It isn’t impossible to fix mistakes. Very few are fatal. But it is almost always more expensive to fix a mistake than to take the extra time to do it right in the first place.
The same diligence applies to the creation and ownership of our intellectual property. It costs a lot less to secure the rights as the IP is created than to clean up issues later.
I had a wonderful podcast guest last week (for an episode that you are going to love!) who mentioned the consent that I have guests sign when they book their interview. She said she had never been asked to do that before.
I know what you’re thinking, “pfft, lawyer 🙄.” Well, yeah, but that is not what I was thinking with the consent.
The consent is part of building my Body of Work. It ensures that I own the rights in the podcast episodes and can use it to promote my business and create additional content from it.
I am going to rat out a certain lawyer with a podcast who has the most extreme consent imaginable. You almost need to hire a lawyer to make sure you understand it. Not a fan.
No consent should be so long or complex that the average person can’t understand it on first reading. I practice this with my clients in the market research space as well.
A consent should be short and sweet while hitting the essential points. For my podcast I care about:
Ownership of the recording
Rights to distribute it
Rights to make derivatives; i.e., repurpose it
Right to use the guest’s photo and bio in connection with the podcast
I also grant the guest the right to use the content—which I own--when I make it public (I have been asked for the recording well before an episode was scheduled to be released, which I politely declined).
Interested in adding some flesh to your Body of Work? Start with a podcast consent. Feel free to use mine, which you can find here.