Voiceover Industry

Talent Profiles: Kabir Singh

If you haven’t heard of Kabir Singh, it’s a name you should get to know. With a sound that pivots effortlessly from regular guy to authentically urban, Kabir spearheads demographic change in the voiceover industry, paving the way with his success for future generations of talent.

I recently had the pleasure of working with Kabir on a collection of new demos, which can be heard at the following links, (goo.gl/dFNmgY, goo.gl/fyRCji, goo.gl/GaRosu.) Today, I interview Kabir about his rise to voiceover success and his tips for talent just starting out.

JMC

Tell us how you got interested in being a voice actor.

KABIR

I never wanted or desired to do anything in entertainment. I was always a poet at heart. After college, I got a corporate job with lawyers. 2 years into it, I started to realize and feel my unhappiness. After some research, I quickly learned that there were zero dollars to be made in poetry (at least in the beginning).

So- I researched “how to make money using your voice” – I came across “The Art of Voice Acting” by James Alburgur.

The story starts here. after 2 years of “post awareness,” I planned my exit from corporate America by taking my first class with Marc Cashman and then going deep into study with Bill Holmes. 2008 I got fired and was forced to pursue VO. No money. No savings. All hunger. The grind involved daily work, beyond 9-5 in the beginning.

JMC

Is there one job or client you are especially proud of?

KABIR

I am not a fan of the word proud. I know it’s strange, but sometimes I don’t see my accomplishments as anything to be proud of. However, with all that said, it may be surprising, but my “proudest” client was my first VO job for $100 through Voices.com. Why? Because it gave me hope. It confirmed that a kid who came from a trailer park with 0 connections to the industry – can make this “VO thing” happen. HOPE is very powerful. That 1 job started this journey and gave me belief in my ability to accomplish anything. I felt fearless and I felt even more hungry.

This job will never be forgotten. It still fuels me today.

JMC

What advice do you have for new talent?

KABIR

Stay hungry- dam near- starving. Every single day. Hungry for knowledge, hungry for guidance, hungry for self-improvement and hungry to compete with TOP talent. Hunger dies in the land of comfort. 6 years into my journey, successful and very accomplished now, I am hungrier than I have ever been. Fearless to fail and learn from my mistakes. I cannot make this clear enough- I suck. I am not talented. There are thousands that are more talented than me. But- I will work harder than anyone (at least in my mind). If my competition is next to me and we are both trying to accomplish a goal, you will have to kill me in order to outwork me. So in summary – stay hungry and be ready to die before you let anyone outwork you (assuming you want to be successful)

JMC

You post motivational videos and have started speaking at conferences…..how does your life story inspire another talent?

KABIR

I don’t even know if my story inspires anyone. I hope it does. I would not be here today if it weren’t for the inspiration of others. Men and Women have guided me in my life. Without beating up the story of Kabir too much, I can share some snippets:

I am a son of a single mom. I met my father for the first time when I was 10. He died in front of me when I was 13. Until my 2nd year of college, I was the lonely Indian kid in an all-Black/Hispanic school. My stories of bullying would bring tears to even the toughest men. But- I learned a lot through these experiences. One of the best lessons I learned- is empathy. Empathy is so powerful and can be very contagious.

What inspires me now? What fuels this hunger? My mom and my sister. My sister has polio. My mom is 66 years old. I see her every day. She is my angel. Each breath I take is for them. I want the responsibility that my father never did. To take care of my mom and my sisters. To provide them with comfort. I am 30 years old, and sometimes I feel like 60. What I used to consider a burden in my 20s, I now see as a beautiful responsibility.

I have this one life. One life to be positive, make something of myself and help others. I am nobody without the help of everybody.

JMC

Your sound can best be described as modern and urban. What advantages and disadvantages come along with that?

KABIR

Urban and modern is in. It won’t be forever, and I am highly in tune with that now. It’s the “flavor of the week,” the swag, and the personality. I have been able to master this swag and personality and allowed it to become a part of my daily get-down. The opportunities are endless, and many producers are searching for great urban talent. With all that said- the disadvantages are you can become limited in your endeavors and auditions. If you can’t tweak that urban read and go from urban to just a cool millennial- your opportunities become fewer. So, you have to develop your “knob of balance.” To be able to tweak your flavor to the right taste. It’s possible, but if you don’t, it’s highly disadvantageous.

JMC

What would you do differently if you had to start over again today?

KABIR

With no ego, I must say- Nothing. Trust me when I say- I have failed. Failed demos, failed classes, failed meetings, and failed auditions. But, each failed memory revealed a valuable lesson. To this day, I can recall each LESSON from my FAILURES. I wouldn’t do anything differently because I love my failures.

Thank you for interviewing me and allowing me to share part of myself with whoever reads this. JMC has helped me grow my business, unlike any other resource. I owe a lot of my successful business strategy to you, and I appreciate you very much, sir.

Online Casting Unlimited & Platinum Tiers: An Insider’s Perspective

by J. Michael Collins

Love or hate them, online casting sites are a fact of life in today’s voiceover marketplace. People from all walks of the business will continue to disagree over what they represent for our community. With all the recent discussion surrounding the top-tier memberships on online casting sites, I thought it would be appropriate to explore these online casting tiers from an insider’s perspective and offer some thoughts on when and whether one should consider making such a significant investment.

As a point of reference, I was a Platinum member on Voices.com for about five years until upgrading to Unlimited on September 1^st, 2015. I have been a Platinum member of Voice123.com for about three years now. There are currently three high-end membership levels available. On Voices.com, the Platinum and Unlimited memberships, and on Voice123.com the Platinum membership.

Let’s look at Voices.com first

Since February 2014, all paying subscribers to Voices.com, (Premium lite, Premium, and Platinum,) have been subject to a system called VoiceMatch Invitations. This system was created to limit the number of auditions submitted to each job, as they routinely exceeded 200. Essentially, it restricts all subscribers to seeing 20-30 out of the 40-50 public auditions posted daily that would match a well-filled-out male or female profile. The distribution of the auditions is entirely at random. There is no advantage to being Platinum within this system. You play by the same rules as everyone else. Your submissions are not seen earlier or ranked higher. I cast from Voices.com through a separate account and through client accounts, and I know this to be the case both from the talent perspective and that of the casting director. If I submit the 50th audition as a Platinum, I will likely be somewhere on page 2 or 3 depending on my VoiceMatch score.

The advantage Platinum talents do receive is strictly in search results. When a voice buyer searches for talent on Voices.com, they can do so by searching demo categories or keywords, with filters for gender, age, etc… In all of these search results, Platinum members are displayed first, (with the order among Platinum members determined on a random, rotating basis.) They are followed by Premium yearly members, Premium Lite members, and non-paying Guest accounts, in that order, (and also with the order among each tier randomized on a rotating basis.) As such, Platinum talent can generally expect to receive more private invitations resulting from appearing early in the search results, as well as direct bookings from the contact information on their profile page. Contrary to speculation, all paying members of Voices.com are allowed to post their contact information on their profiles.

Voices.com offers Platinum talent a variety of marketing bells and whistles, including annual press releases, which can be valuable to new talent trying to build name recognition. As a practical matter, however, the only functional advantage of Platinum over the Premium tiers is the extra visibility in search. If you have killer demos visible in most or all of the major categories, this can result in ROI.

Online Casting Tiers Platinum costs $2,500/year as of this writing

The new Unlimited tier, which went live on September 1st, carries all of the benefits of Platinum, with one further feature: It eliminates the VoiceMatch Invitations algorithm for subscribers, allowing Unlimited talent to see all of the public jobs posted to the site that match their profile. In others words, instead of seeing 20-30 auditions per day, Unlimited members will see 40-50, (and more….in my first two weeks as an Unlimited member, I have routinely seen as many as 60 jobs per day.)

To be clear, neither Platinum nor Unlimited offers any advantage on a job-for-job basis. Even Premium Lite members see the auditions at the same time as the Platinum and Unlimited tiers, and the order in which auditions appear to the voice buyer is still determined by VoiceMatch score. So, a Premium Lite member with a 100% VoiceMatch submitting simultaneously as an Unlimited member with a 95% VoiceMatch will still be listed higher in the voice buyer’s inbox than the Unlimited member.

Online casting tiers like unlimited strictly provides access to more public auditions. It is still up to the Unlimited member to follow the standard best practices for success on Voices.com if they want to be competitive, as no advantage is given.

Online casting tiers are not a means to bypass other qualifications. Instead, they are like buying a front-of-the-line pass at Disney World. You get the same experience with a bit more personal touch and a few access advantages……but you still must be this tall to ride this ride!

Unlimited is a $2,500 supplement to the Platinum tier

Voice123.com offers a single high-end tier, called Platinum. Voice123.com Premium paying members are subject to a system called SmartCast, which is designed to limit the number of auditions voice buyers see by discouraging talent from auditioning for projects that are not an ideal fit for their skills, and from auditioning too frequently altogether.

SmartCast considers two factors when deciding if and when a subscriber receives an audition:

1.) The frequency with which the talent submits auditions. If you are submitting more than 5 auditions per day, or your percentage of auditions and proposals submitted compared to similar talent exceeds 200%, you may begin to see fewer and fewer auditions from Voice123, as SmartCast will determine you are taking too big a piece of the pie, and other talent should have the chance to submit before you.

2.) Your pricing choices. SmartCast will determine whether you prefer lower or higher budget jobs based on your bidding history, and you will be more likely to receive those types of projects early in the audition distribution process.

Voice123.com’s Platinum tier has one feature: It turns off SmartCast, allowing you to see all auditions that match your profile the moment they are posted. Because SmartCast is actively designed to limit the number of auditions that talent submit, this provides a distinct advantage for Platinum talent in that they can audition without fear of consequences, and are therefore far more likely to be in the first few submissions for any job they choose to audition for. For quality talent, this leads to substantial ROI.

Voice 123.com Platinum costs just under $5,000/year as of this writing.

A few more things to consider…….

All of these tiers are designed for professional-level talent who are capable of being competitive on all or most of the auditions they submit. I have personally experienced strong return on investment from Voices.com Platinum and Voice123.com Platinum, and am now starting to see ROI from Voices.com Unlimited, which I expect will pay for the premium over Platinum within a month.

Not everyone will see the same results. What’s the old phrase? Your miles may vary?

Let’s be very clear…..these sites are a meritocracyregardless of how much money you throw at them.

Yes, the Platinum tier on Voice123.com does offer a booking advantage, but a dilettante dropping $5K on a membership on either of these sites is likely to be very disappointed with the results. You must have the skill set, knowledge of tactical best practices for each site, and the ability to audition frequently and produce professional audio in order to see any return from these high-end memberships.

To that end, I always advise my VO students to consider two metrics when determining if this level of investment in an online casting site is likely to pay off, and you can apply these metrics as well.

1.) Do you routinely book at least a job per week from the site in question, having done so over a substantial, (say 6 months,) sample period?

2.) Does the cost of the membership represent less than what you make from the site in question in an average three month period?

Suppose the answer to either of those questions is no. In that case, your chances of seeing ROI from these tiers is likely limited, and you would be better advised to invest that money in the continuing development of your skills and studio. If the answer is yes to one or both, then these tiers might be a good fit for you.

As the debate over online casting tiers continues to rage, it is more important than ever that those interested in participating in these marketplaces stay armed with the facts. It is unlikely that everyone in the VO community will ever be of one mind about what these sites mean to our industry, and I’m not interested in rehashing a debate where minds are unlikely to be changed. For now, better to keep the information flowing freely, so that all involved can make informed choices.

Getting Started in VO: An Alternative Path

by J. Michael Collins

If you are a new talent getting started in VO, you may find yourself struggling to break into the business for any number of reasons. Many aspiring voice actors have the talent and desire to make it in this industry, but are held back by a lack of funds which prevents them from getting the coaching and training they need. Professionally produced demos, (an essential item for any talent who wishes to be competitive,) can often seem out of reach financially. Websites, online casting memberships or union dues, gear and acoustical treatment can all seem far too expensive to someone who is not yet earning at the level of a pro VO. Furthermore, the often career-defining element of building a brand, networking, and making connections who can help you book can be mystifying at the start of a career.

For motivated talent who need an entry into the business, and a little income that can both help pay the bills and cover the cost of beginning a VO career, there exists an option that is becoming more and more common with the advent of social media and the interconnected nature of the business today: Offering support services to established talent.

Talent with longstanding and successful careers don’t get there entirely on their own. Long-form narrators would suffer tremendous profit loss if they edited their own audio. If you are in the studio all day between client work and auditions, what time does that leave for marketing and brand building? Even fielding all the emails a working talent receives in a day can be a challenge. If that talent is a coach and demo producer, like some of us are, that volume can easily double. I’ve had this conversation with many well-known pros, and we all agree on one thing: Our business would grow much faster if we could clone ourselves!

Fortunately, we don’t have to. Today, dozens of aspiring talent have put their knowledge of editing, production, communication, marketing/branding, and the industry in general to good use by offering these services to working pros. These support services certainly don’t pay like VO work does, but they offer an entry into the marketplace for talent that may not yet have found their foothold. They earn some money, build contacts and relationships, find themselves on casting lists, and learn by doing. Ultimately, they can apply the knowledge they gain and the hands they shake, (literally or virtually,) to the advancement of their own VO careers, and transition to full time voiceover work with a wealth of experience and insider tips that many aspiring talent would happily pay for.

If you are getting started in VO and things aren’t moving as quickly as you hoped, spend some time on social media, (especially in the VO groups on Facebook and LinkedIn,) and see if you have skills that other talent may find useful. You will be amazed at the doors that can open for you.

What Can the Voiceover Business Learn from Politics? More Than You Might Think!

by J. Michael Collins

There is a lot of money in political campaigns. At the national level, this can amount to hundreds of millions of dollars for a single candidate. Some is well spent, while much is wasted in pursuit of vainglorious ambitions that exceed public buy-in. The question is, can the voiceover business learn from politics?

Embedded within the political process, however, are a low-profile group of individuals whose presence on a campaign can often make or break the candidate’s chance for success. These people often have vague titles like, “media adviser,” “consultant,” or, “strategist.” Ultimately, they are a highly-skilled group of fixers who can make the most mundane aspirant look electric, and the most scandal-ridden seem virtuous.

These operatives who add tremendous value to a political campaign have one thing in common: While they may draw a fixed salary over the length of the race, they make their real money based directly on the added value they provide, as measured by the media buy of the campaign. The better job they do, the more contributions a candidate receives, and the more money the campaign has to spend on advertising…….a small but significant percentage of which goes into their pocket.

There have been fiery debates recently about broadcast and new media rate structures in the voiceover business. A perception exists that rates are being pushed lower by talent influx and changing technology. Discussions both civil and acrimonious have generally boiled down to a broad consensus that buyouts are bad, and residual pricing based on usage is good.

Is it possible, however, that we may be missing the point altogether? Is there a fairer and more accurate means of determining appropriate broadcast and new media rate structures that account precisely for the value our services have added to a project? Can a $150 TV buyout on an online casting site actually be fairer than a national spot at double union scale with residuals?

This author believes the answer is yes to all three questions.

Consider this: The cost of a 13 week national broadcast run for a major brand commercial can run into the millions of dollars. With TV, maybe some cut downs for radio, and Internet pre-roll/social media ads, let’s say a major McBurger joint might spend $2M on the ad buy alone.

Union scale for such an ad might amount to around $4K for the various media for a single cycle. This represents one fifth of one percent of the total ad buy into the pocket of the single individual chosen by the company to give voice to their message.

Does that seem fair?

During a recent coaching session with a talent I am mentoring on the voiceover business, we browsed through job postings on a particular online casting platform. We encountered a TV ad for a nursing organization to run for one month in a single market of maybe 50,000 people in upstate New York. Pay? $150. Now, both of us initially reacted the same way: $150 for TV? That’s laughable!

Then a little light bulb went on.

What might this particular group be spending to air this project? Maybe…..maybe…..$2500? That might be a high estimate considering the market, but let’s go with it. TV only, 4-week buy, small local market, $2500. So, at $150 all-in, the talent receives fully six percent of the media buy.

If the talent working for the McBurger company were to receive the same, their pay for the gig would be $120,000 for a single cycle.

Which one seems more fair now?

It is entirely possible that the debate over rates, online casting, union versus non-union, etc… has completely missed the point. While blanket buyouts are clearly exploitative, especially for large brands, the cycle and usage structures the industry has long relied upon is only a degree less abusive. We are still signing away tremendous added value for a pittance of what we actually contribute to the campaign’s success. Perhaps there is a third way.

Broadcast and new media jobs should be considered in context, not based on holy-writ numbers negotiated in back rooms or dreamed up by entrepreneurs, the majority of which tend to be exceedingly favorable to the buyer.

This third way paradigm applies particularly well to new media like internet pre-roll, YouTube ads, and social media advertising. Tracking usage and impressions is cumbersome if it is possible at all. Tracking the media buy is much more accessible, and a far better barometer of the value we are adding. A medium to large social media ad campaign might cost $50,000, for instance. While the six percent figure presented in the small market spot example is probably a bit ambitious, one could argue that a minimum session fee plus three percent of the total ad buy would be a fair rate for any broadcast or new media run.

For our social media campaign, that might mean $250+$1,500 for usage. For McBurger, a flat $60,000….and for our nurses in Utica? That $150 suddenly looks a bit more reasonable.

These days, it’s not often that we look to politics for good ideas on our voiceover business. The great rate debate will not abate any more than poor alliteration. Nevertheless, perhaps this third way offers promise to bring order to the chaos.

Imagine No Commercials……It’s Easy if You Try

by J. Michael Collins

When was the last time you intentionally watched a commercial while viewing a television program? If you are like most people, you were watching that program on a DVR, where you can fast forward for no commercials, or on a streaming service like Netflix where no commercials exist in the first place. Voice talent may purposefully watch commercials as a market research function, but we are distinctly unique in this pursuit. For the majority of content users, advertising is an unwelcome intrusion, avoided at almost any cost.

This is particularly true of the millennial generation, which has consistently rejected all forms of traditional advertising. Most 18-30 year olds have little affinity for traditional television, preferring to steam most of their content. Services that have little or no commercial presence are particularly popular. Watching the boob tube has become a function of disappearing demographic segments that no longer drive commerce.

A recent Washington Post article (see link below) cited alarming decline rates in traditional TV viewership. Similarly, there continues to be a shift away from terrestrial radio to the far less commercial-saturated satellite format. Moreover, statistics have shown that even internet pre-roll advertising on sites like YouTube is impacted by shifting expectations among target demographics. “Skip this ad” options are selected as soon as they are available, and many people abandon the selected content if they are forced to watch a commercial against their will. Furthermore, even if they do stick around, the advertiser runs the risk of having created a negative association instead of a positive one, and poisoning the very customer they intended to capture.

Remember, younger generations won’t be young forever. In ten years, some millennials will be entering their forties, and their children’s attitudes will be shaped by their own.

What does this mean for the voiceover industry?

Let’s envision the no commercial VO marketplace in 2025. Media will be more interactive, with 3D and its successors becoming more prominent. Content marketing will evolve to capture not just the attention but the engagement of a generation unwilling to experience passive advertising. Movie trailers will no longer use voice, instead becoming immersive experiences with the audience selecting content via instant feedback inputs. Broadcast television will have evolved into an almost entirely streaming medium, where advertisers will learn to hawk their wares in more subtle and interactive ways. Vignettes with stars and episodic content will have replaced the classic commercial spot, and any VO present in the content will be narrative and storytelling in nature.

Radio will only be a few steps behind, with cars embedding satellite radio and its offspring almost universally as costs decline. With the vehicle market shifting towards driverless cars in the next 10-20 years, radio itself may begin to see the end of its usefulness, as passengers can engage in video and communications content during their trip without endangering their safety.

Thus, as the voicoever industry remains transfixed today by the holy grail of national campaigns with heavy residuals, we may be entering into a period of rapid transition to a VO world where commercial work essentially no longer exists.

Terrifying yes, but it doesn’t mean the end for us.

As commercial VO begins its inevitable decline, we can take solace in the sectors of our industry that are growing rapidly; E-Learning, internal corporate narration, internet video narration and explainers, animation, video games, and audiobooks.

These segments have seen exponential growth in the past few years, and the evolution of media suggests that the growth will continue unabated for the foreseeable future. As impressions and consumer buy-in to these segments grow, we have the opportunity to begin reimagining rate structures for new media that will allow the transition away from commercial work to be less intimidating.

This should be a particular point of emphasis in video games and internet spaces, as these areas are already overtaking broadcast commercials in terms of audience. As this new media rises, talent, and those who represent us both among agencies, unions, and guilds like World Voices should begin insisting that pay climbs in a manner commensurate with viewership, as the added value of the VO in these media achieves the same critical mass as it currently has in broadcast work.

The industry is changing, as it always has. As talent, we must prepare for what is next, lest we find ourselves overtaken by it.

Are you ready?

*http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/03/11/americans-are-moving-faster-than-ever-away-from-traditional-tv/

Why Online Casting Sites Are The Future of Voiceover, But Low Rates Don’t Have To Be

by J. Michael Collins

The online casting marketplaces for voice talent have exploded in the past ten years. Between Voices.com, Voice123.com, bodalgo.com, and others, 300-500 jobs are being cast daily through online sites via public and private channels. This number easily equals (and probably exceeds) all agency jobs being cast through more traditional means on a given day. As we look to the future of voiceover, the fear of change has been, and remains, quite palpable. But, wait.

With this exponential growth come the teething pains accompanying any game-changing paradigm shift within an industry. Hyperbole is mixed with legitimate concerns about the business model, including rates, competition, ethics, and the direction in which the people behind the online casting sites wish to see the industry go.

Naturally, this uncertainty leads to personal divisions among talent and occasional sniping. Many of the loudest voices of antagonism can be found with surprising ease on the front pages of sites trumpeting cheap voice talent and with hundred-dollar-a-holler rate cards hiding in plain sight. None of us are saints in this regard, however, it is quite clear that wherever there is vitriol, hypocrisy will not be far behind.

Alas, I stand guilty. Infrequently, but too often, I have found myself tempted by the easy money of a low-budget job that will only take a few minutes of my time. I offer no defense; It is sheer greed. Typically, once the job is completed and I have been paid, I find myself feeling a lot like I feel after eating fast food; Guilty and a little sick to my stomach.

Every time I accept substandard pay…..every time ANYONE accepts substandard pay….it harms all of us, and it sends the message to the online casting sites and clients at large that if they press hard enough, we will buckle.

The allure of quick and easy money is not only damaging to our industry, it is also entirely unnecessary. We have been led, falsely, to believe that the business is inundated with talent, and that if we don’t take whatever is offered, someone else equally qualified will.

Maybe someone else will accept the bargain basement rate, but I suspect they won’t be as qualified as you think.

It is a pernicious myth that the supply side of the voiceover business is saturated. Tens of thousands of people nationally and globally are indeed positioning themselves as voice talent. It is equally true, however, that the number of these people who are truly talented, well-trained, technically savvy, and possessed of business intelligence is very marginal. I will be shocked if more than five thousand people in the USA are earning a full-time living as voice talent. Even that number may be high. A quick listen to the auditions on an average online job will show around 80% of submissions to be non-viable for technical or ability-based reasons. Even the vast majority of talent with agency representation does not make a living in voiceover.

This means that we, my fellow talent, are in control of the future of voiceover. We just don’t know it.

I have said many times and will say many times again, that there is far more work out there than there is quality talent to do it. In other words, we have pricing power, and it is up to us to exercise it. The time to do so is now.

Here are two thoughts on the future of voiceover that will terrify a lot of people.

1.) The online casting sites aren’t going away. They will only continue to grow and become more profitable, wielding proportionally more influence in our industry and over how we do business.

2.) The online casting model, which means the concept of an easy-to-use portal for those who need voices to find voices, is the future of this business. That doesn’t mean that it necessarily has to follow the same structure as it does today or that it will even be the same companies at the forefront (though it may well be,) but it means that the idea of aggregating jobs through clearinghouse sites is the way this and every other freelance business is going. We had better get used to it.

That means it is incumbent upon us, those who hold the trump card of supply, to shape the future of how we are presented to those with demand. It is also our responsibility to watch our own backs because no one else is going to do it for us. The people in charge of the online casting sites are not bad. I know many of them personally, and I can tell you that they are good-hearted, genuine people who love their families and kids just like we do. Nevertheless, they are business owners and would be remiss in their duty to their employees and investors if they did not maximize profits to the best of their ability. If you expect companies to place anything above profit, I invite you now to return from the 1950s and rejoin us in the real world.

This means we must shape the system’s future from within, not by assailing it from the sidelines. Far better to be the man (or woman) in the arena. It means that we must make clear to the powers that the brightest future, from which they can generate maximum profit, is not a high volume/low-cost model that degrades quality and leads to burnout but a world with fair rates and motivated talent.

How do we do this? First and foremost, we draw a line in the sand on pricing. We collectively and publicly agree to never charge a per-project price below a certain level. I have my number in mind, and we should begin a conversation on a figure representing the minimum value of our talent and skill.

I believe that only through collective refusal to work for less will we be able to effectively establish a permanent fair pricing model. If clients have no choice, they will pay. Let there be no doubt that any business with the budget to secure airtime or produce an internet video or casual app game is fully capable of compensating the talent who will add final value to the product in a manner that reflects the profit they will derive. Companies pleading poverty are pleading falsely.

Whatever has happened in the past, let us declare a new day in our industry and refuse to work for anything less than a minimum number that reflects our training, investment, and work quality. I believe we can achieve a consensus on a figure, and I will be the first to publicly pledge to abide by it. I encourage and challenge my fellow talent to do the same.

In addition to the professional minimum, we should work with organizations like WorldVoices to develop standard non-union minimums for different types of work. We should educate our peers when they are not adhered to. The message of talent pricing power should be shouted from every rooftop.

We should also utilize online casting sites thoughtfully and be aware that there are ways to maximize our profitability through them and protect the value of our work. Many myths are propagated about the terms and policies of online sites and future of voiceover. Allow me to address some of the more harmful ones.

Rights and Usage:

There is a common belief that it is the policy of the major sites that every project must be surrendered in perpetuity in all media to the client. This is not necessarily true.

Voice123 states clearly that you are agreeing to a final price for the work based on the terms posted by the client. This means that if they list that the project is for national TV broadcast, you surrender lifetime rights in that medium. However, the language is clear in that you only surrender the work for the indicated usage. If it were optioned for radio, internet, or another usage, you would be well within your rights to bill for additional compensation. Obviously, it is up to you to monitor this, which is tricky, but the language is not as broad as people think. Furthermore, you are perfectly able to add clauses in your proposal limiting rights and can add language indicating that accepting your proposal binds the client to those terms.

This last point is even more relevant to Voices.com and the future of voiceover. The sixth point in their terms of service states that all projects are full buyouts unless otherwise agreed in writing. I recently had a student encounter an issue with a client who used those terms to hold him to a very low fee for national broadcast rights. I contacted Voices.com about the matter, and they agreed that while the boilerplate TOS language is the default rights agreement, we are welcome to add language in our proposals that supersedes the standard terms.

Therefore, despite common belief, we retain ultimate control of our product on both major sites. Along with the future of voiceover.

There also exists the often-repeated canard that Voices.com does not allow you to contact the client directly and that SurePay is an evil mechanism to keep you from ever getting at the golden goose of repeat direct business. This is wrong in two ways.

First, while Voices.com does not allow you to include your contact information in your proposal, based on talent feedback to that policy they explicitly agreed to allow us to post our contact information on our profile pages. I have been hired directly from my page outside of the system hundreds of times, as have many other leading talents on the site.

Furthermore, once you book a job on Voices.com, you are given the client’s contact information under the “Payments” tab, and they are given yours. I have been personally told by people at the highest level of the company that their policy is strictly that any job posted to Voices.com should be completed through SurePay, but that we are more than welcome to contact the client directly after the job has been booked and work with them outside the site on other projects. Contrast this with the policy of some secondary and freelance sites, which looks downright benevolent. Heck, even agents don’t let you take full fare from your client after giving them ten percent of the first job.

So long as this policy doesn’t change, Voices.com is showing a very balanced approach to preserving their financial interest (which is their job) and being reasonable with those who generate their profits. Moreover, Voices.com has taken the lead in at least setting some sort of minimum, with no work running through the site for under $100 gross. While we need to move this number upwards for the sake of our collective prosperity and the future of voiceover, Voices should be credited for at least holding this line.

Let me be clear; The online casting sites are not on your side. They are not against you either. They are not good or evil, wrong or right. They are simply marketplaces where we trade our wares, and like any vendor at any marketplace, we pay the rent so that we can make a profit.

In this industry, there will always be hands in our pockets.

Our duty is to make sure our hands are deeper in theirs.

Voiceover Industry

Let’s look at Voices.com first

Online Casting Tiers Platinum costs $2,500/year as of this writing

Unlimited is a $2,500 supplement to the Platinum tier

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