Terms & Conditions
For the recording of Voiceovers, the following Terms and Conditions apply:
1. The expression "the Supplier" means BigFish Media Ltd. The expression "the Buyer" means the person, firm, company or entity purchasing goods or services from the Supplier.
2. The Supplier contracts on these conditions only, and acceptance by the Supplier of any order from a Buyer will be deemed an acceptance of these Terms and Conditions by the Buyer. No Terms and Conditions other than those set forth herein or any variation thereof under Condition 24 shall be binding upon the Supplier or the Buyer unless provided in writing and signed by or on behalf of both the Supplier and the Buyer.
3. For Buyers without a good credit history with the Supplier, Buyers not based in the UK, Buyers who are not a Limited Company and new Buyers, payment of 100 per cent of the fee is required before the product is supplied. For Buyers with a good credit record with the Supplier, payment is due within 30 days of the date of invoice (unless otherwise specified by the Supplier). A temporary thirty day licence is extended to clients. Failure to pay BigFish Media Ltd within this 30 day period will be considered a breach of copyright and is punishable under CRIMINAL law.
4. In accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, as amended and supplemented by the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002 (EC Directive), the right is reserved to charge interest at 8% above the late payment period reference interest rate based on the relevant Bank of England base rate on all amounts outstanding for more than 30 days (the Credit Period) from the Tax Date indicated on the invoice; and further to make a statutory compensatory charge on late payments, as follows: for amounts below £1,000 a charge of £40; for amounts between £1,000 and £10,000 a charge of £70; and for amounts above £10,000 a charge of £100. Such charges may be applied and added to the debt. Details of these charges can be found at the DTI's website: www.payontime.co.uk
5: The right is reserved to levy a minimum charge of £10 for each written reminder or statement produced and sent after the Credit Period.
6: Credit facilities and the supply of any future services may be withdrawn in the event of a breach of these Terms and Conditions.
7: Unless otherwise agreed, all Session and Use fees are set at no lower than the minimum relevant Equity Agency rates, together with any additional Terms and Conditions published on the relevant Equity rate cards or guidelines in force at the time the service was provided.
8: Fees for voiceovers supplied for radio commercials produced by a radio station or appointed sub-contractor under the Equity Independent Radio Commercials Payments Rate Card are calculated on a one fee per voice performed, per script, per station basis at the relevant transmitting station(s) rates unless otherwise indicated.
8a: Audio will be supplied in one wav file per voice artist at 48KHz and 16 bit unless we are directed otherwise by the Buyer
9: Fees are set at a level to reflect the stated usage at the time of booking. Any further usage on other broadcast outlets, for other advertisers, in other media, beyond the duration of stated licensing terms or the re-use of recorded material in other productions is beyond the scope of the original agreement and must be advised by the Buyer at the point of intended further use, the Supplier's permission sought and appropriate payments made at the Suppliers discretion at or above the rates then prevailing on the relevant Equity rate card. Usage periods will be considered to commence from the date of the original supply of the material.
9a: The term "web usage" fee covers the licence to use the audio on YouTube and Vimeo as well as the client's website. "Web usage" excludes use for paid advertising, web banners, webverts, online adverts, any promoted (paid for) Social Media website (Facebook, Twitter etc) and YouTube pre-roll adverts. In this case an additional fee will be chargeable.
10: For work carried out after the hour of 6pm and at any time during Saturday and Sunday or on a bank holiday in the UK, the Supplier reserves the right to charge an out of hours supplement. Any such charge will be notified to the Buyer in advance.
11: If the Buyer cancels or postpones any contract giving the Supplier less than twenty four hours notice (or 48 hours notice for voiceover artists based outside the UK), the Supplier reserves the right to charge a cancellation fee of 100% of the fees payable under the terms of the contract.
11a: If the Buyer cancels any contract giving the Supplier more than twenty-four hours notice and pre-payment has been received, if required, the payment will be refunded minus a 20 per cent administrative charge.
12: Copyright in all written work created by the Supplier remains with the Supplier, unless the Buyer and Supplier have agreed otherwise by way of written contract.
12a: Copyright for voiceover work always remains with the voiceover artist. Copyright is never assigned to the Buyer. Voiceover audio is licenced for a specific use and duration specified in the email correspondence and contract between Supplier and Buyer.
12b: The supplier never offers a full buyout, all rights in perpetuity or all rights buyout of the audio to the buyer. It is not possible to assign these rights to a buyer as this is illegal under UK law
13: The Buyer undertakes that they will notify the Supplier if they shall assign, transfer or sell any Contract or benefit to which these Terms and Conditions apply.
14: The Buyer warrants and undertakes that: (a) they will be responsible for obtaining and paying for all necessary licences and consents for the use of any copyright material contained in, or the inclusion of any person in their production; (b) No copy will breach the copyright or other right of or be defamatory toward any third party; (c) they will indemnify and keep the Supplier indemnified against all actions, proceedings, costs, damages, expenses, penalties, claims, demands and liabilities arising from any breach of the above warranties or in any manner whatsoever in consequence of the use of any copy or matter supplied by the Buyer.
15: Prices are quoted net of Value Added Tax which will be payable at the current rate.
17: All CHAPS BACS and Bank Transfer fees are to be paid by the Buyer.
17a: If the Buyer is a business (Limited Company or Partnership etc) and pays via PayPal, a 5% charge will be added to the invoice. We will only waive this fee if the Buyer is an individual.
18: In the event of any failure by the Buyer to comply with these Terms and Conditions, the Supplier may terminate immediately any licence to the Buyer to broadcast or perform or otherwise exploit the Supplier's work.
19: If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is held by any Court or competent authority as invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part the validity of the remainder of these Terms and Conditions and of the remainder of the provisions in question shall not be affected.
20: Governing Law: The Contract shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and the parties hereby submit to the jurisdiction of the English Courts.
21: For Voiceover Artists working for BigFish Media Ltd, a commission of twenty per cent (plus VAT if the artist is based in UK) is payable on all monies earned through the company which will be deducted from Voiceover Artists' agreed session fee. Fees due to Voiceover Artists will only be paid once BigFish Media has received cleared funds from its client. Payments will be made to the Voiceover Artist within ten working days of cleared payment being received by BigFish Media Ltd. We therefore do not pay late payment fees to our voice talents.
22:For Voiceover Artists based outside the UK, payments from BigFish Media will only be made via PayPal. For Voiceover Artists based in the UK, payments from BigFish Media will only be made via BACS.
23: Whilst BigFish Media will take every care to check the credibility of its client, if the client refuses to pay BigFish Media, the company will only be able to secure legal representation to pursue said client if the Voiceover Artist whose monies the company is trying to secure is a member of Equity or similar equivalent actors' union.
24: Any usage included when invoiced, once the booking is completed, will be non-refundable
25: All accounts are to be settled by either BACS (online payment), Paypal or Credit Card. Audio recordings will be sent to the Buyer within 12 hours of the recording session. Where the Buyer has pre-paid, refunds will be given if we are unable to supply the audio within the time period agreed with the Buyer. All telephone and email enquiries will be dealt with within one working day.
25:The Buyer agrees to settle our account in full without being supplied with the full name, date of birth or National Insurance number of the relevant voice artist(s) or deducting National Insurance.
26: BigFish Media Ltd office hours are 9.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday. Studio Production hours are 10am to 6pm.
27: All audio recorded by BigFish Media (raw and edited) will be stored for a minimum of 30 days from the time of the voiceover session. Any amendments required after 30 days (either to editing, recording or re-sending of audio) will be chargeable.
27: All audio recorded by BigFish Media (raw and edited) will be stored for a maximum of 90 days from the time of the voiceover session.
28: Voiceover recordings made by the Supplier cannot be used to create artificial voice or cloning models. Any attempt to use the recordings to create synthetic voices, deepfakes, or any other type of artificial models that replicate the voice of the person recorded is strictly prohibited. The prohibition applies to all platforms or devices, whether known or unknown at the time of agreement. Any attempt to manipulate or alter the recordings in a way that could lead to the creation of artificial voice or cloning models is also prohibited. This includes editing, filtering, or any other type of processing that alters the original characteristics of the recorded voice.
29: These Terms and Conditions may be varied from time to time and will be communicated in writing.
For Translation and Audio Production, the following Terms and Conditions apply:
1. Production Fees and Additional Charges
1.1 The Client shall pay to BigFish Media Ltd the Production Fee, together with all Additional Charges arising
1.2. Subject to any special conditions of payment that may be agreed in writing between the parties to this Agreement, 50% of the Production Fee shall be payable when the Client has made a confirmed booking in writing. The remaining balance of the Production Fee shall be payable and cleared no later than five working days prior to the commencement of filming. All payments to be made by bank transfer.
1.3 Any Additional Charges shall be paid within three days of the date of any invoice for such Additional Charges.
2. BigFish Media Ltd’s production fees shall be exclusive of disbursements and expense items related to the agreed productions and editing such as messenger services, postage, overseas telephone charges, colour photocopying, photography and prints, disk or tape duplications, creation of audio and video streaming files, travel accommodation, subsistence, fax charges and similar items which will be invoiced to the client on the relevant project, or separately as necessary.
3. The client’s requirements must be clearly provided to BigFish Media Ltd in writing before commencement of work and subject only to one set of minor alterations thereafter.
4. Major alterations to a project, not agreed prior to the commencement of work, must be made subject to a further written agreement.
5. A production will only be publicly released by BigFish Media Ltd once the client approves all content as complete and satisfactory and confirms this in writing.
6. The client may terminate the contract at any time by written notice of termination.
7. When a client terminates the contract, they will remain liable to pay in full for all work previously undertaken and in progress by BigFish Media Ltd unless any other written agreement is reached in advance.
8. Any monies held on account and unused will be returned subject to a 10% administration charge.
9. BigFish Media Ltd reserves the right to refuse to use, publish or broadcast any information it considers obscene or morally unsuitable or which would breach copyrights, or which is libelous, defamatory or illegal.
10. Should such a submission occur, the client will be advised which information was deemed unsuitable, and requested to amend the information. If the client can show good reason to use the “unsuitable” information, its inclusion may be considered.
11. BigFish Media Ltd cannot be held liable for loss or damage caused as a result of third party action or failure.
12. The client shall provide appropriate security arrangements for any filming outside of the United Kingdom for which BigFish Media Ltd provides crew or equipment and such arrangements shall be notified to BigFish Media Ltd in writing in advance of travel to that jurisdiction.
13. BigFish Media Ltd cannot be held liable to any party for any errors on any medium after the client has agreed in writing that the content is correct and accurate and should be posted, published or broadcast.
14. Client contracts may be modified by agreement in writing at any time to add or delete services to better fit the client’s needs.
15. If a project requires additional content this is, in effect, a contract change. An amendment will be made to the original contract and, once approved, becomes contractually binding.
16. E-mail correspondence shall be sufficient to prove changes to agreements for the form and content of programmes.
17. BigFish Media Ltd will not commence work on any project until a signed purchase order or equivalent signed document has been provided by the client.
18. In consideration of, and subject to, the final payment of full fees due to BigFish Media Ltd by the client, BigFish Media Ltd hereby assigns to the client with full title guarantee all the present and future copyright and other intellectual property rights howsoever arising in the content.
19. Any confidential or proprietary information which is acquired by BigFish Media Ltd from a client company, person or entity will not be used or disclosed to any person or entity, except when required to do so by law. If required, BigFish Media Ltd will sign and adhere to the conditions of any Confidentiality Agreement used by the client.
20. Any contract requiring BigFish Media Ltd to work to specific deadlines provided within the written agreement will be deemed to include a proviso that the clients will make themselves reasonably available to communicate with BigFish Media Ltd, its servants or agents, as necessary.
21 BigFish Media Ltd office hours are 9am to 7pm Monday to Friday. Studio Production hours are 8am to 6pm.
22 Any claims must be made in writing to BigFish Media Ltd within five days of receipt of the commissioned product. If no claim is made within this period the client is deemed to have accepted the goods at the agreed price.
23. Should the client have cause to make any complaint about service or programmes, the complaint, if put in writing to a Director, will be acknowledged by BigFish Media Ltd within 21 days and a detailed reply will be issued to the client within a further 21 days thereafter. In cases of complaint, all relevant work together with invoice and original materials should be returned to BigFish Media Ltd.
24. BigFish Media Ltd shall be under no liability if unable to carry out any provision of the contract for any reason beyond its control including (without limiting the foregoing) Act of God, legislation, war, fire, flood, drought, failure of power supply, lock-out, strike or other action taken by suppliers or owing to any inability to procure materials required for the performance of the contract. During the continuance of such a contingency the client may, by written notice to BigFish Media Ltd, elect to terminate the contract and pay for work done and materials used but subject thereto shall otherwise accept delivery when available.
25. These terms should be read in conjunction with BigFish Media Ltd’s Studio Terms of Use where the client’s team is also hiring the BigFish Media Ltd studio for the production.
26. This agreement will be governed by the laws of England and Wales