2. Ethics and Sound and Audiovisual Archives

2.1 Acquisition

The holdings of sound and audiovisual archives may come from many sources. Some of the most common ways of developing collections are by acquisitions, donations, legal deposit, or from the archive’s own recording activities. In some types of archives, such as national sound archives or audiovisual sections of libraries or other cultural institutions, the main part of the collection consists of recordings produced by another institution or individual. Yet others, such as broadcast archives or research archives, contain recordings made either by themselves or by their administering institution. The following points address ethical issues arising from various acquisition practices.

2.1.1 Acquisition by Recording

As long as archives’ employees record performances for preservation and dissemination, their activities are similar to those of anthropologists and folklorists who do their own collecting. Aspects of their collection activities are addressed, for example, in the Ethics Statement of the American Anthropological Association, as well as in similar statements for the fields of folklore, ethnomusicology, and other areas of research that rely on audiovisual documentation.

The paramount responsibility of archives’ employees lies with the people they record. If there is a conflict of interests, the interests of recorded performers (who are in some cases also creators of content) must always come first. Specifically documentary recording shall observe personal rights of those intentionally and to some extent also accidentally recorded. Recordings for commercial and broadcast archives may be undertaken within the bounds of appropriate legislation, however archives must recognize the possibility that other rights and responsibilities may apply.

Since recordings made of performers for archives are meant for long-term preservation and dissemination, an explicit agreement between the performers and the archive (or recordist) is necessary in order to provide for proper management of the collection. This agreement should document permission to record the performance (event or situation), to preserve it over the long term, and specify whatever intentions there may be regarding access and potential dissemination.

Such an agreement should transfer the rights to safeguard and provide access to the materials to the archive. Without such a document, the materials will be ethically difficult to justify, preserve, and access.

2.1.2 Acquisition by Deposit, Donation or Purchasing

Many sound and audiovisual archives acquire collections from specialists who are recordists themselves, by compulsory deposit, or in other ways that do not involve interacting directly with performers or creators of content. In some of these cases, however, it remains important for the archive to determine whether the materials being deposited include sufficient information about the collection to determine whether the archive’s use of it safeguards the “rights, interests, and sensitivities” of those whose traditions, memory, or expressions are represented in the collection. The ethics document of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) addresses issues of illegally acquired materials donated to museums, which is important for sound and audiovisual archives as well (sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4). The ICOM document also addresses the ethical uses of materials that are considered sacred, secret, or meant to be accessed only by members of the originating community:

Section 2.5 on culturally sensitive material: Collections of . . . material of sacred significance should be acquired only if they can be housed securely and cared for respectfully. This must be accomplished in a manner consistent with professional standards and the interests and beliefs of members of the community, ethnic or religious groups from which the objects originated, where these are known (http://icom.museum/the-vision/code-of-ethics/, consulted 24/10/2010).

When recordings have been made without the knowledge or permission of the performers –especially recordings of secret, sacred and private materials, as well as recordings of political sensitive nature – they need to be treated distinctly from other materials. Archives should require clear information from depositors regarding materials that might be sensitive in this way and those having no such restrictions.

The acquisition of original recordings, such as field, private or other unpublished material, requires the establishment of a clear agreement between the archive and the depositor. Such an agreement should stipulate the archive’s entitlement to archive and provide access to recordings and documentation as well as possible rights that might be transferred to the archive. In addition, archives may wish to include specific terms about the archives’ obligation to recordists/depositors. When employees of the archive do their own recording, such mutual arrangements can be carefully controlled. Some recordists, however, may have acquired their recordings without giving much thought to obtaining the agreements needed to archive and provide appropriate access to them. The lack of formal agreements between recordists/depositors and performers or other rights holders is not sufficient reason to refuse the collection, but that lack needs to be noted and addressed in internal archive policies.

In case of the acquisition of entire collections compiled by depositors (e.g. donors; other institutional or private archives), the affiliation of the individual recordings with the original collection should remain identifiable. Agreements with the depositors should include clear stipulations regarding the time span of their validity and potential obligations of the archive, such as the perpetuation of the collection’s original arrangement, or specified preconditions of its use.

In some circumstances broadcast, commercial or other archives may wish to acquire copies of material which originally belonged in their collection but which has been overlooked, lost or deaccessioned, but for which there is now a requirement. In such cases the collectors’ or donors’ rights are less critical however, archives may choose to reimburse or reward collectors for the role in preserving the material in the interim.

2.2. Processing and Preservation

Long-term preservation of sound and audiovisual documents needs particular skills and infrastructure. It generates continuously high costs. Therefore, before accepting sound and audiovisual documents for long-term preservation an institution should verify if its mission permits it to do so and if there are sufficient trained personnel, adapted infrastructure and financial means in the long term budget. If this is not the case, the documents should be handed over to a better adapted institution.

If there is no legal obligation to keep a collection as a whole, a process of appraisal, prioritisation and selection should be carried out. (See the “IASA Task Force on Selection” document1).


1. see http://www.iasa-web.org/task-force

2.2.1. Archival Processing and Preservation

Many professional activities of archivists are covered in documents related to the codes of ethics of organizations of archivists and librarians. Good examples are the codes of ethics of the Society of American Archivists1 and the International Council on Archives2.

Certainly important to IASA is an ethical approach to appraising sound and audiovisual materials. The ICOM code of ethics3 is relevant here, especially sections on the care of collections, 2.18-2.26 (regarding the policies to ensure the continuity and security of collections and associated data, documentation, conservation, and professional responsibility).

In accordance with these ethical principles, sound and audiovisual recordings and associated materials (including original carriers) shall be treated with appropriate respect and mishandling by unskilled operators should be avoided. They need to be conserved according the latest technology to minimise deterioration. Their original content and physical representation shall be safeguarded from being modified, truncated, extended, falsified or censored in any way.

Archivists’ obligations also include the permanent care of accompanying materials (photographs, notes, etc.) and the handling of the description of the contents of the recordings (for metadata, catalogues and discography, and other publications).

Collection activities include more than just acquisition. All archives also dispose of recordings removed from the collections. While deaccessioning is done for a variety of reasons, as described in the ICOM document noted above (paragraphs 2.12-2.17), archivists need to observe paragraph 2.13:

The removal of an object or specimen from a museum collection must only be undertaken with a full understanding of the significance of the item, its character (whether renewable or non-renewable), legal standing, and any loss of public trust that might result from such action.

This is important, for example, in cases where a recordist has promised a performer that recordings would be preserved in an archive, or when an archive has promised a depositor that his or her collection would remain intact.


1. see http://www.archivists.org/governance/handbook/app_ethics.asp
2. see http://www.ica.org/sites/default/files/Ethics-EN.pdf
3. see http://icom.museum/the-vision/code-of-ethics/2-museums-that-maintain-col...

2.2.2. Technical Processing and Preservation

The IASA Technical Committee document, TC03 The Safeguarding of the Audio Heritage: Ethics, Principles and Preservation Strategy Version 3, of December 2005, specifically proposes ethical considerations for technical processing and preservation of audio recordings. In this publication the valid distinction between content and carrier is drawn, and consideration is given to technical responsibilities, and consequences of actions in technical preservation practices. TC03 is available at http://www.iasa-web.org/safeguarding-audio-heritage-ethics-principles-pr....

Any kind of preservation, restoration, transfer and migration and of sound and audiovisual content should be done in such a way as to avoid or minimize the loss of data and other relevant information on the original recording. In addition, ancillary information, which may be part of the original sound or AV document (i.e., content and carrier) in manifold forms, should be safeguarded. The original carriers should be preserved in useable condition for as long as is feasible. This also applies to all digitized materials, since the technology and methods of signal extraction and analogue-digital-transfer are still subject to further development, and original carriers – and packaging – often provide ancillary information.

TC03 states that eventually the content of any sound recording intended to be retained indefinitely will need to be transferred to a long term storage system, however, as local conditions may affect the process, any such procedure “should follow a strategy based on the individual situation of the collection and the specific policy of an archive” (TC03, p.11). Prioritisation and selection for digitisation should follow the selection criteria developed by the IASA “Task Force to establish selection criteria of analogue and digital audio contents for transfer to data formats for preservation purposes1.

Any kind of physical restoration process on the original carrier should be performed with utmost care to balance the possible improvement of restoration against possible further deterioration or subsequent damage in the long time preservation (see TC03, chapter 6). Any kind of physical restoration process on the original carrier should be performed according to the actual best practice (see IASA-TC04 "Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects”, 2nd edition, 2009, individual chapters: http://www.iasa-web.org/audio-preservation-tc04).

Transfers made from old to new archive formats should be carried out without subjective signal alterations. Any kind of subjective signal enhancement (like de-noising, etc.) must only be applied on a copy of the unmodified archival transfer (e.g. on access copies, see TC03, chapters 7-8).

All preservation actions, restoration, transfer and migration processes (including long-term digital storage procedures), should always be accompanied by careful documentation, in order to provide all relevant specifications that ensure the authenticity of the primary data and prevent the loss of primary, secondary, and contextual information constituted by the original AV document. Technicians working in an archival preservation setting must ensure that they document any alterations of sounds and audiovisual data done for other specific purposes such as types of dissemination.

Technicians whose work involves the creation of information systems for cataloguing sound and audiovisual collections should also avoid data loss in those systems.


1. see: http://www.iasa-web.org/task-force

2.3. Providing Access

Preservation and access should always be linked together. Collections that will never be accessed – for what ever reason – even after a legal or ethical delay should not be kept in public funded institutions. However, before disposing of any collection materials, archives should be aware that circumstances change and that apparently intractable access issues can be resolved, see 2.2.1 Archival Processing and Preservation).

The ethics of giving access to sound and audiovisual documents have legal and technical aspects.

The main technical aspects are that access should not do any harm to the physical integrity of the document and, on the other hand, the user should be given the possibility to access all the content relevant for the document.

As through internet an unlimited and uncontrolled access can easily be given to sound and audiovisual documents, archivists have to carefully balance between the right of access and the right of the persons and institutions linked to a document and, to regulate access in a way that the confidence in sound and audiovisual archives are not damaged.

In addition, there are some important ethical issues related to dissemination or repatriation that are particularly important for sound and audiovisual archives, and especially for those preserving field, documentary and other original recordings. Some of these issues are especially evident when archives themselves become users of their collections in publications, in websites, etc. These issues include the right of a community to access its own cultural heritage, possible community and customary rights over dissemination, and the importance of observing the agreements made at the time the original performers were recorded.

There have been cases in which depositors have made access to their collections so restrictive that members of the performers’ community cannot access them. Such restrictions tend to create resentment toward researchers and archives.

When repatriation occurs as a transaction between archives, it should be accompanied by an agreement between the donor archive and the recipient archive to honour performers’ and donors’ original agreements regarding access and treatment of sacred or other sensitive materials. This agreement should be legally valid so that the donor archive will be indemnified against improper use of the collection once it is transferred to another archive.

It is important to recognize that the interests of nations and those of performers may differ. Copyright legislation generally refers to individual ownership and control over original content, but archives should recognize the possibility of community ownership and customary rights in addition to those recognized by national and international legislation.

Access to specific collections should follow the agreements established at the time of collection and/or acquisition of the recording from the performer. Archival policies should involve an actual agreement between the archive and each user defining the specific ways the user can treat the materials; these agreements should follow from the original agreements with the performers. Users are expected to behave ethically in their use of the materials.

2.4. Archives and Intellectual Property Owners

2.4.1 Archives and Copyright Owners

Published sound recordings are in many cases the product of a commercial industry, which has as its primary purpose the creation of profit thorough the sale of recordings and through charging license fees for the use of recordings. Traditionally, the industry has been comprised of record and publishing companies, who invest in the recording, production and distribution of content, and authors and performers who generate content. In return for their investment, the companies have historically assumed ownership or control of the copyrights of authors, performers and recordists through contractual arrangements. Copyright collecting societies may act as central clearing houses for collecting and distributing licence fees for routine uses of sound recordings, such as public performance and broadcasting. Even recordings that were not the product of a commercial industry, or were never published, are usually covered by some kind of copyright laws.

Copyright legislation varies from country to country, but in general, through the operation of international treaties, it gives copyright owners an almost exclusive right to publish, reproduce, publicly perform or play, communicate, adapt, broadcast, and in some cases rent, their copyright materials. In many countries there are public interest exceptions allowing specific uses such as preservation, educational instruction, critique and news reporting, however these are typically very specific and do not overcome the conflicting interests of copyright owners with exclusive rights to control the exploitation of their material and archives with the objective of making material freely accessible.

First and foremost, archives have an obligation to comply with copyright and related law. This requires a high level of awareness of the relevant law, and a system of controls within the archives operating procedures which limit the possibility of material being inappropriately used within the archive or incorrectly supplied to a third party.

Archives can position themselves to manage copyright issues effectively by obtaining as much information as possible about the ownership of intellectual property in works represented in their collections, ideally from the point of acquisition. Archives can add value to services they offer to clients by making rights information publicly available, provided that it does not conflict with obligations of privacy and confidentiality. Where archive users wish to make use of copyright material, an archive can minimise the risk of infringement and maintain positive relations with donors and depositors by requiring the users to pursue copyright clearances.

Archives should recognise that copyright is complex, and that ownership may not always be clear. Where there are competing claims for copyright in material held by an archive and the archive does not claim an interest, the archive will most likely achieve positive stakeholder management outcomes by remaining neutral. Permission may need to be obtained from all competing claimants before access is provided to the disputed material.

Activities within archives such as digitisation or preservation copying can potentially be in breach of copyright law. Where no copyright exception applies or copyright owners have not given an archive permission to use the material as desired, stakeholder problems and legal action can be avoided by taking alternative approaches that do not breach copyright law, for example, purchasing additional copies rather than creating copies in house. Where no practical alternative which does not breach copyright law exists archives may be able to negotiate blanket agreements or approval for essential preservation work with industry bodies.

In some jurisdictions, archives can access exceptions within copyright law to support the preservation of heritage recordings and the provision of access for research and educational purposes. In exercising these exceptions archives should ensure compliance with all the relevant criteria that allow the exception. Archives should be open and transparent in their application of any exceptions. The archive’s policy on use of exceptions should be publicly documented, and disclosed to individual copyright owners or to industry groups as relevant.

Archives have a moral obligation to ensure that material which is in Public Domain remains in Public Domain after digitisation. Public Private Partnerships on digitisation should not impose new rights or change of ownership on material that is free of copyright restrictions.

2.4.2. Archives and Intellectual Property Rights

Concern about intellectual property -- specifically individual copyright in the composition and performance of original works -- dominates most of the discussion of rights over performances today. It is important that archives observe national and international legislation on all collections. But it is equally important that archives observe other restrictions on use made by performers, depositors, archivists, and technicians.

Rights over performances are not coterminous with the current legislation. Even when a certain use of a creator’s or performer’s work is legal, it may not be ethical. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has a document with Draft Provisions on Traditional Cultural Expressions/Folklore1 that is useful for consideration. Some national legislation, such as that for Australia, recognizes moral rights. These include the right to proper acknowledgement of the author or source of the document and the right of protection from ill usage or ‘derogatory treatment’2.


1. see http://www.wipo.int/tk/en/consultations/draft_provisions/draft_provision...
2. cp. http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FedLRev/2004/15.html

2.5 Archival Rights and Responsibilities over Collections

Archives need to have the right to be able to preserve recordings for the future. In order to do so, they need to be able to obtain copies of commercial recordings without copy codes that prevent duplication. It is to be hoped that archival collections will endure beyond existing copyright periods—but if the sounds and images cannot be migrated to future carriers, they will become inaccessible (see also the IASA Policy Statement on Copyright & Other Intellectual Property Rights1).

Sound and audiovisual archives face enormous financial costs in the storage, transfer, and migration of their collections. Copyright legislation, copy protection software, and the music business are additional challenges. The large number of “orphan works” in the 20th century whose owner is not known as well as unresponsive copyright holders gives an indication of the problems to be encountered in the future with current recordings. Without data migration, most recording formats in the early 21st century will be unplayable in a few decades. IASA takes an active position on the importance of legislative and software changes that enable archives to do their part in enriching the cultural life of the future by preserving the life of the past and present. Therefore, it will also be the responsibility of archives to stay informed of legal developments in their respective countries regarding issues such as orphan works.

The ongoing costs faced by sound and audiovisual archives justify, in specific cases, charging fees for access and defining the details of access policies in accordance with their budgets, staff, and missions.

Sound and audiovisual archives have an obligation to keep their employees updated on the best practices and processes related to their activities so they can act effectively and ethically in preservation, documentation, and access.


1. http://www.iasa-web.org/copyright-other-intellectual-property-rights