royalty share community

ALL ACX RIGHTS HOLDERS AND PRODUCERS WHO work within ANY FORM OF ROYALTY SHARE CONTRACT ARE ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE IN AN UPCOMING SURVEY CONCERNING YOUR PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES FOR DISTRIBUTING PROMO CODES IN EXCHANGE FOR HONEST ONLINE REIVEWS, AND YOUR TECHNIQUES FOR THE PROMOTION AND MARKETING OF AUDIOBOOKS GENERALLY. YOUR ANSWERS WILL BE TALLYED AND EVALUATED AND THE RESULTS COMPILED INTO A "ROYALTY SHARE MARKET MEMORANDUM" which will be made available to all participants. the survey is being composed and time limits for commencement, completion and submission are being determined. The greater the participation, the greater the value of the finished memo to all. the survey questions will be based on the following assumptions:

ACX Royalty Share contracts are a popular arrangement for audiobook production that can be of mutual benefit to both rights holder and producer.

But, earning royalties requires sales of the audiobook, and the responsibility for generating sales falls primarily upon the rights holder and producer.

Positive listener ratings and reviews have always been, and still remain the primary currency of success in generating sales of audiobooks.

ACX's promo codes which it provides to rights holders and producers in Royalty Share contracts are an effective method for attracting ratings and reviews by trading a free listen for an honest review.

Audible's legacy royalty model treated promo code redemptions as purchases that earned royalties for rights holders and producers. Thus, there was a direct financial incentive to actively distribute promo codes in exchange for reviews.

Audible's new royalty model no longer pays royalties on promo code redemptions. And, the degree to which its new provisions will affect royalty payments to rights holder and producers remains to be seen.

As regular participants in royalty share contracts, we recognize the value of trading promo codes for honest reviews, but without the immediate financial incentive, we must seek to optimize our promo code distribution strategy to compensate for the added lag time between effort and payment.

The sharing of audiobook promotion and marketing strategies and practices among the rights holders and producers who participate in Royal Share contracts will not unfairly affect the natural competition that exists among authors or between narrators. But, such a sharing can increase the royalty share income for rights holders and producers generally, thus inuring to the benefit of the entire audiobook industry.