75% ownership. It's their work and they can do with it what they will once they have permission from the author. The author has some claims on it since it's their story but anything they want done to the podfic has to go through the podficer. But since the podficer has most of the ownership they can choose to not do what the author asks after permission has been given. This is very much supported by the
podficmeta post "Author Control (After Initial Permission)".Practically the author has 75% ownership. As a podficer I think of a podfic as my creation. However getting into a fight with an author is... not fun. And you don't want the author leaving hating you and spreading the word that you're a horrible fannish person. Author's carry a lot more weight in fandom than podficers do. One author can complain and then their flist goes and dogpiles the podficer (hey, when I sort of had that happen to me, the author didn't even mention my name and I had everything down in under 3 hours of her making the post and I still had someone find my journal and leave a comment). And hey, even if the podficer can handle it personally, there are now all these people in fandom who are distrustful of podfic and won't allow it for their works.
So, even though I feel like my podfics are my babies, I end up giving up my ownership over it to the author, if they ask, to avoid rocking the boat. And I'm not the only one, as this post by
general_jinjur shows.And, the thing is, that's a terrifying place to be as a creator, having someone else control my works. At this point in my fannish life, podfic is my biggest contribution to fandom. I have more podfic than I do vids and fic put together. I've run a couple comms/challenges but a decent number of those were podfic related. So. It's extra scary because podfic is obviously my passion but the author may not even care about it beyond how it's applied to their fic.
I've dealt with 21 authors when it comes to podfic and have gotten the whole range or responses. I had one author who didn't even acknowledge me (they had given blanket permission and so I dropped them a comment and they never responded), I've had another author who created a podfic page on their website and made a special stats page so I could see the hits she gets on it, I've had one author tell me to take my podfic down and I currently have one author actively involved with my podficing process. Most authors fall somewhere in the middle, where they'll be happy and flattered when you ask permission and will pimp it on their journals/fic post when it's done but others can be indifferent. Only a handful of those authors have shown actual interest in my podfic beyond it being their story.
And I'm ok with all of that. I don't actually make podfic for the author. I make it for myself, for the podfic community and anyone who might be willing to give podfic a listen. If that includes the author, awesome! But I don't podfic with them specifically in mind.
But there's always the fear that because the author's are only interested in my podfic as it applies to them that they aren't going to... I don't know. Take into consideration what the podfic means to me and others. In some ways, as horrible as it sounds, I almost welcome the indifference from authors because maybe then they'll forget about what I've done and just leave me with it.
And, obviously, I would never want what I made to hurt someone else. If the author was in some kind of RL trouble and my podfic could get her in more trouble, then I'd gladly take it down. But, there are a lot of people that create things and then later decide they want to take it down (for non-critical reasons, like maybe they just don't like it anymore). And the idea that they'd just tell me to take my stuff down because they no longer like it? It's not a fun one! The one author who asked me to take my podfic of her story down never gave me a reason for it (it was a messy situation and so I felt I couldn't ask) and it still bothers me.
Podfic is still a newly popular(ish) thing. A lot of us are still stumbling around trying to decide how this is going to work. The podfic community is talking it out and deciding how we want things but there certainly isn't universal agreement (is there ever? :P). And the problem is, that the podficers and listeners are only 2/3 of the interested parties. Right now a lot of author's don't even know to get involved. They aren't taking the time to define what they want out of podfic. It's hard for a standard to be set when only one group is negotiating as a whole and the other group only has random representatives. And, as I said above, author's really aren't consistent in their attitudes toward podfic.
In the end it makes me feel kind of powerless, because I see what rights I want to have as a podficer but I also realize that they're called into question every time someone challenges them. I don't know, maybe I think about this a lot more than the average podficer because I had that one situation where I had to take my podfic down but I am nervous about this.
I can't really think of any way to fix this other than to meta about it. So, watch me meta :)
no subject
As I said in the post, it was a messy situation with third (and maybe fourth?) parties involved. Someone without the proper authority gave permission to podfic and, well, I'm sure you can see where that went.
I certainly don't blame the author for telling me to take the podfic down or for being upset. I don't even think that she owes me an explanation for not wanting podfic of her stories but just because I don't think she has to give me a reason doesn't mean I don't want one. :( It feels like I never got closure on the whole thing so it continues to bug me. I... really need to just let it go but once you've been burned it's hard not to be cautious and protective going forward.
no subject
Oh, that does sound messy. : (
no subject