Voice actors: Mediartis provides you access to your audio samples

Voice, a unique personal data

Whether you’re a dubbing or voice-over actor, your voice is your working tool, but it’s also a personal data, just like your fingerprints or your DNA.

In May 2018, the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect. It imposes specific guidelines for anyone processing your personal data. Companies storing and using your personal data have very specific obligations to respect, such as  informing you they have your data, requesting your authorisation to use it for a specific reason, providing you access, and the possibility to request modifications or deletion of your data.

As a voice actor, how am I affected by the GDPR?

Everyone storing samples of your voice requires your authorisation to continue using them, to specify for what use, and for how long. Accordingly, GDPR requires the company to allow you to enforce your rights and to regularly verify your consent. You have the opportunity to know what information is being used and stored by companies, and to interact with them in complete transparency.

What kind of personal data do these companies store?

In order to present your voice to their clients or to include you in a casting, companies collect a number of voice samples and naturally build voice sample databases over the course of time. These casting databases are composed of  a multitude of voice samples — that you may have sent or recorded with them — and a lot of contact and work information.

But do you really know which of your samples are circulating in castings ? Some of them are very old and may no longer be representative of your voice or the activities you wish to do. And what about your other personal data? Your address or phone number may no longer be updated in company databases, which could potentially prevent them from contacting you. It’s critical for you and your artistic image to ensure that your data is kept updated, and to give your consent for each media associated with your name.

Isn't my agreement obvious, as I already work with these companies?

It’s not that simple! It’s not because you sent samples to a company that you also gave them the right to send them again to their own clients. Also, a company cannot include a consent request within the framework of an employment contract, nor impose a tacit validation on you. GDPR guarantees that you ou must be able to freely agree to let them use your data.

How does Mediartis work?

The platform acts as an intermediary between voice actors and producers and provides actors a secured access to their voice personal data. 

1

The system is simple and free: you do not have to create an account or remember a password.

2

When a company handling your data chooses to manage their voice samples with Mediartis, you will simply be notified by email at the email address you provided to the company.

3
Mediartis will send you a link via email that allows you to view all your personal data, including audio samples.
4

From this link, you can identify which companies registered with Mediartis hold your data and can decide whether or not to allow the company to use your data for casting purposes.

5

You can enforce your rights by requesting the modification or deletion of old or inaccurate data. You can also demand that the company delete you from their database.

6
You can access the platform at any time by using this portal with your email address.
Access my personal data

Why are my samples watermarked?

When listening to your voice samples on Mediartis, you might hear an overprinted voice — also called audio watermarking — every 5 seconds in order to protect the voice data.

Creating and maintaining a casting database is a very demanding job for production companies and artistic directors. This sometimes represents years of work, and allows them to showcase their expertise to their customers. In some cases, these samples are also subject to copyrights and/or confidentiality agreement between the producer and their clients. They sincerely do not want their work to be used by competitors.

If you are interested in obtaining copies of your samples, we recommend that you contact the company directly to ask if they would kindly send you one or more. Few companies refuse, but be advised that they are not obliged to share them with you.

With Mediartis, you are the master of your voice data and the active partner of production companies

Have questions? Contact us

Rights according to the GDPR

Right to information and access to data, you can know who has your data and which data are being processed

Right to the deletion of your data or right to be forgotten: change of voice, occupation, unrepresentative sample, etc

Right to rectification of your data, for example, if some were inaccurate or incomplete

Right to limit the processing of your data, so that only the necessary data are collected

Right to portability of your data, within the copyright limit that producers and others may have

For more information on your rights, we invite you to visit the ICO website

);