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Why would Morgan Freeman be entitled to royalties for a commercial where the voice over sounded similar to his voice... unless he actually sold the rights to re
by pcthrowaway 3y ago
Why would Morgan Freeman be entitled to royalties for a commercial where the voice over sounded similar to his voice... unless he actually sold the rights to represent him with a vocal likeness in the commercial (AKA he didn't do the voice over, but the commercial was able to claim the voice over was by Morgan Freemen, or that it represented Morgan Freeman's opinions... like when a book by a celebrity is actually written by someone else)
- frereubu 3y agoI don't get this either, and would be very interested in a clear explanation.
- galangalalgol 3y agoyeah at least in the US you are fine as long as you don't claim the voice is a certain person.
- 3np 3y agoGathering, retaining, using individual voice recordings for business purposes may be regulated, though. Already is in places, even if enforcement and precedence is lacking. So there'd be no legal way to produce or share the model generating such a voice or its output.
- kevinmchugh 3y agoYou can't use a Tom Waits (or Morgan Freeman) sound-a-like because you're profiting off their work and likeness. Unless the celeb sells a licensed sound-a-like. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/when-tom-waits-sued-doritos/ https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/when-tom-waits-sued-doritos/
- chankstein38 3y agoWhat if my voice sounded like Tom Waits or Morgan Freeman and I did commercials? It doesn't and I don't I'm just curious how this makes sense. Is it just if the voice is advertised to sound like him?
- stuckinhell 3y agoYes you would owe them money. This why I'm against artists trying to chokehold the AI.
- pcthrowaway 3y agoI don't think with the current copyright system you would owe another artist money when recording a commercial just because your voice happens to sound like theirs. But with AI perhaps it's "fair" (given the assumption that there's any fairness to copyright in the first place) to expect a creator to provide some kind of compensation to the source material that their AI was trained on. Case in point, this bot was clearly trained on David Attenborough samples, perhaps it can't be used commercially without purchasing some rights to the man's likeness.
- stuckinhell 3y agoPicasso is widely quoted as having said that “good artists borrow, great artists steal.” https://lifehacker.com/an-artist-explains-what-great-artists-steal-really-me-1818808264 https://lifehacker.com/an-artist-explains-what-great-artists...
- lbwtaylor 3y agoThere is a significant difference between "stealing" artistic ideas, and impersonating individual humans. How folks can think it's reasonable to impersonate Morgan Freeman and use his voice to sell, for example, crypto crap. It's gross and should absolutely be illegal.
- cjaybo 3y agoWell Picasso wasn’t much of a legislator, and I don’t think his point was that all artistic theft is justifiable to begin with.
- mywacaday 3y agoWhat would happen if a voic was trained on Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, George Clooney and tuned to not sound like any one individual but have the characteristics we find appealing. Could that be used for its own copyright claim?
- pavon 3y agoIn that case though (and the Bette Milder precedent), the sound-a-like was used with a song that the artist was associated with, which implied that it was the actual artist, or at least deliberately invoked their likeness in mind of the viewer. I'm skeptical that using a narrator that happened to sound like David Attenborough or Morgan Freeman would be enough by itself to qualify for right of publicity unless it included obvious references to prior work, catch phases, or the like.
- notahacker 3y agoDifficult to find a Morgan Freeman sound-a-like if they're not marketing themselves as a Morgan Freeman sound-a-like. And if they are (and obtaining more customers as a result), it's easier to pay Morgan Freeman royalties than come up with persuasive arguments that selling 'voiceovers that sound like Morgan Freeman' isn't profiting from deliberately invoking his likeness...
- amelius 3y ago> Difficult to find a Morgan Freeman sound-a-like if they're not marketing themselves as a Morgan Freeman sound-a-like. How about this scenario: they publish a youtube video, then someone says in the comments: hey you sound just like morgan freeman, then the company looking for the voice performance googles for morgan freeman, finds the comment and contacts them.
- bryanrasmussen 3y agoSo then in court the google for Morgan Freeman and the comment you sound like Morgan Freeman come out and then you owe Morgan Freeman $$$$$$$$$ because he had to go to court over it.
- notahacker 3y agoThink if I wanted to earn a living as a voiceover artist who happened to sound like a very famous actor I'd rather advertise my USP and pay royalties on the much higher earnings than only pick up business from companies that make hiring decisions based on random chance or YouTube comments ...
- mym1990 3y agoWhat happens if the sound alike is given away for free and there is no profit or even revenue component?
- ge96 3y agoHuh, Salma Hayek was right
- ASalazarMX 3y agoIf your voice is the twin of a celebrity's, but you don't benefit from the likeness (for example, not being paid for voice acting where your identities could be confused), you'd probably have a strong defense if the celebrity tries to extort royalties from you. The rest is shades of grey. For example, if you're an incredible voice imitator and plan to do shows, negotiations would be wise. Even Weird Al asked for permission when he didn't had to, legally speaking.
- aequitas 3y ago> Even Weird Al asked for permission when he didn't had to, legally speaking. But Weird Al does parodies, which is fair use. He's not trying to pass off an album as being a genuine Michael Jackson album or something.
- morelisp 3y agoWhy would Weird Al try to pass off his albums as being from the guy who stole his songs?
- ASalazarMX 3y agoWeird Al's latest movie is a mess, but so surreal I keep remembering it months after watching it. It as if the UHF movie carved a niche in my brain for his weird movies.
- vasco 3y agoRight of Publicity: https://higgslaw.com/celebrities-sue-over-unauthorized-use-of-identity/ https://higgslaw.com/celebrities-sue-over-unauthorized-use-o...
- airstrike 3y agoif my product doesn't imply or state that the voice is Morgan Freeman's, I don't think they really have a case? at least not based on common sense
- justinpombrio 3y agoIf the voice was chosen specifically to sound like Morgan Freeman, for the purpose of making listeners think it's Morgan Freeman when they hear it, it seems reasonable for it to run afoul of Morgan Freeman's right to publicity.
- airstrike 3y agoI owe nothing to Morgan Freeman just because I sound like him, unless I'm intentionally misleading listeners by advertising his name or implying as much
- ewi_ 3y agoIf they can reasonably argue that you're being hired because you sound like Morgan Freeman and you wouldn't get the job otherwise, then they likely have a case.
- airstrike 3y agoNot if "sound like Morgan Freeman" is a proxy for "have a nice-sounding voice". They could prefer people who sound like Morgan Freeman even if they are not representing to listeners that the voice is that of Morgan Freeman. Big distinction there.
- thrwy_918 3y ago
- bradley13 3y agoTell that to Einstein's family. Put an older guy with a German accent and wild white hair in a commercial, and they want paid. Honestly, it's offensive that they can "own" a general appearance. But their lawyers manage to enforce it.
- tantalor 3y agoI could understand if the actor was actually marketed as or publicly known a soundalike. But on the other hand, does "store brand lucky charms" have to pay a kick back to General Mills?
- happycube 3y agoIf it's on the shelf right next to the original, it was probably made by General Mills.
- onionisafruit 3y agoThat’s what my mother said. She was wrong.