Can you license recorded calls, visits and meetings that people agreed to?
A recording of a real conversation is valuable, and the person on the other end is a real person. Whether it can be licensed depends almost entirely on what they were told and agreed to at the time. A recording made without a valid notice cannot be repaired afterward, so this is the first question, not the last.
What counts as a recording set
| Audio with each speaker on a separate channel | Separate channels make the speakers easy to tell apart and make cleaning easier. |
| Transcripts and the notes written from them | The text version and the summary a professional wrote after, which show how a conversation was understood. |
| The consent record | The notice that was read or shown, the date and the agreement. Without it a recording is hard to use. |
| Metadata about the conversation | Length, language, topic and outcome, without identifying the people. |
| Recordings in more than one language | Calls and visits where the speakers switch languages, which are harder to find. |
Consent has to cover this use
The common notice says a recording may be made for quality or training. Whether that includes licensing the recording to a third party for AI is a different question, and the answer depends on the exact words and on the place.
Consent given for one purpose does not stretch to another. If the notice was silent, the safest course is to ask counsel before anything else is done.
Voices are personal and so is what is said
A voice identifies a person in many places. What is said identifies them too: names, numbers, addresses, health details and account information spoken aloud. Cleaning audio means finding and removing each of these, which is slower and costlier than cleaning text.
Where a recording cannot be cleaned reliably, it is left out. The remaining set is smaller, and it is the part that can be shared with confidence.
What recordings leave out
| Recordings without clear consent | Excluded entirely. |
| Spoken names, numbers and addresses | Removed from audio and transcripts, or the recording is left out. |
| Health, payment and legal detail | Removed. If it cannot be removed reliably the recording is excluded. |
An example, invented for illustration
A telehealth company records visits after showing each patient a notice and keeping the agreement with the recording. A set includes only visits whose notice covered this use, removes names and identifiers from audio and text, links each recording to its transcript and the note written after, and leaves out any visit with an unclear record. The owner sees a sample first, and nothing leaves without that approval.
Questions owners ask about this
Our recordings say they may be recorded for training. Is that enough?
Not on its own. Licensing to a third party for AI is a different use, so it depends on the exact notice and the law where the call took place.
Can old recordings be fixed by asking people now?
Sometimes, for small sets. For large archives it is rarely practical, which is why the original notice matters so much.
Do meetings and podcasts count too?
They can, and the same questions apply: who agreed, to what, and does it cover this. Public recordings still carry the rights of the people in them.
Didn't find your question? Ask us directly.
Keep reading
Related kinds of records
- Support tickets: The whole thread, wrong guesses included, with customers replaced by stand-ins.
- Call recordings: Gong, Zoom and phone-system calls; transcripts before audio, and consent before everything.
Industries that keep these records
- Call centers and BPOs: Recorded calls with the consent behind them, with client campaigns and payment details kept out.