Tamil Recordings

rajurajan · Post by **rajurajan** » November 12th, 2018, 2:46 pm

Hi all,

I have a question on the propriety of posting certain audio recordings via LibriVox.
- A small publisher from India has copyright access to a book, and have created audio recordings on it which are currently distributed as MP3s from their website for free.
- They have asked for advice/help on distributing this as an audiobook via an app (also for free)

We have the copyright holders permission, but they do not have the means to pay for audiobook hosting/distribution, nor do they expect royalties.

Is LibriVox the right platform for such use? Or is there a better platform for such distribution?

Thanks for your help. I'm very new to this and would like to understand better.

Raju Rajan

JayKitty76 · Post by **JayKitty76** » November 12th, 2018, 4:26 pm

I don't think LibriVox is the right place for that kind of audiobook, even with the copyright holders' permission. LibriVox is only for books published clearly in the public domain (on or before 1922). A similar (ish) topic was brought up- Here's a sample from the FAQs:

I wrote an unpublished book! Can LibriVox record it?
Unfortunately, no. We are focused on producing audio recordings of published public domain books. However, we encourage you to publish an audio version over at http://www.podiobooks.com - they specialize in this. And if you hang out on the forums here, and do some recordings, you might find some willing volunteers to help you record yours too.

You can advertise in the Off-Topic forum for readers, if you like. But make sure your title says "NOT LV" so it's clear that this project is not a part of LibriVox's work- you are just advertising for readers here. Since LibriVox's forum policy is 'we can only read works that are clearly PD' you cannot record on the LV platform, but you can advertise for readers in Off-Topic.

Post by **TriciaG** » November 12th, 2018, 5:13 pm

They could put it on Archive.org themselves, or perhaps Audible.

JayKitty76 · Post by **JayKitty76** » November 12th, 2018, 5:16 pm

TriciaG wrote: ↑November 12th, 2018, 5:13 pm They could put it on Archive.org themselves, or perhaps Audible.

Hi Tricia,
I was thinking Audible too, but I wasn't quite sure. Just didn't want to put up false information without looking it up myself

rajurajan · Post by **rajurajan** » November 13th, 2018, 5:09 am

Thanks for the excellent advice.

Archive.org does seem like an excellent alternative, though I'm not sure it comes with an app and other audiobook specialized features.

Audible seems to require cash down or to price the book. The publishers of this Tamil book are seeking to distribute it free among people with very little money

Podiobooks does not seem to exist any longer. They have been acquired by scribl which does seem to charge $$

Thanks all -- please pass along any advice for alternative platforms while I look at Archive.org as a stopgap!

Post by **Availle** » November 13th, 2018, 5:22 am

Scribl does not charge you to upload the book, but they do want a share if you are selling them. I don't see (quickly) if it is possible only to give away books for free there.

I think the best way for you is to upload your book to Archive yourself. You can set your own licence, and people can download for free still. There are many different formats that archive derives automatically that people can choose from. Not sure you'd need an app for listening, you could just stream?

rajurajan · Post by **rajurajan** » November 13th, 2018, 8:27 am

Thanks Availle. Will try that.