A few weeks ago I reported here on the initial changes to Voice123.com and the issues being encountered by users of the site. At that time I approached the re-launch from a glass-half-full perspective, having faith that the positive things I was being told behind the scenes by Voice123 leadership would bear out over time.
I will not defend the rollout of the new version. We may not fully grasp the technical challenges faced by the Voice123 team, the complexity of the work being done on things that to us seem like they should be simple fixes, or the staffing and manpower issues that this company faces. Nevertheless, as paying customers who represent the site’s sole source of revenue, I think we can all agree that Voice123 talent deserved better, both in terms of functionality and communication.
As of right now there are still a number of issues that are in flux, and which need to be fixed. I will address those shortly.
For the moment, however, I am pleased that I can report some good news today.
I have been in constant contact with Voice123 CEO Rolf Veldman and other team members since the rollout, and have been feeding back all of the concerns I have seen posted online, as well as my own issues and perspectives. As you can imagine, at times these conversations have been heated, though cordial. Ultimately, however, promises that were made to me are beginning to be kept.
HERE’S WHAT HAS CHANGED
Platinum talent will be very happy to learn that as of just a few hours ago, the system for inviting Platinum talent to jobs has been restored to its previous form, in that all Platinum talent will now receive all job postings that match their profile the moment they are posted, at the same time, regardless of where Voice123’s algorithm may “rank” a given talent. While this affects only a minority of Voice123’s membership base, it represents a major promise fulfilled on the part of management, restoring the value to a tier that elite talent are paying between five and six thousand dollars a year to be a part of. Note that this will apply only to jobs posted since the change was made today, so if you are a Platinum talent there may still be a few stray jobs in the queue that were posted earlier but are only now being approved, and those will still be governed by the sorting algorithm. In the past few hours about 75% of the jobs I’ve been invited to have reflected the change, and that should increase to 100% over the next day or so.
The watermark that Voice123 had added to auditions has been removed as of yesterday. It may be replaced with something optional or less obtrusive at some point.
Right-clicking functionality has been restored as of late last week.
There seem to be far fewer network errors and bugs, though some stray ones are still popping up.
HERE’S WHAT STILL NEEDS WORK
Naturally, these fixes have not resolved all of the issues talent have been experiencing. The biggest outstanding question is how buyers are outlining usage in their posts. Personally, I’d love to see them go to a simple and mandatory check box system, but they continue to be resistant to this idea. They are, however, planning to adjust things in the coming days and weeks to try to steer clients to give more information, and this could take many forms. I’ll report back when I know more, but rest assured that along with many other members I continue to hammer at this issue in every meeting.
Next up in my opinion is removing the mystery surrounding how their algorithm is sorting audition distribution for Premium subscribers. I believe we are getting through to them on this, and hope and expect that a webinar from Voice123 with precise detail of the algorithm’s principles and functionality will be forthcoming. Paying talent have the right to know how the system works. For the moment, the best advice for Premium members continues to revolve around being highly selective in your auditioning choices. Keep an eye on the Invitations tab when you click on a job, which is where you’ll find your rating, (top ten percent, bottom fifty percent, etc..) This is not visible to the buyers, but it will help you determine whether the way you are using the site is working or not vis-a-vis the algorithm.
The questions surrounding budgets listed as, “up to,” and the controversial “negotiable” toggle are being addressed. Whether these are removed or more options are added, (such as a TBD button and the ability to add text to the quote box, or even a restoration of the previous budgeting choices,) is not yet certain, but the proactive questions I’m getting suggest that this is an important action item for them based on our feedback.
General functionality issues are very much on their radar. Given workload, I expect these will be resolved slowly but surely.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Don’t stop giving them your feedback, through whatever methods available. When you run into bugs, report them. Make your voice heard.
Things are not perfect. They may not be for some time yet. But I am deeply heartened as I look out over the online casting landscape at the moment to see the voices of talent effecting change. Sites are communicating with us about the things we find important. Some of the greatest transgressors are perhaps seeing the error of their ways. New players are popping up with previously unseen frequency and are committing to transparency and ethical conduct in ways that were unheard of even five years ago. This is because of you. Because you refuse to be silent. Because you refuse to allow our industry to be swallowed by the gig-economy maw that has consumed so many others. Because you have the courage to stand up and declare your worth. Because you have recognized that while the march of technology can’t be stopped, it can be mastered and controlled when we stand our ground. Don’t stop now. The future of this industry belongs to all of us.
23 Comments
Briggan B O’Bryan January 24, 2019
Awesome, Jay Michael….thanks for the update and for continuing to pursue a better interface between the site, talent and buyers. And also for the last paragraph. Sometimes, we need a little of that “good-feels” inspiration.
Dave Pettitt January 24, 2019
The small things like “Right Click for New Tab” and “Remove Watermark” shouldn’t feel like huge wins when everyone is asking for them, but they do. We all fist pump and think big changes are happening. It’s the drop in the functional bucket. I couldn’t agree more that drilling them on clients providing usage and broadcast details is so so important. For 2 years I offered to help beta test what they were working on. From the sounds of it, no one on the voice talent side was asked to be a part of the process before they launched. I had hoped as Platinum member, our daily experience would have provided valuable insight. This roll out could have been so much smoother.
I really am happy for the small changes and I continue to quote $0 with a caveat in my notes that all rates are base on usage and broadcast. If clients have the option to provide little to no information, our quotes have to be equally as vague until we have a scope of the project.
Paul Schmidt January 24, 2019
JMC –
I applaud your leadership and the advocacy role you have taken on. You’re an excellent example of diplomacy and measured dialogue.
Ultimately, I voted with my feet.
At its core, an online casting site is mainly two things: a software company, and a customer service organization. The ineptitude of the rollout gives me no faith in them as a software company and the obstinate indignance with which they resist talent’s cries for even basic usage terms give me even less faith in them as a customer service organization.
Your bigger picture perspective is appreciated and needed. Thanks for navigating all this with kindness and grace.
Best always.
Derek Botten January 24, 2019
Thanks JMC for your leadership in stepping up to these issues.
One thing that irks me still is when you look at how many proposals have been sent. Nearly always, the proposals go waaay over what the client has asked for. I’m looking at one right now that says 125 of 30 proposals have been received so far. Surely the submissions should be cut off at some point. Am I wrong in passing over projects where the number of requested auditions has been surpassed?
Kelly Judd January 24, 2019
Thanks so much for this much-needed update. As a Premium member who is relatively new to the platform (but regularly booked work through V123 from July to December… then nothing), I completely understand the company’s advice to be “highly selective” in order to improve my ranking. What’s really at issue, however, is that since the rollout, I quite literally ONLY receive invitations to projects that are either very nearly expired or have waaaayyyy more auditions than were requested. I need to understand whether I can expect that situation to improve. If not, I am certainly not paying for this service. Hoping to hear from someone/anyone over there that they understand how dramatically Premium members’ ROI has been affected and that they are doing something/anything to address that—not just providing increased transparency.
J. Michael Collins January 24, 2019
Derek, for the moment I’m passing on over-subscribed jobs. I’m told that should also be coming to an end soon.
Mike Brang January 27, 2019
While I have withdrawn from the site I can say that the large amount of over invited jobs should be priority #1. I have spoken to numerous buyers that used V123 in the past that are simply fed up with the new design and function. Hammering buyers with 4-5x the amount of auditions is enough to drive them crazy and will ultimately lead to more of them leaving the site for good. When producers/buyers don’t think they’re being listened to, they’re gone.
Michelle Sundholm January 25, 2019
Brilliant. Thank you, as always, for advocating for others, bringing clarity and transparency and passion.. You are truly valued and appreciated and I’m glad to hear that things are starting to go in the right direction.
Russ DeWolfe January 25, 2019
Thanks so much JMC, for all your hard work on this issue! You are a true leader.
Debbie Irwin January 25, 2019
Thanks, JMC. I knew we’d hear from you soon!
Any word on including the fee in the email notification?
Another bug I recently notified is that on the app, if you decline a job you’re given the option to write why; but in the desktop version that option to include text does not exist. For me anyway.
J. Michael Collins January 25, 2019
Debbie, I know the email fee issue is on their radar. I’ll let them know about the other issue. I wouldn’t expect quick fixes on these.
Crash January 26, 2019
The rating system was washed out for premium members. Worth checking out to see if you still have the rating prior to the change. I performed (not ranked in number of auditions because i was highly selective) better than 70% of premium members before the change. Now, after the change, I’m in the lower 30%. Support has stopped communicating after several emails.
Joshua Alexander January 26, 2019
Thank you so much for all you’re doing behind the scenes to help us!
Bryan Kopta January 29, 2019
Thanks, JMC!
Am I the only Platinum member who doesn’t like auditions being released in large batches? 5 to 8 being dropped in a 5 minute span during the day–or 20 auditions released between the hours of 1 AM and 5 AM–is pretty inconvenient if you’re in a session or…you know, unconscious.
Stasha Boyd February 14, 2019
I found this post while trying–as a buyer–to figure out what the heck happened to V123. Thank you, JMC. Without this, I would be completely in the dark.
We are a small, specialized production company that has used their services for 12 years, almost since inception. We have always received high-quality auditions and for the past 10 years, have hired almost exclusively via the service. I recently posted my first round of projects since the change and, after numerous interactions with support, am finding the new interface not only disappointing and shot through with technical issues, the quality and quantity of auditions has dropped like a stone. It is practically unusable.
I’ve asked some of our regular voice talents what their plan is moving forward and there doesn’t appear to be a consensus for an alternative site where buyers and talents can easily post and audition for jobs. As buyers, we had a single, horrible experience with voicebunny and found voices dot com to be too inconsistent. I’m left wondering if there is another viable online service connecting talent and buyers.
Alexa April 10, 2019
Thank you so much for this update and for forging a path for us during this evolving time! I’ve requested to do the switch over to platinum, does anyone know how long the acceptance process takes? And for those of you who have made the switch from premium to platinum, have the financial rewards proven better than when you were once just a premium member? Thank you!
Zoe Bonet July 12, 2019
Jay, your advocacy is just what I needed right now. It’s been about five years since I was a paid member of the site. The industry has changed considerably in that time. I consider myself a veteran of VO, but this is the first time that I am pursuing this work full time. Still attempting to gain a foothold of the “now”, I googled a search and, thankfully, I landed here. I’m with Voices.com also and that’s a bit disappointing. Thanks for your efforts.
chris August 27, 2019
Any more recent update on Voices123? I’m considering a paid membership, but there are still many less-than-stellar reviews floating around out there (Sitejabber, etc). Admittedly, most of the issue seem to stem from around the time you originally posted this article, when the site was overhauled, the original owners seemingly retreated in to the background a bit (?), and other platform changes seemed to alienate long-time members.
Of course, I don’t know anything about it, really… these are just some of the issues that are repeated in negative coverage from the first quarter of 2019.
At any rate, I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the matter(s), and how things now stand as we head towards the end of the year.
Best, Chris.
J. Michael Collins August 28, 2019
Hi Chris,
At this point the consensus seems to be that Platinum members remain fairly happy, while we are still hearing a lot of concerns voiced by Premium members. Voice123 seems to be experimenting a lot with their algorithms and interface, so individual results are likely to vary.
Fernando February 19, 2020
J Michael Collins,
Thank you sir for being a powerful voice & leader in our industry. With some basic background in coding and having access to a handful of high end programmers who have over 30 ys of experience in programming I keep asking myself why do we keep coming back to these same companies? After all that’s exactly what they are a software company that has created the “category need” so that voice actors can get their fix thinking that paying more will bring more money to their pockets. I have landed gigs on smaller sites that pay far better than the p2p sites that are suppose to be established companies. This tells me that they truly have no interest in the Industry or it’s evolution. Thank you once more for your great efforts.
Peter Bierma February 23, 2020
Wanted to check in to see how Voice123 is going for Premium members nowadays? (Feb 22, 2020 as I write) Any improvements or frustrations anyone would like to share, I’m all ears.
Kevin Schweitzer October 28, 2020
J. Michael Collins,
I had a very quick question about the Voices123 proposal system.
It seems most of the time when I get a notification for a job via email and I jump onto the voices123 website to check out the job (within minutes after the notification), I find there are already multiple (and when I say multiple, that means 20 or 30 depending on the limit) proposals already submitted.
Does that have anything to do with the membership plan I’m in (I’m currently premium), or do higher plans give you first crack at jobs compared to the lower plans?
Is there something I may be missing that could fix this issue?
The reason that this is so frustrating is that I’ve heard that most clients on Voices123 will really only consider 5-10 auditions for their jobs and make a choice from those. Hence, the feeling of auditioning after there are already a high number of proposals in the que becomes pointless.
Cheers
J. Michael Collins October 28, 2020
Hi Kevin,
Your guess is on point. Basically any of their plans under the $800+ tiers are not likely to yield great results. The more you pay the earlier and better access you get.
However the idea that they only listen to 5-10 is not correct. Most buyers listen to 50% or more of the auditions. They may whittle that down to a shortlist of 5-10, but more often than not you’ll at least get a listen.
All the best!
JMC
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