Voice Talent FAQ's
What's the deal with pay-for-posting your demo on Voice Talent websites like Voice123 and Voices.com?
Arguably one of the largest voice talent websites, the only thing Voice123 has accomplished (aside from making piles of money) is the creation of a forum in which anyone who has a credit card can call themselves a "professional" voice talent. Decades before the Internet's inception, Talent Agencies reviewed the quality of their "talent" before placing them on their roster. The reason was simple: If their agency didn't have quality talent that could deliver each and everytime, their clients would go somewhere else and their business would ultimately fail. It's no different than interviewing someone for a job before you hire them. Voices.com and Voice123, merely accept people who have a credit card, with no regard to their talent, service or professionalism.
Imagine if you will, conducting an interview with a perspective candidate for employ at your company. When you ask them why they think they deserve the job, they respond:
"Well.......I have a credit card! Will that suffice?"
Got a credit card? You're listed. The staff at Voice 123 (and voices.com) don't seem to care if your specialty is voice work or stained glass....regardless of your talent, skill or studio (audio) quality - demo or no demo, you can get posted with your credit card on Voice123 and compete with pros like myself for voiceover work. In reference to the aforementioned (as politically correct as I can be), here's an example (Hint: Listen to the demo).
I have answered some 2000 "Leads" during my stay with Voice123. Out of those 2000 leads, I'd have to say that a scant 10 - 20 of them turned into any real work. But, some of those clients turned into regular customers - the lifeblood of any business. It is for this reason and only this reason that I remain a member of Voice123.
The only truly useful purpose I can determine of Voice123 is, it can act as an on-line learning tool for those who really want to learn the craft of voice acting. You get a huge variety of sample scripts to practice with and get some valuable insight into the workings of the "on-line" business of voiceovers. I've sent many a student to Voice123 for this reason, not to compete for work....but to practice.
As for the talent listed there (and Voices.com), I can tell you that the majority of the talent are anything but professional; ex-broadcasters, rookies and wannabes. There are very few pros (please read my definition of what I consider a "pro" voice talent below). I know this, because I've spent an exhaustive amount of time researching Voice123.
Did you notice I used the word "exhaustive?" Why would that research be exhaustive? I'll tell you why - the response to a job posting is enough to crash the average mail server. It's nuts. Within 10 minutes there's some 200 submissions to deal with - and most, if not all, have made a custom audition to listen to. I tell ya, it's a dog's breakfast of responses - talent, service, price and marketing methodology. I'm not impressed at all. Too much to deal with too fast.....and like the rest of the Internet, you have to sift through a lot of garbage to find what you're looking for. Then, there's the price issue. Every rate structure imaginable. There are people who will work for $10.00 and others $1000.00 for the same job. Talent is arbitrary to say the least. Very few real pros (for the simple reason that most working voice talent professionals don't have the time to answer all the Leads on Voice123), a huge amount of ex-broadcasters that all sound the same, rookies who sound average at best and wannabes that are just painful to listen to. Yes, you find the odd gem. Of the 500+ responses to a single post there's normally about 4 or 5 who I would consider serious competition in talent, service, studio and price. Let me say right here that this is (my opinion and) one thing that I really dislike about Voice123. It was once a place where a few of us who actually have experience, a good demo, provide a good service and product could get some decent client leads. Now, we've got thousands of people, (many people responding from their desk at the office) saying: "I'll do it for $30.00....!" ....when the posted budget for the job is $250.00! The unsuspecting client ultimately goes for the lowest price, gets a crappy product and is unlikely to return to Voice123 again. The only clients I see returning are pro studios who have gone through the ordeal of sifting through all the garbage and know the guys to look for. The end result? Well, I used to get paid $250.00 for that job. Now I'd be lucky to get $50.00 if anything at all. It's my feeling that Voice123 has done serious damage to a once (smaller) thriving industry.....by simply taking people's money who have no business competing for the work; much less are able to provide quality audio and service. I know I'm going to take some heat for writing this, but it's the truth. The people most likely to get upset? Those who consider themselves a "professional" voice talent. To that end, please allow me to clarify what I consider a "professional voice talent." Firstly, if you consider yourself a "pro" - then you have been working at the craft full-time for no less than 5 years.....IE: it is your one and only revenue stream and you have a decent Client Base. Secondly, you have a professional recording studio, using a condenser microphone, proper processing, phone patch and/or ISDN. Thirdly, you've got a variety of demos that reflect a wide vocal range and many styles - all archival, nothing mocked up. It's painfully obvious to me that Voice123 went after quantity not quality from the get-go. That being said, don't expect to make a dime with Voice123, (much less get the money back for your membership)......but do plan to answer many, many leads and get little or nothing in return. If you're a pro, well.....you know the story with Voice123 and you probably use it as a tool to sniff out leads and add to your existing client base.
I won't go into detail about the Voice123 site itself - it's good.....it's always up and works fine. The staff is prompt at answering e-mails and phone calls. The service is excellent and - for the record, they do try to improve. Since I wrote this review they have contacted me, indicating that they would endeavor to improve their product. They have in some ways, but the bottom line is, the link to the voice artist above is still active. In reality, there's not much you can do once you've taken someone's money - is there?
I use it as a useful learning tool for students and to source out leads, hate it for the time it takes me to answer leads vs. actual work.
Voices.com (formerly Interactive Voices)
When Voices.com (formerly Interactive Voices) launched, they sent me an e-mail soliciting me for membership. Insisting that they were not going to be another "Voice123" site - I decided to give them a call. To my surprise, I found that they were A Canadian business, based in London, Ontario, about a 1.5 hour drive from where I live in Toronto, Ontario.
They asked me a ton of questions. I gave them a ton of answers. I spent at least an hour of my time speaking with them about what I felt was a proper way to run a voice talent website. Since they seemed so adamant about not being another "Voice123" I assumed that their concept would be completely different IE: they would screen Talent, Service and Product; only accepting memberships from professionals or semi-professionals.
Wrong.
They are, basically, another Voice123 site. Only worse - Voice123 has improved their site with their "Smartcast" technology, which allows the client to limit the amount of auditions they recieve. Voices.com is the same conceptas Voice123 in that their only source of income is from their membership. That means, the more members, the more money they make. Go ahead, whip out your credit card - demo or no demo, talent or not - they will take your money.
So, why am I listed on Voices.com? Well, for the same reason as I'm on Voice123, to source out leads. Voices.com does seem to get quite good leads and they have a policy to screen clients and their requests - the integrity of that policy remains to be seen as it's buried somewhere in a blog. I have gotten a few quality gigs/clients from the site; again, basically the same experience I have had with Voice123.
Voices.com also actively advertises and garners decent search engine rankings, so the placement is worthwhile to source out potential clients and get your name out there. Tons of competition, though. I would go so far as to say they are second only to Voice123 in membership numbers.....indeed, they may well be neck-and-neck as all the talent on Voice123 also have a membership to Voices.com.
I also feel that, in trying to be different from Voice123, they have an odd way of running their site. For instance, they post a clients' budget by using a price "range" IE: $1,000 - $10,000. (By the way, almost all the leads on Voices.com there are posted in the price range of $100-$250).
Firstly, that tells me nothing about the budget and secondly, it's misleading for both the client and the talent......I mean, there's a $9,000 gap there...! If anything, it only promotes an environment of confusion, likely designed to make it "look" like big budget projects are happening at the site. I have no idea why they do that - it doesn't make any sense to me at all. By all means, indicate a range, but not a $9,000 "gap!" Anyone with a modicum of common sense can figure out that the concept is grossly arbitrary, to say the least.
Voices.com is different from Voice123 in some ways. For one, they've figured out different ways to get money from clients where Voice123 does not. Employers are offered Webspace and personalized service, like a phone call if they need one....but you don't get a call unless you pay for the Premium Service.
I find it interesting that the only differences between the "Preferred" and the "Premium" Voice Talent package are:
1) 25 extra megs of space for your demos. OK, if you are using more than 25 megs of space for audio, you clearly need to work on your demos and subsequent encoding. For the record, I have 6 demos and use 8.5 megs of space.
2) You get listed in 2 more "featured categories" (yeah, whatever....)
3) A book valued at $9.95. The price alone raises questions about the value of the content, wouldn't you say?
4) And, "Priority Ranking at Voices.com" (I'm not sure what this means, whatever....)
......all for an extra $100. Hmmm.
Call me whacky, but if you ask me, it's that ($9.95) book that is costing you the extra $100.00, 'cause the other stuff is really not worth much at all in my opinion.
Conclusion? It's a membership-based website, only they've come up with more ways to glean money from Talent and Clients alike. Yes, you'll get leads and your voice demo "out there" which is important. Voices.com does get great rankings and does advertise well. It is worthwhile to list there if you're just getting started, or you're a semi-pro with the time to answer the leads. But, I personally wouldn't pay for the Premium Membership - the value, I feel, is not there for the extra $100.00.
Like Voice123, Voices.com is also a great on-line learning tool for those who really want to learn the craft of voice acting. You get a huge variety of sample scripts to practice with and get some valuable insight into the workings of the "on-line" business of voiceovers. I've also sent many a student to Voices.com for this reason, not to compete for work....but to practice.
Again, don't expect to get rich from a posting there (or any single site, for that matter), but do expect a similar experience as with Voice123.
A final note: Remember, I'm a PRO. I make my sole living doing this work! If I get "a few gigs" by sending out 2000 auditions via a single membership on a website, what does that tell you?
It should tell you to put things into perspective and temper your expectations accordingly for ANY membership-based website.
 
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