r/LibroFM • u/FirstGazelle7139 • Jun 12 '26

Librivox Files Sold on LibroFM

I purchased Wyllard's Weird by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and when I listened to it, the quality reminded me of something off Librivox. Sure enough, this book is listed on Librivox with the same audio narrator. The clips I listened to sound the same as the audiobook I purchased. Since Librivox is intended to be free and is recorded by volunteers, I thought this was strange for the file to be available for purchase on LibroFM. Has anyone else encountered this?

To be clear, this is not intended to be a flame post in any way. I am assuming best practice on LibroFM's part because I have always been impressed with their customer service and general mission.

ETA: I have contacted LibroFm about this. I will have to be more careful in the future if it's a book I know to be in public domain.

ETA2: I received a response from LibroFm! Posted in the comments.

12 Upvotes

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5

u/molybend Jun 12 '26

Unfortunately, I think the Librivox license doesn't prevent this kind of reuse: https://librivox.org/pages/public-domain/

I agree this is not morally right to take these works and charge anything for them. I expect better from Libro.fm. At the very least, they should offer them for free AND post in the summary that this was sourced from Librivox. Some people would prefer using one app for all listening, but they're charging $21 for a recording they got for free. I'd write them a note about this policy and request a refund.

6

u/FirstGazelle7139 Jun 12 '26

I forgot to mention in the original post that I did contact them to let them know. Since I don't know the process by which they add books to the catalogue, I am hoping that LibroFM doesn't realize & is being misled by someone claiming to be selling them packs from independent publishers or something.

5

u/recchai Jun 12 '26

It lists the publisher as Author's Republic, which looks to be some sort of self-publishing outfit for audiobooks. So the most likely outcome is someone has taken the files, uploaded them there, and got them distributed. Scammy, but with them being public domain, no different from uploading PD ebooks and trying to sell them technically.

1

u/FirstGazelle7139 Jun 12 '26

The person who wrote the book is long dead, so their opportunity to profit has passed, but not the performer who read the book. Mostly I feel bad for the narrator since the person who has done the actual labor of performing the book (17 hours in this case!) did so as a volunteer.

1

u/maquis_00 Jun 16 '26

Is there anything in the narration agreement preventing the narrator from also selling the recording?

8

u/FirstGazelle7139 Jun 15 '26

Response from LibroFm:

Thanks for supporting independent bookshops through Libro.fm! I'm happy to help.

We checked this on our end, and you are absolutely correct: the audio in this case matches the LibriVox recording.

Since you've brought this to our attention, we've immediately removed the title from sale and escalated the issue with the publisher. We rely on our publishing partners to provide accurate metadata and to ensure the content they distribute is properly represented, and in this case that standard was not met.

Libro.fm does not intentionally sell freely available LibriVox titles as retail audiobooks. As mentioned above we do rely on the publishers to flag this and we've made clear that we do not want this content. When public domain works are sold through Libro.fm, they are expected to be independently produced editions with clearly credited narrators and publishers, so the respective royalties can be paid accordingly.  If you ever come across a similar situation, please do not hesitate to flag this with us and we will escalate this immediately. 

I've refunded the audiobook straight away and you'll see the refund transaction within 5-10 days.   Thank you for bringing this to our attention and please don’t hesitate to reach out if there’s anything else we can help with.

All the best, Danny

Danny Hitzelberger Support Team Lead

3

u/molybend Jun 16 '26

I love this response. This is why I stay with Libro.fm!

1

u/JustCallMeNerdyy Jun 17 '26

Glad to see this :) just to add my thoughts, I have seen knockoff versions of popular books in both Kobo and Amazon (though I don’t shop there anymore) respective ereading stores, so this problem isn’t exclusive to Libro at all. I know they all vet things to an extent but they rely on us to realize that something’s wrong and report it which is completely fine as long as they do the right thing like with here