#AMAZON AUDIO BOOK NARRATOR JOBS LICENSE#
#AMAZON AUDIO BOOK NARRATOR JOBS PROFESSIONAL#

Pushkin Industries, the audio production company cofounded by Jacob Weisberg and author, narrator, and podcast host Malcolm Gladwell, has found AI helpful as a podcast tool. “We do not anticipate AI narration replacing human readers,” he said, “but we do see opportunities to use it in specific ways-particularly as the quality of it has greatly improved.” He cited an example: “We have been using AI as an in-house tool for advance listening copies to get early ‘reads’ out to sales reps and even to some of their buyers.” We believe that sensitive attention to casting the right voice actor is a crucial part of bringing our authors’ works to their fullest expression in audio.”Įchoing the position of other audio publishers, Goff sees a future in which human and computer-generated narration can happily coexist. You simply cannot have a beautifully crafted audiobook, a unique collaboration and work of art, without them. “There are a lot of intricacies here that need to be considered.”įor Goff, “narrators are the heart and soul of our industry. “Our team continues to weigh the pros and cons and are very vocal about their thoughts and concerns on both sides,” said Anthony Goff, who until this month was senior v-p and publisher of Hachette Audio. Some traditional audiobook publishers are eyeing new tech frontiers while seemingly treading lightly in terms of AI. And then there is the potential theft of our voices-our speech patterns, our acting choices-to create the AI. Listeners make choices about what to spend money on, and they have a right to demand clear labeling of robot voices, as do authors. Do you really think Speechki is going to pass their savings on to the listener? No. “And it’s the other team that benefits, not the narrators nor the listeners. “The only pros I see are financial,” she said. She places “loss of livelihoods, loss of integrity in storytelling, and loss of personal connection” high on her list of concerns. Similarly, in Huber’s view, the negatives of AI outweigh any positives.

#AMAZON AUDIO BOOK NARRATOR JOBS LICENSE#

“For example,” she notes, “if I were to license my voice, and lose all control over how my voice is then used, my voice could potentially be used to voice content that I find morally repulsive.” She also points out that “as of now, a lot of AI licensing consists of non-union contracts,” and that narrators are vulnerable to entering agreements that exploit their voices and don’t offer fair compensation. Lawrence believes there are many ethical issues surrounding AI technology. People who direct audiobooks, people who edit audiobooks, people who check audiobook narration for word-for-word perfection against the manuscript.” “There’s an entire ecosystem of people who rely on audiobooks for their livelihood.

But according to actor and narrator Emily Lawrence, cofounder of PANA and president of its board of directors, “It’s very easy to reduce this issue to dollars and cents, but it’s very complicated and nuanced.” If AI narration proliferates, “it’s not just narrators who will lose their jobs,” Lawrence said. Proponents of AI audiobook narration tout its much lower production costs (compared to a traditional recording of a human narrator) as a way to improve profitability of audiobooks as well as allowing publishers to publish more audiobooks that have limited audiences.

#AMAZON AUDIO BOOK NARRATOR JOBS PROFESSIONAL#

“I am a member of the SAG-AFTRA Audiobook Steering Committee, and I am a board member of our newly formed Professional Audiobook Narrators Association, or PANA, and believe me we are circling the wagons.” She noted that McIlroy’s piece created an uproar in narrator circles-“much of it fear driven rather than informed,” she admitted-and that it had “galvanized our community to get educated and get involved.” “It’s practically all we talk about,” said audiobook narrator Hillary Huber. As the audiobook industry begins to more extensively weigh the pros and cons of another new technology on its doorstep, a growing number of players are joining the conversation. He also profiled several players in this nascent nook of the still-booming digital audiobook segment. In that piece, consultant and PW columnist Thad McIlroy discussed the state of AI-enabled audiobook narration and its potential appeal to audiobook creators and consumers. The advent of AI-enabled audiobook narration has been a hot topic of discussion in audiobook circles of late, and according to a number of audiobook narrators and other industry professionals, an October PW article raised the temperature of debate further.

Amazon audio book narrator jobs