A number of narrators are reporting on the internet that the Spotify sold his voice rights to Apple and other companies without your consent. The recordings, according to information from the WIREDwould be being used to train an artificial intelligence of the Cupertino giant, used to create audiobooks for its application Books (Apple Books).
Most of these narrators are part of the Findaway, an audiobook company that was bought by the Swedish streaming service — which also has audiobooks on its platform — last year. In addition to not having been consulted, these professionals also did not receive any type of payment for the use of their voices.
Also according to the information, the clause that allowed the sale of audios recorded by the narrators was only present in the Spotify contract presented to the authors of the books. Findaway employees, in turn, were never notified of this change.
Some authors complained that the clause was not properly presented to them when Spotify updated its contract. the narrator Andy Garcia-Ruse expressed its indignation when asked by the WIRED:
It seems like a violation to have our voices used to train something for which the purpose is precisely to take our place.
According to the SAG-AFTRA (the union responsible for representing the category), this revelation made Apple reverse its agreement with Findaway this week. More specifically, the two companies would have agreed to stop using the audios to train any AI, and this would cover all affected files since the clause went into effect.
The union is still negotiating with Findaway to have the narrators’ claims met. These include securely storing recordings and data, setting usage limitations, and appropriate compensation.
Still according to SAG-AFTRA, authors and narrators can request the revocation of the option that gives Apple the chance to use the recordings even if they are not part of the union.
Both Spotify and Apple have yet to comment on the issue.
