Overcoming Royalty Issues For Shared Expertise – A Quick and Easy Approach

I’m often asked about the business relationships I have with the people I interview.

It’s one of the excuses some people use to explain why they’re not doing what I do themselves.

People presume the contracts I draw up must be complicated.

They wonder about who holds the rights to my interviews and about the distribution of any royalties. When I first started conducting and recording interviews with business and marketing experts in 2001, this was a bit of an issue for me as well.

Like everyone else, I had an audio release agreement. But, I found that it was a real “pain in the butt” because people were worried about who would get what if it was sold or repackaged in the future.

I eventually overcame this problem by not even mentioning anything about rights unless I was interviewing someone who’s material I knew I would turn into a larger product.

For the rest, I simply waited until we were about to start the interview and discussed it then.

I’d say: “I’m going to start recording now” and press the record button. I’d ask them if they understood that they were being recorded which they always did. I’d then say: “I am going to interview you on this subject and you understand that I have a full rights to do what ever I want with this interview. I can sell it. I can market it. I can repackage it. And you understand that you do not have the rights to do anything with it.”

Most would say: “yes” because they recognized the marketing potential of allowing me to capture and showcase their expertise on the internet.

By recording this discussion, I created a legal agreement between two people.

Does this method work all the time? Definitely not. There will be times when you’ll have to negotiate, and maybe even get out the paper and pen.

Does it work most of the time? Absolutely. Especially, if they believe an interview with you will generate more interest in their work.