Terms of Business

Terms of Business

Introduction

My Values

When you hire my voiceover services, you’ll be dealing with a friendly, open, honest, fair-minded and good-humoured professional. I’m sure you’ll agree that working with someone who’s personable, professional and knowledgeable is a reassuringly good thing for your voiceover project.

You’ll have hopefully spotted some of these characteristics in my branding, web design, blogs, testimonials – and of course – my voiceover portfolio.

I value quality, professionalism, and being easy to work with – and so do the people I work for. That’s why, when I send them my voiceover recordings to brief, to deadline, and to their absolute satisfaction, they’re only too happy to pay me in good time and in line with our agreements.

Naturally, it’s these kinds of ‘good business’ values that I’ve applied to my terms of business below. And if you’re like me (and the good people I work for), then I’m sure you’ll be happy to agree to them, too.

Thanks for your attention so far. Now, please make yourself comfortable, maybe even grab a coffee. Here comes the more serious legal bit, which lets you and I know where we stand, when we work together on a voiceover project.

Definition of Terms

The following are the terms and conditions under which Chas Rowe, UK voiceover artist, provides professional voiceover services to hirers.

Under these terms and conditions, Chas Rowe, UK voiceover artist, is described as the ”contractor”.

The producer, intermediary or client who solicits or purchases professional voiceover services provided by Chas Rowe is described as the ”hirer”.

The ”recording(s)” means the audio provided by the ”contractor” to the ”hirer”.

The ”contract” means the ”contractor’s” terms of business, including but not limited to, the written recording fee and usage/licence fee agreement between the ”contractor” and the ”hirer”. 

The ”licence” or ”licensing” (also known as the ”usage”) means the purpose(s) and period(s) of time during which the ”recording(s)” may be used legally under ”contract”. 

”BSF” means the basic studio or session fee i.e. the recording fee, also known as the hourly rate. 

Terms of Business

Values

1. The contractor promises to provide professional voiceover services to the best of his ability and to deadline, according to the brief(s) and script(s) provided by the hirer and agreed by the two parties in writing.

Usage/Licence/Licensing

1. The hirer agrees that the contractor’s recording(s) is/are licensed for use only for the purpose(s) and period(s) agreed in the contract with the contractor prior to the commencement of the recording(s), and only for the same purpose(s) and period(s) re-stated on the contractor’s invoice(s).
2. The hirer agrees that the hirer must contact the contractor to secure a new contract, if the hirer wishes to extend the use of the contractor’s recording(s) beyond the terms already agreed, at which point relevant fees will apply to the hirer.
3. The hirer agrees that any use(s) of the contractor’s recording(s) beyond the use(s) agreed under the contract represents a breach of contract and a breach of the contractor’s statutory performers’ rights.
4. The hirer agrees that the hirer must not repurpose, reversion or any in way alter the recording(s) for any purpose(s) other than that/those set out in the contract, unless the contractor gives written consent, at which point relevant fees will apply to the hirer.
5. If the hirer does not wish to relicense a recording or recordings under a new contract, or if the hirer allows the contract to expire, the hirer agrees to remove such unlicensed recording(s) from public access and to delete them.
6. The hirer agrees that failure to notify the contractor about the extended use of a recording or recordings outside of the contract, whether wilful or accidental, represents a breach of contract and a breach of the contractor’s statutory performers’ rights and will result in the contractor contacting the hirer and additional fees to the hirer, or may result in a court claim.
7. The hirer agrees that the contractor reserves the right to contact the user of any unlicensed recording(s), including but not limited to the hirer, to stop them being used illegally and to enforce payment.
8. The hirer agrees that the contractor reserves the right to charge relevant fees for any unlicensed use of the contractor’s recording(s).

(Custom) Demos/Auditions

1. The hirer agrees that any custom demo/audition recordings (with or without ‘audio watermarks’) are provided by the contractor free of charge and in good faith and that the hirer will use them for private demonstration and listening purposes only.
2. The hirer agrees that any unlicensed, unauthorised use of the contractor’s custom demos constitutes a breach of the contractor’s performers’ rights and will result in relevant fees, or may result in a court claim.

Recording(s) & Re-recording(s)/Pick-ups

1. The hirer agrees to email any and all briefs and/or scripts to the contractor before recording and within a reasonable timeframe to allow the contractor to prepare.
2. The hirer agrees that any and all briefs and/or scripts are considered finished and ”signed off” when the hirer consents to the contract.
3. The hirer agrees that changes to a ”signed off” script or scripts made after  recording are chargeable at the contractor’s hourly rate (BSF).
4. The contractor agrees to re-record at no further cost to the hirer any recording or editing mistakes made by him, unless the mistakes are the fault of the hirer, in which case corrections will be chargeable at the contractor’s hourly rate (BSF).

Payment

1. The hirer agrees to pay the contractor in full within 30 calendar days from the date of the contractor’s invoice.
2. The hirer agrees that failure to pay within the 30-day credit period will result in payment reminders, sent at 7-day intervals and charged at £10 per invoice.
3. The hirer agrees that the contractor reserves the right to contact the hirer or user of any unpaid recording(s) to inform them of non-payment and to inform them that the contractor’s statutory performers’ rights have been infringed.
4. The hirer agrees that failure to pay within the above credit period represents a breach of contract and that the contractor is entitled, under the Late Payments of Commercial Debts Act 1998, to charge the statutory fee (minimum £40), statutory daily interest (8% above the Bank of England base rate), and £10 per-invoice reminders for overdue payment (statutory late fees are calculated here).
5. The hirer agrees that total failure to pay for the contractor’s recording(s) represents a breach of contract and a breach of the contractor’s performers’ rights – and will result in a court claim.
6. The contractor reserves the right, in rare cases, to request payment, or part payment, upfront via escrow.
7. The contractor reserves the right, in rare cases, to mark invoices as  ‘payment due on receipt’ where payment instructions e.g. purchase order numbers are not sent out in a reasonable timeframe after recording.
8. For in-person recording sessions where the contractor is required to travel, the hirer agrees to pay the contractor’s travel and parking costs (driving mileage is charged at 45 pence per mile).

Cancellation of the Contract

1. The contractor’s standard working hours are 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday, unless otherwise agreed under contract.
2. The contractor is considered booked and confirmed to record upon selection of the contractor by the hirer and acceptance of the work by the contractor.
3. Following a booking, if the hirer cancels the contract less than 24 hours before recording begins at the contractor’s personal studio, the hirer agrees to pay the contractor the basic session/studio fee (BSF) for the number of hours booked.
4. Similarly, if the hirer cancels the contract less than 24 hours before recording begins at a studio other than the contractor’s personal studio, the hirer agrees to pay the contractor the basic studio/session fee (BSF) for the number of hours booked, plus any pre-paid travel costs e.g. rail travel, mileage, or parking reservations.
5. If the hirer cancels the contract after recording takes place at the contractor’s personal studio, the hirer agrees to pay the contractor the basic session/studio fee (BSF) for the number of hours worked.
6. Likewise, if the hirer cancels the contract after recording takes place at a studio other than the contractor’s personal studio, the hirer agrees to pay the contractor the basic studio/session fee (BSF) for the number of hours worked, plus any pre-paid travel costs e.g. rail travel, mileage, or parking reservations.
7. For a recording session booked to take place at 9am on a Monday, the latest a hirer may cancel without charge is before 9am on the previous Friday. As a further example, the latest a hirer may cancel a 4pm booking on a Monday would be before 4pm on the previous Friday.
8. For a recording session booked to take place on the same business day, which may or may not include same-day delivery of the recording, the hirer agrees to pay, following cancellation of the booking, the full basic studio/session fee (BSF) for the number of hours booked.
9. The hirer agrees that the contractor may not give refunds in any circumstances.

Legal Rights

1. The hirer agrees that the contractor retains, under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, performers’ rights and equitable remuneration rights in relation to the contractor’s recording(s) and that these legal rights may not be superseded by any contract.

Promotion

1. Upon request, the hirer agrees to provide the contractor with an electronic copy of the finished, published or unpublished recording(s), or excerpts thereof, to allow the contractor to promote his work via his website, www.chasrowe.co.uk and his related social media sites.
2. Barring any contractual reasons, the hirer agrees upon request from the contractor to provide the contractor with such a copy within 30 calendar days of the request being sent.

Jurisdiction

1. This agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales. The contractor and hirer agree that any dispute(s) arising out of it will be heard in a court of England and Wales.

Privacy

1. The hirer agrees to the contractor’s Privacy Policy in relation to GDPR and to the retention of the hirer’s data for genuine business purposes.

Updates

1. The terms and conditions outlined here may change from time to time. Any changes will be expressed here in writing and will be dated.

Copyright

1. The contractor asserts that he retains all copyright in relation to these terms of business and further asserts that, except for hirers entering into an agreement with the contractor, they may not be reproduced, republished or repurposed in any manner without the express written consent from the contractor/owner of the website, www.chasrowe.co.uk

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

1. The permission and/or right to use, reproduce and exploit the contractor’s performances, voices and likeness or recordings thereof, for the purposes of digitisation, synthetisation or digital cloning with digital technologies, machine learning systems or equivalent means whether known or to date unknown, is excluded from the scope of this agreement.
2. The contractor does not consent to the processing of their intellectual property and associated rights or personal data for data mining, data synthetisation, digital cloning, training of machine learning systems or equivalent present and future technology for any purpose or in any context.

Professionalism

1. The hirer agrees that by using this website, he/she/they agree to be bound by these terms of business.
2. The hirer asserts that he/she/they are in a position to book the contractor and understand and agree to all of the terms and conditions described above.

Last updated: 29th July 2023 

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