Who owns the spot?

    • 9 posts
    December 16, 2009 12:57 PM PST
    We have a question that we are sure one of you must know the answer to: When we produce a commercial for a client, we often dub the spot out to the other stations they are buying so the client can run the same spot on all its buys. We actually encourage this consistency of message as helping the client, and since we produce great spots, it showcases our work to other potential clients.

    But lately one of our clients is running an old spot we produced on other stations without buying from us. We have no standard agreement as to who owns the spot, and we don't charge for producing the spot, so we have not sold it to him. Before I have the confrontation with the client, I am wondering : what is common practice and what is the law are on this issue?
    Thanks,
    Patrick Cleary
    • 52 posts
    December 16, 2009 6:39 PM PST
    In my experience, the spot belongs to the client. (One of my lifelong complaints: clients should pay for spot production. They pay in every other media.)

    The fact that they're using one of your spots on other stations may be a good calling card--remind the client that your station produced it and you could help them craft something new. And of course, include you in their next buy.
    • 3 posts
    December 17, 2009 4:25 AM PST
    Hi Patrick,
    When I have partners/clients that want to run our spots on other stations, we usually charge production and creative fees. Something that has been done in the past as well, when a spot is sent to the client, or even a spec spot sent to a prospect, sometimes a water mark (a faint sound in the background like a horn) is inserted so it can't be used on other stations. Hope this helps.
    • 14 posts
    December 17, 2009 8:19 AM PST
    I was always under the impression the Client owns the spot. However, if another radio station wants to use the commercial, a fee can be charged to the voice talent. Usually if they are buying from you and then it is being sent to other stations it is not charged. However if the other radio station has sold the commercial, they are the ones that should pay for the commercial. However, if the person who produced the commercial has already been paid, then surely it then belongs to the client as they paid for it? Perhaps a person with legal experience can help with the legal side of this issue. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
    • 41 posts
    December 17, 2009 8:26 AM PST
    Patrick,

    Let me start out saying I am not a lawyer, but my FCC attorney tells me that anything we produce that runs on our station is automatically copyrighted and owned by us. If any of the music on the spot is part of a Production Library that we have leased or purchased, technically that material can only be used on our station unless there is some verbage in the lease agreement that allows otherwise, or unless the material was purchased as a "buy out" of a library, and then we would own the rights and can do anything with that music that we wish to do.

    We have had a long term policy that states that when a client asks us to produce a spot for them, we'll do it as part of our service, and we'll provide them with dubs for other stations, so long as there is a buy on our station. If we're just doing the Production with no buy on our station, there is a studio charge, a talent charge and a dub/distribution charge for each copy that goes out to another station or media. The intent is that if they want to use our talent/Production on other stations/mdia, they pay us one way or the other.

    In big markets where AFTRA is involved and the market's talent is unionized there are specific rules and costs for all of this stuff. You probably don't need to be that formal in your market, but establishing a policy for handling this type of thing is probably a good idea, and protecting your Production and Talent from their hard work being used for free is always a good idea that will keep them interested in doing quality work for you.
    • 2 posts
    December 17, 2009 11:08 AM PST
    Our stations charge a flat fee of $100 if the client wants to take a spot that we produced and run it with other stations. That $100 is a one time fee and goes directly to the talent who voiced the spot.
    • 1373 posts
    December 18, 2009 12:08 AM PST

    Patrick, thank you for starting this discussion. Since it seems to be a hot topic, we decided to make the question of "Who owns the spot?" the subject of this week's Friday poll. So as not to have two discussions on the same issue going at once, I'm going to close this discussion (at least temporarily) and ask that RSC members post their replies at this link: https://www.radiosalescafe.com/forums/topic/252/friday-poll-who-owns-the-spot/view/post_id/12682
    This post was edited by Rebecca Hunt at February 5, 2019 10:42 PM PST