好声音是否真是“听”起来更简单？

在许多媒体（例如广播、电视、电影、动画、视频游戏或XR（扩展现实）内容）中的创造性成果经常需要经历声音后期制作阶段，此阶段会创作出全部或部分的音频元素，并将其添加到视频内容当中去。但此阶段中的创意和技术的重要性却经常被享受到娱乐业成果却并不熟悉创意成果构成元素的人们所低估。实际上，因为注入声音元素对于作品是如此重要，其本身所载有的合同和知识产权问题与剧本、故事情节、视频素材和品牌冠名等元素所关联的问题一样不容忽视。如果相关各方就此未达成一致的话，声音相关问题将会同样存在很多模糊或有争议的空间。

Creative output in many media, be it radio, TV, film, animation, video games or XR content, often has to go through the sound post production phase during which all or part of the audio element is created and added to the visual. The creative and technical significance of this process is often overlooked by those that enjoy the entertainment industry’s output but are unfamiliar with all the elements that go into putting it together. However, because the injection of the sounds element is so important it carries with it contractual and intellectual property pitfalls which are just as significant as those linked with the script, storyline, video footage and branding, with just as much scope for ambiguity or dispute if the relevant parties aren’t on the same page.

举例而言，如果我拥有对一套动画片的权利，动画片是完整的，但是需要加入一些声效，于是我聘请了一家后期制作公司提供这些声效。我自然想拥有这些声音素材以及其中的版权，这样我就能将这些声音不仅用于动画片，而且还可以用于其他内容（包括其他的节目）以及相关的商品上，比如玩具、视频书籍以及游戏。如果我获得这些相关知产权利，我也乐于知晓其他人将不能使用这些声音。我所获得的配音的独特性，使得声音具有了更强的显著性，因为也变得更有价值。

As an example of this, if I own the rights to an animation series which is all but complete but just needs some sounds adding, and I hire a post-production company to provide them, I will ideally want to own those sounds, and the copyright in them, outright so that I can use them not just on that series but on others (including for other programmes) and for related merchandise such as toys, audio books and games. If I secure this I will also have the comfort of knowing that no one else will be using those sounds either. The consequent uniqueness of the sound track I have secured will make it more distinctive and therefore more valuable.

但是从后期制作公司的角度而言，这些可能都是不切实际或者痴心妄想的想法。制作公司可能没有能力转让其为顾客使用的声音的所有权，因为制作公司自己就对此没有所有权，而只是从一个声音库中获得了许可，而声音库的条款会限制再许可行为或其他操控行为。抑或，后期制作公司可能拥有这些声音素材，但是他们已经将其提供给了其他顾客，因而使得最新上门的顾客欲获得独占性权利的想法落空。纵使制作公司对声音拥有不受限制的所有权，制作公司可能更希望通过持有相关知产权利，以将声音文件用于为众多顾客（而不是单独一个顾客）的项目工作，以攫取最大的经济效益。

This may not be practical or desirable from the post-production company’s point of view, however. It may not be able to transfer ownership of the sounds it uses to the customer because it may itself not own them but instead license them in from a sound library and the terms of that library may restrict sub-licensing or manipulation. Alternatively, it may own the sounds but have already made them available to other customers, making the latest customer’s hoped for exclusivity impossible. Even if it owns them on an unfettered basis, it may prefer to maximise monetisation by retaining the right to use its sound files in work for a range of customers instead of just one.

因此，一个顾客若想要迳行获得被提供的声音素材的全部权利，则应期待被收取更多的费用，特别是当它希望创作新的声音的时候。带着录音设备去户外捕捉新的布谷鸟的叫声，而不是下载一个现成的声音需要花费更多的费用、时间和努力。与此类似，获得将被提供的声音用于不受限制的场景的授权亦比获得将声音素材仅应用于特定的一期节目的授权需花费更多的成本。

Therefore, a customer who wants to own outright all the sounds supplied should expect to be charged more, especially if it expects new sounds to be made from scratch; it takes more money, time and effort to go out with recording equipment to capture a new cuckoo’s call rather than just to download an existing one. Similarly, having the right to use a sound supplied for whatever one likes will cost much more than just being given the right to apply it to a defined programme episode.

在上述诸多情形下，交易相关各方在就交付内容和预算达成一致立场之前，就需要进行一些协商。但是鉴于双方各自的出发点可能存在的巨大差距，在收到对方提供的标准格式合同作为谈判的初始起点后，我们应当审慎仔细的去审阅它，要求作出必需的修改以保护自身立场以及警惕签订可能己方实际上无法承受的条款。

So in such situations the parties will have to do some negotiating before they arrive at an agreed position on deliverables and budget. However, given the wide gap between their respective starting position, the party on the receiving end of the other party’s standard form contract as the negotiating starting point would do well to scrutinise it carefully, request changes to protect its position and be wary of signing up to terms it may in practice find unsustainable.