To join or not to join…
April 23, 2009
“It’s the best thing I ever did”. “A total waste of money”. When you ask fellow vo-pros what they think of voice-over websites, you better be ready for a heated debate! Especially when you’re getting started in the business, you’re probably trying to figure out how to spend your money wisely. Are these sites an easy ticket to success, or a waste of time, energy and cash? Here’s my take on it.
1. People tend to get disappointed because of unrealistic expectations and not necessarily because “the sites don’t work”. However – as we have seen with Facebook- dissatisfied members can join forces and demand certain changes. We all know that some voice-over sites are more open to feedback than others. Ultimately, sites that don’t listen to what their members are asking for will pay the price.
2. Never fully rely on vo-websites for leads. These voice search engines should just be one tool in an overall marketing strategy. Nothing less, but certainly nothing more. Personally, I make sure to have various streams of income. That’s why I spend part of my time as a Dutch/German translator, and part of my time recording voice-overs. Sometimes I combine both when reading copy I just translated!
3. For me, the value of these vo-sites is not only determined by the number of jobs they generate. Voices-com, for example, offers an amazing wealth of information, from podcasts to blogs to rate info. It helps beginners to hone their craft, and it gives established talents the opportunity to generously share what they have learned. Even though you don’t need to be a full-paying member to benefit from this cornucopia of resources, it’s only fair that the people running these sites should be compensated for their contribution to our profession.
These voice-over superstores also give us a chance to scope out the competition. In a world that’s getting smaller and smaller, it’s good to know what colleagues are up to. There’s so much great talent out there, and it’s not getting any easier to carve out a niche. Being able to listen to what others do, has given me a better sense of how to position myself.
4. Much of this discussion about these sites has been focused on the cost of membership. Especially in this economy, is it really a worthwhile investment? One of the questions we should also ask ourselves is this: how much money and time could we potentially save by joining these sites? If you’re like me, you probably didn’t get into this business because you’re a marketing genius. How much hard-earned cash would we have to spend individually, to get even close to reaching the client base these sites tap into each and every day?
Most of us would rather spend time in front of a microphone, than drumming up new business. In part thanks to these sites, we can focus on what we do best! Let them make the connections, do the legwork and promote our skills. And at the end of the day, they can even make sure we get paid. What’s that worth to you?
5. Now, don’t think for a moment that I believe these sites are perfect. Far from it. I worry about “artificial intelligence” matching voices to certain projects, excluding others. I’m very concerned about the bidding war by talents who are played off against one another, deflating our rates from within. And I’m skeptical about sending in a demo when I see that 80 other hopefuls have just done the same thing. But at the end of the day, it all comes back to the person who stares at me when I look into the mirror. Instead of blaming outside factors for my success or lack thereof, I ask myself what I can do to stand out from the crowd. And here’s the thing: that’s something no site can or will ever be able to give you!
Cyberspacially yours,
Entry Filed under: Articles. Tags: advertising, marketing, Paul Strikwerda, strategy, talent, voice-over sites, voiceover.
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Paul Strikwerda
1. mstaji | April 23rd, 2009 at 8:22 pm
I agree that the voice over casting sites allow you to tap into a market that you might have no possibility of reaching without them. But there is of course other sites like voicearchive.com and produlz.com who basically act as an agency… you can join those and if you find your niche with be their Dutch / German guy if you are quick enough in your business correspondence and job delivery.
Its great for Newbies … absolutely… and great for the Veterans that until very recently had their faces plastered on the voices.com front page (till they noticed the clients werent interested in that kind of promotion).
I agree we should form groups and demand rights.. a union for the non-union vo artist… a lobby so we can shift things. Hey it worked with Star Trek the original series… it brought it back from cancellation… without that we wouldn’t have had Star Treck the next generation, or voyager, or deep space nine, or enterprise (not that I would have missed enterprise).
or we change the rules ourselves … but we can’t do that without joining forces.
2. julialombardo | April 25th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Well, Paul, I have a lot to say about this.
Personally, I have wrestled with the decision to join the audition sites.
When I decided to do so, I set about researching two of the biggest, reading people’s experiences with both. Eventually I settled on voices.com
You are correct that these sites save us a lot of time and money. For example, I live a fair distance from Los Angeles, and the thought of driving from one audition to another, sitting in unbelievable traffic, wasting gas, and hours and hours of my time waiting in a room with 50 other people for the same job…that’s WAY too much time and frustration for MAYBE getting a gig.
This way, I can come home from work and record auditions at midnight if I want. These jobs come TO us, instead of the other way around. And I’m not sitting in rush hour traffic or wasting time and gas running from run audition to the other!
Having said that…these sites are far less than perfect. I have now received SEVERAL audition notices for African American voices. I am glad there is a market for this, but trust me when I say no one has ever mistaken me for an African. So I say to Stephanie Ciccarelli – PAISAN – do not not know a fellow Italian when you see one? And if my name is not a dead giveaway, I don’t know what is??!
Secondly, several times now, I have gotten auditions in my inbox that were originally posted 3 or 4 days earlier – but never made it into my inbox until the very last day the audition is due – the drop dead deadline. But the time I see the job notice, 80 million other people have seen it before me, and sent their audition in! One night, I was SO FRUSTRATED because by the time I got the job notice, hurried up and did a cold read, recorded it, and got ready to send it over, it was deleted off the list! IT WAS TOO LATE! I even researched the client online, contacted him, and sent him my demo anyway! But it was still too late.
I sent an e-mail to their voices.com “service” department saying:
“Please explain to me why this is happening.”
Their response was that “preferred talent” gets job postings before everyone else: I guess that means the people who pay extra to be included on the service.
One of the reasons I almost DIDN’T sign up with them originally was their lack of a level playing field, seemingly prioritizing and using favorites ahead of everyone else.
Thirdly, there were jobs I never got to audition for in the first place simply because I COULD NOT PRINT OUT THE SCRIPT FOR THE JOB. I have lost audition opportunities for this reason alone! The client does not use a universal format that everyone can open, like Word, pdf or rtf documents. Instead, they create it in a weird format that only a few people can open.
I even went to my city library and met with a technician who could not open the document either! So I lost that opportunity as well.
Next issue: Voices.com spends so much time knocking Voice123 and not enough time improving its own service. Before I joined on with them, they assured me that they NEVER accept auditons for less than $500, unlike Voice123, who “takes the low budget jobs we turn down.” Oh, really? That is categorically FALSE. Almost every job in my inbox starts at $100.
And lastly, voices.com will feature clients that want their scripts recorded in wav, mp3, aif, or various formats. BUT WHEN WE SEND OUR AUDITION SCRIPTS OVER, VOICES.COM ONLY LETS US SEND IT OVER IN mp3 FORMAT. IF THE CLIENT WANTS THE SCRIPT RECORDED IN wav FORMAT, HE WILL NEVER GET IT THAT WAY BECAUSE VOICES.COM IS SET UP TO ONLY ACCEPT AUDITIONS IN mp3 FORMAT!
Voices.com needs to develop a UNIVERSAL SYSTEM whereby:
1. All scripts are created in formats everyone can open.
2. All auditions can be submitted in formats everyone has access to.
3. There is a true level playing field where ALL TALENT have a chance to succeed.
After saying all that, do I regret my original decision to sign on with them? Not yet.
One thing I have noticed is that more and more people are listening to my demos. The number keeps going up every time I sign on to the site.
People are starting to notice me. I have even received e-mails from a few clients, one who said he would like for me to do their next project.
The name of the game here is exposure and networking. Yes, I am getting that from this site. They just have a lot of areas they need to improve.
There are people who cover all the bases by joining all these sites and having their own web site. This is but one way to promote yourself.
3. voplanet | April 28th, 2009 at 1:14 am
I think this is a really well written & thought out blog & I appreciate your realistic approach. Too many talent think it is the job of the website that they are paying to be a member of to GET THEM THE JOB. What they need to realize is that we do not make the decision as to who gets what job we can only make recommendations & some sites don’t even do that.
At VOplanet, we are always open to suggestions & I think it is important for any site or agent to be open. We also post important info in our blogs & newsletters etc. We make ourselves available to critique demos or auditions, help with talent’s web presence, coaching & direction etc.
You are right indeed that it is good to pic websites which offer an arsenal of tools for talent to utilize.
I also want to add about the cost of the websites, that it is really a small fee to pay to get invited to audition for projects, to get the exposure via auditions & online presence, the critiques & directions that many of us provide and all of the other benefits that you can take advantage of. Talent can pay $200 for an hour coaching session with a coach – even in today’s economy – $200 for a year of exposure & auditions isn’t much when you compare the two.
As for the AI factor. Our auditions are sent out to talent based on gender, age ranges & languages provided. BUT even though you might not get a project notification because you don’t have Gen X listed in your age range – you can still see & audition for any project that comes through our website via your control panel. All auditions are visible in the audition bulletin board & there is no limit to how many auditions you are allowed to submit.
Our roster is not inundated with talent – maybe 500 total including men, women, children & foreign language talent so the competition isn’t quite as stiff as you would think.
Anyhow – no more shameless plugs – I really just wanted to write to let you know that I do appreciate this blog & commend you for your understanding of how these sites work.
4. flyingdutchman | May 6th, 2009 at 12:54 am
I just noticed your reply and I apologize for not responding earlier. Glad you liked my approach. So much has been said about sites like yours, and not everything has been positive. That’s why I thought that a different perspective might be helpful. Your site is definitely next on my list. I am sure it is worth the investment and I will definitely join your talent base in the near future.
Paul Strikwerda
5. flyingdutchman | May 6th, 2009 at 1:09 am
Ciao Julia:
I just noticed your response as I was fine-tuning my latest blog entry. I apologize for not responding any sooner. From now on, I will check my messages on this site!
Thanks for your comments! You just confirmed what I already suspected. Voices.com has a list of preferred talent that seems to get first pick and the rest of us are left to deal with the crumbs. I first started noticing it when I put a voices.com RSS feed on my personal home page. All of a sudden I saw all kinds of leads that never made it to my inbox, or leads that took more than a day before I received an email alert. Clicking on the RSS lead was of no use. All I got was a message saying that I wasn’t authorized to access the info, or that the client had decided to make the lead “private” (meaning, only open to certain talent). Personally, I think voices.com should be more open about it. When I wrote an email about this, voices.com said that I was only getting leads that matched my profile. The ones that I had seen via my RSS link had not been a good match. That only made me pay even more attention to these alerts. Guess what: I regularly see RSS leads that -based on the limited info that is displayed- would have been a great match for me.
Well, I’m on a month-to-month basis with these guys and they still have to earn my trust. Having said that, the positive outweighs the negative at this point, and for me it’s only one pillar of my lead-generating strategy. Keep me posted!
Paul
6. flyingdutchman | May 6th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Hi Taji, I apologize for not responding earlier. I’m fairly new at this and I am getting to know the ins and outs of blogging and responding to blogs. Thank you so much for your comments and insights. I have been in touch with the president of the German association for voice-over artists, and it seems that they have something good going on. They have developed general terms and conditions and guidelines for vo-rates, similar to same of the rate cards that have been floating around in the USA. I intend to write a blog entry about their work at one point in time.
Take care!