Here are some links to support this voices.com review:
World Voices on P2P Voice Talent websites and a call for transparency , Marc Scott’s on the lack of transparency in the voiceover business , Paul Strikwerda’s and his ongoing frustration with what some people call “the Voices.com scam”
...(read more)Voices.com Review – a warning for talent and clients.
Since then, what little faith or trust I had in this company is now gone. That said, I would caution anyone reading this – both clients and talent – to avoid doing any “business” with this company as their ethics are highly questionable.
You’ll note that I said “business.” By this I mean, they clearly can’t be trusted to handle your money. Click on the link above. Read the letter.
Watch Your Back
What you want to avoid – both talent and clients – is their “Professional Services Division” or leads managed by Voices.com.
To the unsuspecting client, they offer this “free” service where the staff at Voices will handle the casting of your project.
To explain this in layman’s terms, the client fills out a short quote form for Voices to cast their project. Voices staff “consult” the client on the service….but more importantly, the budget.
Let’s say the clients “budget” (likely suggested by Voices) is $800.00. Voices.com then posts that lead to talent with a budget of say, $125.00.
It’s happening every day. The low-budget leads posted by Voices.com’s Professional Division is staggering. I feel really bad for clients using the site, because they’re the ones really taking the hit. At least talent have a choice to answer the lead. Sadly, many are….but I do see the numbers dropping, which is encouraging.
Buyer…..and Talent beware. These people are not to be trusted.
Below, you will find my original (older) review of this site, updated to include details on their “Brokering” of VO jobs. Here is another review of Voices.com that everyone should read, both clients and talent.
Voices.com Review
If you’re on this page, you’re either a talent trying to decide whether or not to get a subscription to the site, or a client trying to figure out what the deal is with Voices.com.
Having invented the business model of the home-studio based voice talent in 1998, I was in the VO business many years before the inception of Voices.com, so I have a rather long history with this website. In fact, I was the first person to ever get awarded a job through Voices.com, or so I was told by David Ciccarelli.
That said, keep in mind that I likely know more about this site and the people behind it than anyone out there on the Intertube.
For the convenience of those reading here, I’ve broken this article up into two categories: Clients and Talent who patronize the site (Note: it’s best to read both sections if you’re a Talent).
Voices.com Review – If you’re a Client…..
First and foremost, you need to understand that these people really don’t know what they’re doing with respect to the delivery of “actual” voiceover services.
They simply run a website whose product happens to be voice talent. Consider that they sell the book “Voiceover For Dummies” – this should give you a hint about the quality of their product in general.
Secondly, there’s obviously a lot of smoke and mirrors going on. A prime example would be the “200,000” profiles they claim the site offers. If you do a search on the site for “All” talent, you’ll see it only returns approx. 59,927 talent in total, Male and Female.
Yes, there’s a lot of talent, but not 200,000. Ergo, “Smoke and Mirrors.”
Thirdly, their customer service is probably the worst I’ve ever experienced during my time here on Planet Earth. I cringe at the mere thought of having to deal with them about…..anything.
Having worked with them directly over many jobs, I’m constantly forced to conclude that they simply don’t have a clue what they’re doing. On one job alone, I got e-mails from 6 different people – each one not aware of what the other was doing.
Finally, if you use Voices.com to hire talent via their plethora of services, you’re going to end up paying a lot more for your voiceover had you simply worked with the talent directly, as I will explain.
Voices.com Review – Talent and Client Fees, fees, fees…
What many clients don’t understand is that the voice talent who respond to their leads have paid Voices.com a membership (subscription) fee for the privilege to do so. Therefore, any revenue generated via a job posting comes out of the client’s pocket….and in a round-about way, also the talent.
Voices.com charges for an escrow service called “Surepay” – a fancy term for “PayPal Payment” – based on the budget of the project. So, if a talent responds to a client lead with their rate of say, $350 – the client will pay Voices.com 20% of that rate or $70.00…….for a PayPal transaction.
If the rate is $2,000, then the client will pay $400.00……for a PayPal transaction.
Make no mistake. “Surepay” simply means that Voices.com will take a client’s money immediatley, place those funds in a bank account and will not release them to talent for a full two weeks after the client has approved the the job and seemingly released the funds from escrow.
At least, this was my experience before I was banned from the website.
Bottom line? Clients do not have to use Surepay…..and they don’t have to feel bad about working with talent directly, because talent have already paid a fee for the privilege to answer a clients’ posting.
Voices.com Review – Hoops of Fire….
Clients have to make a deposit, upload their file, submit their contact info, write a catchy description of their company, pick a bunch of useless adjectives like “kooky” to describe the voice they want, post an “Agreement” which seems to be only a company name, street and e-mail address.
Then when you finish your project, there’s even more work to do….! The client has to go back to the site and release the funds…..and as part of that function, are forced to write a review of the talent’s service. Considering the fact that no one wants to say anything negative about anyone (talent can also review the client) this results in everyone blowing sunshine up everybody’s keister.
It’s all a bunch of fluff designed to make it “look” like they know what they’re doing, when in reality, they don’t have a clue and all this crap results in the world’s largest make-work project.
All of this, so Voices.com can collect 20% of your budget…..and sell you other services which have seemingly little to no value.
Voices.com review – Brokering
Voices is now “brokering” jobs on behalf of their clients. This means that the staff at Voices.com (a revolving door of single moms, housewives and part-time students from what I can tell) are casting voice talent for clients, short-listing talent and negotiating rates.
This is so wrong on so many levels, it’s difficult to know where to start….but I’m going to begin at the obvious starting point, which is MONEY.
First of all, Talent has paid good money for a subscription to answer leads and have their audition heard by the client, not someone at Voices.com – of questionable experience – to create short lists. It’s bad enough that the talent may be the 120th submission the client sees.
Secondly, because Voices is working “behind the scenes” with the client, the talent or client obviously have no idea who is getting paid what.
Let me explain….
Let’s say for instance that the client – “Acme Software” – hires Voices.com to cast voiceover talent for their project because they simply don’t have the time. They tell Voices that their budget for this narration is $1000.00.
Here’s where it gets interesting…..
Voices can now post that lead to the voiceover masses in the $250-$500 budget range. Talent then respond with their respective “bids” for the gig. Let’s say for argument’s sake that the chosen talent has bid $250.00.
So…can we trust that Voices.com is going to tell the client what the winning bid was for the job….? There’s the rub. The client could be paying $1000.00 for a $250.00 voiceover service and no-one – Client nor Talent – would be the wiser.
Where it gets even more intriguing is the sudden increase in Voices.com “brokered” leads being posted in the $100-$250 price range. This tells me that Voices.com is simply trying to get the cheapest talent they can find – regardless of their client’s budget – so they can realize a larger profit.
Anyway you slice it, it’s pretty ugly.
True or False, conspiracy theory, call it whatever you want, I’m calling it a Conflict of Interest…..on multiple levels. Here, we have a company who collects subscription fees from talent in exchange for prospective client leads. Suddenly, the business model changes and now they’re short-listing talent auditions and secretly handling the money behind the scenes – all the while keeping talent and clients from communicating with each other.
But, keep in mind that Voices.com is not being held accountable to anyone or anything….so there you go. There’s no Voiceover Police out there on the internet.
All I can say is, buyer beware.
Voices.com Review – Is it useful at all…?
It’s a convenient way to cast for voice talent yes, but you should be aware that roughly 80% or more of the auditions you’ll receive either won’t fit the bill, or will be downright awful. Many talent won’t submit a custom audition, even though this is discouraged.
Expect a dog’s breakfast of audio quality and service offerings. Many of these people actually bought and read “Voiceover for Dummies” – composed by someone who couldn’t read their way out of a wet paper bag.
Also, consider this. Voices.com sells talent “Platinum” or “Ultimate” subscriptions by hard-selling talent under the guise that they will have “exclusive access” to all leads that come through the site.
So, if talent are paying for preferential treatment, that means that the client really isn’t getting access to the “200,000” profiles Voices.com claim they have on file.
This means, the client is only going to hear from talent who paid big money to be at the front of the line, regardless of whether or not they have any talent or are the right match for the job.
Voices.com Review – Client Summary
As a client, I personally wouldn’t pay a dime for anything extra – too risky in my opinion, the services highly questionable in terms of value. Indeed, all you need to do is dig about 1 inch below the surface to figure out you’ve uncovered something pretty ugly.
It should also be stated here that at one time, their escrow service was “optional.” It’s now being forced on both talent and clients. Talent cannot contact clients during the audition process. In fact, clients can’t contact the talent unless they post a job! This unto itself is a big slap in the face to talent, who pay for the privilege of getting client leads for work via their annual subscription fee.
That said, here are two things to consider:
- You can post your job, source out talent and do your own casting, for free. Once you’ve found the talent you want, you are free to Google their name, contact them and deal with them directly outside the realm of Voices.com. Remember to knock %20 off the rate for the job you saw on Voices.
- Again – I can’t express or say this enough times – talent have already paid for the right to respond to your posting.
If you’re paranoid that the voice talent is going to rip you off and/or you think that their casting service, talent and customer service is exceptional (excuse me while I barf…), then by all means, pay the escrow fee…..with the understanding that the 20% fee you pay doesn’t all go to the talent.
After all is said and done, it should be pointed out that Voices.com has the word “Free” posted all over the site – the choice to pay anything extra is yours to make, guilt-free.
Voices.com Review – If you’re a voice talent….
Voices.com does an OK job of “appearing” to look like they know what they’re doing….which translates to good search engine rankings and therefore, the site generates a lot of leads for subscribers to respond to.
Where the line gets really blurry is whether or not Voices.com is a P2P site, or an agency. Yes, they’re a “P2P” site which means they will take your money whether you have talent for VO or not. After all, it’s a business being run by people who have never voiced a script in their life.
They are now brokering voiceover gigs, dealing with the client and talent independently and who knows who is paying for what and where (see “Brokering” above).
As well, Voices.com uses a software method of targeting a voice; the same ridiculous concept applied by Voice123. I say “ridiculous” because using software to choose a voice is like asking a computer what kind of food you like.
Voices.com Review for Talent – At a glance….
The latest changes to the site (business model) are ethically sketchy at best. I guess the best way to describe it is, Voices.com has become far more “client centric” by implementing certain mechanisms to glean money from clients looking to hire talent.
in doing so, talent takes it on the chin:
- Fees for talent services are hiked up by 20% because Voices made escrow (Surepay) mandatory.
- Talent are no longer allowed to contact clients unless the client contacts them first through the website, or the job is awarded to the talent.
- Voices.com is now brokering leads, negotiating rates and managing VO projects independently. Now, talent are left to wonder if their auditions are being heard by the client and/or if they’re are getting the lion’s share of the budget as everything is done behind closed doors; no contact with the client at all.
The latter being the most disturbing, because really…this move flies in the face of the P2P model which is “Pay To Play.” In exchange for an annual membership fee, talent are paying for the privilege to get client leads for work – NOT to have Voices.com play the role of an agent, short-listing auditions and negotiating the rate (see “Brokering” above).
Most of the leads are low-budget.
It looks like there’s more Resources content up for sale or for review…but really, it’s all introductory stuff….and pretty poorly composed at that. The fact that they sell the book “Voiceover for Dummies” really says it all right there.
I could go on for pages here pointing out all the superfluous fluff. If you want to see what I mean, have a look at the scripts they offer and read…well, anything. You’ll have a good chuckle….
Voices.com Review – What’s up with the demo categories…?
Heading over to the talent demo upload section, the Voices.com site still looks like it was created by someone who has never been a voice talent, much less a professional one. The demo categories are outright wrong, the description choices even worse……it all seems like somebody took an educated “guess” at how to describe your voice by merely offering up a list of adjectives.
Obviously, they give this same list of adjectives for the client to pick out when they’re describing the voice they want to target or hire. Subsequently, uploading a voice demo brings to mind a craps table in Vegas, single-malt scotch in hand ……wondering if the house has loaded the dice.
I’ll explain as best I can. Voice demos have historically, always been categorized by format of voice-over IE: Commercials, Narration, On-Hold, etc. It would appear the folks at Voices.com are unaware of this fact, because they give us categories like “Radio” and “Television” – which I’m sorry to say is just plain wrong.
Also, let’s not forget that when one is listening to an “audio” demo, one cannot tell the difference between a Television and Radio commercial. “Radio” and “Television” denote broadcast usage and therefore, determine the rate for a voiceover. They are never used as terms to categorize a voice talent’s demo reel.
This, from Chapter 1 of Voiceover 101.
Again, my reasoning that the site was designed by someone who is clearly not a voice talent, nor agent.
Voices.com Review – Stupid humans.
The “idea” of using adjectives is admirable and has sterling qualities indeed. However, it’s inherently flawed in that there’s not enough adjectives in the dictionary to describe anyone’s voice when you factor in one, dynamic element, the proverbial Achilles heel that is…….a Human Being.
Because humans are so subjective in respect to interpreting anything, voice actors have long been categorized by vocal age. The more “age range” a voice talent can offer up, the more marketable they are. This same approach also simplifies the selection process.
“I’m looking for a male voice who sounds about 18….” Easy.
So, for decades and decades – and everywhere else other than Voices.com – voice demos are produced to show a talent’s vocal “age range.” For instance, my vocal range is 18 – 45. That means, I can sound like I’m 18, or I can sound like a Dad who’s about 45…..depending of course, on the opinion, perspective, mood, attitude, sense of humor, gender etc. of the Human Being that is listening to my voice demo.
So, I go to the Voices.com website and proceed to upload my demo. I start with my Commercial demo which features that lovely age range of mine, 18-45 male and everything in-between. What am I given by Voices to describe the vocal “age range” of this demo?
Well, there’s five choices. Child, Teen, Young Adult, Middle Aged or Senior. I can only pick ONE….where in all honesty, I really need to input the middle three choices.
Voices.com’s answer to this?
“Humans! Make more demos! We have changed the way demos are to be produced! You must comply and professionally produce a separate demo for each of our categories! There are 14. You better get working. Consider yourself lucky we are taking your money so you can call yourself a voice talent. Get working! Faster!”
I can see how this method can work for a rookie or one-trick-pony; those that have limited vocal range – which sadly, represents the bulk of members on any given P2P website. It kinda works, because they’re forcing the hand of both the talent and the client to conform to their methodology. On the other hand, something’s gotta give somewhere; I saw a lead just today where a Voices.com client sarcastically commented:
“I need the voice to sound like Spock, but that adjective wasn’t given as a choice…”
Thank you, Mr. Client for driving that ice-pick into our forehead.
Voices.com Review – How about those leads…?
The leads that show up on the site are both plentiful and varied. I would say that 70-80% of them fall under the $100-$250 range. Consider that they boast a world-wide membership of 200,000+ talent (there’s only 60,000 or so in reality), so when you go to post that custom audition, it’s very likely you’re taking part in the world’s largest voice-over cattle-call.
I don’t know about you, but I like the odds in Vegas.
On the subject of leads, I should mention a commonality I’ve observed in respect to client notes regarding direction for the talent. Many times I noticed clients stating:
“Generic demos will not be considered, only custom auditions!” and “Please don’t audition if you sound like an announcer…”
This, tells me two things:
1) Many of the talent in the membership are either lazy or are responding to the lead from their “day job” and since they are unable to record custom audio from their cubicle or cash register, they submit a generic demo/response using their Smartphone or computer at the office.
2) A large percentage of the membership are current or ex-broadcasters.
As previously stated, almost all the leads are in the $100-$250 price range. Personally, I delete all these leads as soon as I see them. There are a number of reasons why I do this:
1) I’m a professional voice talent and as such my (lowest) rates for non-broadcast voiceover audio starts at $350.00.
2) Historically, I’ve come to understand that clients who have these kind of budgets fall into the PITA category….(you figure out the acronym…lol).
3) If I answered all these bottom-feeder leads, I’d be auditioning all day long.
4) As a professional voice talent, I have a responsibility to maintain the integrity of our rate structure on the whole. Pros who choose to work for these crappy rates are under-cutting not only themselves, but the industry in general.
That said, answering a lead is pretty simple and I won’t go into great detail regarding the functionality of the site, but I will say that three things really bother me:
1) They charge a 20% Escrow fee over and above the rate talent quotes.
2) Voices.com does not allow the talent to contact the client during the audition process to protect their interests with respect to collecting their escrow fee…..and…
3) Voices.com “brokered” leads are very, very, sketchy. (See “Brokering” above).
Voices.com review – Escrow…er…..”commission.”
I gotta say, it’s a pretty clever idea. But fear not, human – you don’t need escrow to collect fees for voice-over services. Indeed, if I had to pay 20% to someone everytime I sent out an invoice….I’d not only be broke, I’d be a broke idiot.
The concept is as old as time itself – Fear.
Talent side, Voices.com leverages fear in the membership that there’s a potential for profit loss by a client defaulting on payment. To clients, they present escrow as a type of guarantee; funds are not released until the client is satisfied with the product. Either way, Voices.com looks like the hero by donning a cape, blasting Fear with their Surepay Escrow Flame-Thrower!
Basking in the glow of Security, Fear in a heap of ashes on the floor, everybody thinks 20% is a reasonable price to pay to be rescued from Fear and Voices.com reaps the profits.
They started off making escrow optional – how it should be. Now, it’s mandatory. I’ll take a wild guess and say that the idea worked…..but not well enough – not enough takers. So, Voices.com decided that they’ll take 20% of the action right off the top. Kinda like back in the 60’s when the mob was running the casinos in Vegas.
I’m sure you saw the movie……
So, every time a talent answers a lead, contacting the client is a no-no until Voices.com gets their deposit from said client, for fear that Voices.com will lose that all-important commission….er….Surepay Escrow….fee…..thing. So, they have all these pop-up window warnings about violation of the Terms of Agreement if there’s a digit or “@” symbol detected by the Voices.com Contact Police.
Let’s not forget that talent have already PAID for the privilege of getting client leads!
Everybody knows if someone wants to rip you off, they’ll find a way to do it. By refusing talent First Contact with the client, Voices.com is just complicating the whole process; creating an environment of subversion, among other things.
If a client wants to avoid the escrow fee, all they have to do is use Voices.com to find the talent they want, Google the name and contact the talent directly. Alternatively, if a talent wants to contact the client directly, all the information to do so is provided, regardless of how much this behavior is discouraged.
Voices.com Review – The Road Test
After about a year and a half, I posted about 1000+ custom auditions. Looking at the answered leads, more than half of those auditions are in limbo. Many haven’t been listened to at all, most have been “Closed” for months (no longer accepting auditions); the jobs seemingly not awarded to anyone.
Take a wild guess at where those “Closed” leads will wind up. I’m thinkin’ a Dead End in the Las Vegas desert.
On the other hand, I did a fair amount of business through the site via the gigs I did land…and many of those customers now come to me directly for VO services.
This, is what the “P2P” model can bring to the table. Talent have an opportunity to gain experience via the custom audition, exposure to a massive amount of leads, the opportunity to pick up work…..and finally, the chance to build up a client base. (However, it should be noted here that Voices.com is now taking away the opportunity for talent build up their client base by brokering gigs and mandatory escrow).
But again….one has to have the talent to make it worthwhile.
Don’t forget…..I’m a PRO…and that’s 1000+ custom auditions. I don’t have a day job, I work at it all day, every day. I have a very dynamic vocal range, can voice in a myriad of formats…and over 30 years of experience.
Voices.com review for Talent – Summary
Voices.com is yet another tool with which voice talent can develop their business. The trick to making a living at VO is multiple revenue streams. Voices.com may be one of them, your agent another, posting on the sites in the Netherlands, Germany or France in the English Talent category…..blah, blah, blah. I personally have about 150 different places where there’s the “potential” to generate revenue and cumulatively, this translates to me making a living at VO.
I’m not going tell you that you’ll have large canvas bags of cash couriered to your front door by being a member of Voices.com. However, of all the P2P sites out there, they appear do the best job of making it look like they’re the spot to find voice talent. They market, advertise and get great Google rankings.
Again, the brokering of jobs scares the crap out of me……it’s just wrong, on more levels than I can count.
However, if you want to gamble with your money – in my opinion – Voices.com would be the site to place your bet. I mean…you can’t argue with those search engine rankings and the choice to bid on the cheap gigs is your bet to make.
However, bear in mind that you really have to work at the leads in respect to custom auditions. If all you’re going to do is post a generic demo for every lead…..you’re wasting your time and money.
As well, you have to jump on the leads right away. In less than a half hour, there’ll be 70+ responses to any given lead…..if you have a day-job, those that do VO full-time will blow your doors off, long before you get home from work.
In the end, your talent gets you the gig….Voices.com merely gets you the opportunity to audition…..and the rest is much like gambling at the craps table in Vegas. You place your bet, roll the dice, win some, lose some….and ultimately the house will end up putting a fountain in the foyer….and the magician they hire to bring in the clients uses a lot of smoke and mirrors.
If you know of another voices.com review, or something that I can add to this voices.com review, please leave a comment.
Thank you for this in-depth review. I was just getting ready to sign up with Voices, but reading your review put a stop to that. That being said, I am back at square one – not knowing where to go to get started in the VO profession. I’ve never done this, but am very interested in doing so, but figured I need some help getting started. I thought Voices was the place to go. Now I don’t know where to go. But thank you for this eye-opener review. Back to the drawing board to research some place else that might… Read more »
Hi Rita… First, I want to extend a BIG thank you for posting here. Congratulations, you’re the very first person to post something on my website….! For years, all the content here was static; everybody sent me e-mails. Just this last week, I finally had the time to set up Word Press for comments and hopefully today, my Blog. Anyway…..regarding your post. Your comments here are ones that I have heard many, many times in the past. I want to make it clear to you and also others who read this article that it’s not intended to deter people… Read more »
Thanks for the heads up Todd. It’s the old maxim, if it looks too good to be true then it probably is.
Hey Steve,
Yep. Another phrase that applies here is “80% of the jobs go to 20% of the talent (roster)…”
The 20% making up those who paid Voices $5K to get “All access” or those that have excellent talent for the work.
TS
The Platinum and Ultra Platinum ones are the ones who book the good-paying “Managed” jobs. Project managers who post jobs already know this. It is pre-determined. They just post it to show that , well, good-paying jobs are being offered to the regular premium members; that all is fair and square. Uh uh. Don’t fall for this tactic of theirs.
Hey Rob,
Yes – agreed.
I found that – when I had a Platinum Membership – I would get e-mail notification of a lead only to discover that 40 people had already auditioned for the job.
That said, I was forced to conclude that the Platinum Membership was no different than Premium.
It should also be noted here that many times I have heard that Voices staff are paid commissions on every Platinum Membership they “sell” to a talent.
Kind regards,
Todd Schick
I made the mistake of joining about a month ago and I am regretting it. I would not recommend this site. I have called and emailed my “customer service representative” multiple times. I have never received a call back or an email answering my questions. It’s very frustrating.
Hi Dianne,
Sorry for the delay in responding.
Yes, I have heard a similar refrain from many regarding Voices and their so-called “customer service.”
The only time you can expect to hear from them is when they need something from you – either money, or recorded audio. They don’t answer complaints – ever – and if you do complain, you run the risk of being black-listed.
Sadly, this is how they run their operation.
Regards,
TS
It’s a RIP-OFF-A ROONIE in my book. I know for a fact and have proof that Companies Pay a Lot More for a voice but the Cicarrelli’s keep 80% of the money (Plus $499. annually to play) and the vo actor gets a paultry $100.-$250.
Hi. I’ve gotten rid of my membership at least three times. I was naive in my belief that Voices.com would get my VO career off to a lucrative start. This last time cancelling my membership is the final straw. At first I just wasn’t getting any jobs, and then I considered the massive scam that this company is. They are essentially a talent agency cum commodity trader. Any reputable talent agency doesn’t make a dime off of their artists until the artist does. No agency would ask for a subscription. How was I so naive!? I was desperate and desperation… Read more »
Hi David, Sadly, no story about Voices.com surprises me, regardless of the circumstance. Believe it or not, I’ve heard much worse. Kudos to you for both posting here and sending a note to the Ministry of Commerce in Ontario. Did you also file a complaint with the BBB? If not, you should. Every individual concerned about Voices.com’s lack of transparency and unethical business practices should take the time to go through the Better Business Bureau’s complaint process. While a single complaint may do little, many complaints will affect their standing with the BBB and could lead to an investigation. The… Read more »
Thank you for this, I have been asking people in different forums why they dislike Voices.com, the only response i get is “it is pay to play” as if this explained everything. (it most certainly does not!). So again thank you for the breakdown. I now see why people are angry and rightly so. I, myself, did take out a membership before knowing any of this. I didn’t really do anything with it, as i wanted to do a bit more research and development on my side. It is so hard to know where to turn when it seem like… Read more »
Hi Tamra, I feel your pain. I can understand why people simply say “it’s pay to play.” I think what they’re trying to say is, those who choose to get a subscription do have a fair amount of control over just how much and how deep they want to step in the s***. If the budget is too low, a Voices’ staff posting that’s clearly a rip-off or a project that looks like a complete nightmare – it is purely up to the subscriber to respond or not. I know that when I reviewed postings, I deleted all the $100-$250… Read more »
Dear fellow VO wannabes. I joined Voices.com about 3 mos ago and have submitted about 196 auditions to date with only 3 messages replied saying they liked my voice and would consider me for future work. No jobs have materialized from these submissions, even when only a handful of applications have been sent in. I have a friend who just submitted a tape to the operations manager of a large radio station and the encouragement was instantaneous to use me on a regular basis. He inquired though why Voices had not created a better response since my voice was definitely… Read more »
I meant to add that with each audition response to a posted ‘job’ I include a nice, friendly comment addressed to the contact saying that this showed a very strong compatibility match and that I would welcome the opportunity to work with them. I assured them in each case that I was easy to work with, take direction well and insist on a high level of professional quality to meet their satisfaction. This personal intro hasn’t made any difference whatsoever in 196 submissions.
Hey John, Thanks for sharing your experience….:-)! As mentioned in another post below, there’s been a major departure from an “announcer” kind of sound. Almost every lead posted on P2P sites these days states they don’t want to hear even a “hint” of an announcer sound. Clients are avoiding the traditional broadcast sound so much, they’ll select anybody who sounds like they’ve never been behind the mic at a radio station. Further, I listened to your stuff and can say with all honesty that there’s probably 4-500 guys on Voices alone that sound similar to you and in most cases,… Read more »
This review is worded perfectly. I may be young and a little naive, I am still a student and taking classes, but I’ve voiced a lot of professional game characters. I would never trust VDC. Thank you so much for this! 🙂
Hey Natalie,
Thanks for your comments….
I’m a firm believer in the concept that you get what you give in life, not that what you endeavor to take or steal.
Best of luck in your career moving forward.
Kind regards,
Todd Schick
Kind regards,
Todd Schick
Almost 1,000 auditions on voices and NADA! Definitely some likes (many from Voices). Booking on orher sites. Frustrated. Thanks for this!!!!
Hi Debra, When I was a member of Voices (before David Ciccarelli cancelled my membership when I called him out for ripping me off) I was averaging roughly 1 gig per 30 auditions (but don’t quote me on that – I never did crunch the numbers). If you are booking on other sites – 1000 auditions with not a single gig seems odd to me. For the record….”likes” mean absolutley nothing. You never who is listening and further, why they liked you. For instance, you could have been liked because you had a better price point or written response –… Read more »
Hi Todd,
I joined Voices back in May. I have booked 4 jobs. Just curious, how many auditions did you do a day and would you recommend agency representation while doing voices? If so, do you have to pay your agent if you end up booking a voices.com job? Thanks
Hi Jena,
Back in the day, about 10 a day depending on how busy it was. My “gig” ratio was roughly 8-10%, so 10 jobs per every 100 auditions…..something like that.
“Likes” or “Thumbs up” mean nothing, FYI. Half the gigs I landed, there was no such feedback.
Yes, the more revenue streams the better.
No, you don’t pay your agent a commission for a Voices gig, unless you’ve signed an exclusive Union contract with said agent that defines “the work” (voiceover) as an all-encompassing condition subject to commissions.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Todd Schick
I have worked 4 times with Voices.com. I have also been able to speak to an ex worker at voices.com who was so informative about the malpractice of this business and why he left. He felt he was consistantly lying to the talent and couldn’t deal with it. He confirmed what is being said here to me, they pay less than half of what the client believes he is paying for talent services. Voices.com keeps the rest. My personal experience has been: 4 jobs with them, they are extremely confusing, one job is managed by like three different people who… Read more »
Hey Gemma, Your comments here can only be described as a very accurate rant……lol. To that end, I agree with everything you say here – because I have had similar experiences in the past with Voices. In addition to your good advice to talent to ask for what you want, I think it’s also important for talent to inform (and educate) each and every client they come in contact with thru Voices.com. Further, I made it a habit to not respond to ANY full service lead, regardless of the price. If more people did this, the less clients will have… Read more »
Hi, Todd. I’m a Brazilian voice actor, a stage actor and I’ve worked on radio. And I can tell from my one-year experience as a premium member of voices.com. At first it seemed to me a reasonable business. I pay a fee and I am part of a database where I can offer my voice and apply for vo jobs around the world. The site appeared to have a fair amount of work in Portuguese. At first I began to distrust. The book Voiceover For Dummies did not seem to me written by anyone who had experience in the field.… Read more »
Hey Vitor, Thank you so much for taking the time to give us your thoughts and insight regarding the scam that is Voices.com. I especially enjoyed reading your comment about Voiceover for Dummies. I’ve always thought that the title itself gives us all keen insight regarding the author’s level of intelligence. I think that the most important thing professionals like ourselves must do, is NOT answer leads brokered by Voices.com – regardless of the rate for the job. In doing so, Voices.com will soon discover that they can’t make any money without talent and come to the conclusion that you… Read more »
DECEMBER 2018 I’ve been with Voices.con for several years and made a reasonable amount of money so would sum it up thus: I have made far more from it than I have spent on it and so in that regard have lost nothing much apart from studio time. More on that later. However – I, like others, don’t like the VC Agent-run full service jobs where, very often, my auditions are marked as having been listened to and liked by the Client. I’ve challenged them on this as it is clear that what is really meant is that the audition… Read more »
Hi Cia, Thank you so much here for your contribution to the Voices.com review; it was very enlightening with respect to the recent changes going on with that website. Indeed, I can offer up some input regarding your post that you might find useful. The full service jobs have recently become slightly higher paid. Might they have reduced their own cut (commission?) to up the talent budget (?) – unlikely, but one thing is for sure, very few of these jobs ever reach the ‘Completed’ stage. These (the really high paying jobs) are probably jobs that are coming through Voicebank… Read more »
Gave Voices.Com my money back in 2018. Granted, I do not sit in front of the computer everyday, but after 135 auditions–no bites. So, I did contact them (today) and received a fairly nice, but disheartening reply. Basically this: “On average, book 2-7 jobs from every 100 auditions. So, if you submit 100 auditions in 2 weeks, you might get something.” I will be in the studio everyday starting in May, so I would expect to see something happen. But, this is what I don’t agree with… “don’t spend more than 5 minutes on a demo.”: I guess if it’s… Read more »
Hey Mike, Voices.com lies pretty much about everything…and IMHO, they’ve got no business throwing around numbers like that to anyone. There are a ridiculous amount of variables involved in winning a job on ANY P2P site, not the least of which is the integrity of the client or job poster. More than 50% of auditions aren’t even heard by the client (my experience)! I can say that being in the Top 20 auditions is important – you better your chances at being heard. I spend about 1 minute (max) voicing an audition and then, one or two editing it. Only… Read more »
Hi Guys not sure if this thread is still running but anyways . So Im a South African voice artist and entertainer . Only 3 real experience but growing a decent “real world ” network so to speak . I joined voices on the free service and audition for a couple of jobs eventually getting 2-3 jobs so I ultimately signed up . Everything I read in this post is 100% relatable , I have been wondering for ages and to read this so well put sheds a light on everything . I knew something was up but I didn’t… Read more »
Hey Roger, Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts :-)! I think that the issue you’re experiencing with Voices is less about the staff there doing anything untoward and more a function of the P2P business model in general. Indeed, my article here barely touches on the subject of job status as I view that to be an indicator of client integrity. Sadly, people can be highly disrespectful, which I surmise is the root of your problem stated here. I think what’s more disturbing is that many clients don’t listen to all auditions submitted and that’s something that… Read more »
it is a rigged system. Those employees who have their morals & ethics intact, choose to leave. Why do you think the turnover is so high? Once they sense that they are part of a rigged system, the awaken.
as a rejoinder to my previous input, VDC will slowly self-destruct. It is already being overtaken by one ethical site that has its moral compass intact.
Hey Rob, Yes, voiceovers.com. However, I have noticed that they have copied an aspect of the voices platform that is just as awful as it is useless – tagging demos with idiotic adjectives. If a picture paints a thousand words…..a voice paints at least 500. One cannot describe a voice (or search for one) using 10 adjectives or less, never mind describing the role. The sad thing is, in copying this ridiculous “technology” (and I use the term loosely) voiceovers.com are giving VDC validation that their stupid algorithm is actually worth something. For the record, tagging demos with adjectives is… Read more »
Yes, Todd. I guess you are right in many, many ways. Every site has its own kink, I guess. But thievery by way of lack of transparency is one thing that is prevalent in the other site.
I think this is outdated, and many are misinformed. I contacted voices.com asking about a membership plan that will boost my profile, offered a budget of $4,000-$8,000 for this, and they sent an email only 3 hours later and followed up with a phone call. They do not offer anything other than the $400/ year fee for membership, which isn’t even $40/month, they sent me a lot of info regarding their setup and how they filter jobs, all matched up as I have posted jobs on their site before for my company. Basically they sort your profile and match it… Read more »
Hi Tom… I totally agree that this article is outdated, but much of the information still rings true. I do need to write a whole new article. The last couple of years, I’ve been way too busy with business and personal stuff that I haven’t had the time to dedicate to my website. With respect to your experience, I can’t comment as to why they didn’t sell you a Ultra-Super-Duper-Platinum membership. They may have listened to your demos and concluded that you would get little to no ROI. But make no mistake – these memberships exist. I personally know 5… Read more »
Just last night I was leaning very heavily toward re-signing with Voices.com. I was once a paying member, at $50 a month. I stayed on about 6 months, never landed a gig. So 200.00 down the drain. I figured it was just because of a lack of experience on my part. I retained my free membership in the hopes of getting better and then signing up again. Recently I noticed that the pricing changed (for the better), however, I wondered why still. Just last night I was discussing this matter with my wife, speculating about the validity of the jobs… Read more »
Hey Mr. Burks,
I find that VDC tries anything and everything to trick or coerce people into giving them money.
They have proven themselves time and time again to be untrustworthy and therefore, anyone doing business with them – Client or Talent – need to be very wary and skeptical as a rule of thumb.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts :-)!
Kind regards,
Todd Schick
Alack & Alas, Voices.com is a Money Grubbing bunch of mongers. I signed with them when they were $299. annually, booked a few gigs in one year paying $250. per. Became friends with one client because he found my website on the net and learned he was charged $1,250 for the Voice Over spot I did and paid the Ciccarelli’s that much money. The Ciccirelli’s in turn paid me $250. So they not only scam off the top but charge the actors $499. now . What kind of Integrity is that?
And it’s still pretty much the same. I put together a profile, but did not pay the hefty $499 membership. I had someone call me today apparently hoping I would sign up, but I had grown suspicious to say the least This review just confirmed my suspicions.
Hey James,
Yes, other than the site itself, things haven’t changed much over at VDC.
They are all about the phone call; it’s essentially a call center…..they’ll either try for the $499 membership or hit you up for $5K without divulging what you’re actually paying for.
Thanks for sharing :-)!
Kind regards,
Todd Schick
I joined voices.com a year ago it is not working for me. i am a actress and voice over talent. I was thinking of trying voiceovers.com I will not be renewing with voices.com when it comes time. let me know what your thoughts are or recommendations are that would be great. thank you and great blog.
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for leaving a note… :-)!
Assuming you have a full-service studio and a professional demo package, I would recommend you go with Voice123 and Bodalgo. These platforms allow you to build up a client base, where the Voices.com Contact Police does not.
Hope this helps :-)!
Kind regards,
Todd Schick
Hi Todd
Thank you for you honest feedback. Yes I have a full studio in my home, and demo going to make a new one. I am definitely interested in voiceover.com just got to send my audition and sign up for the membership and I will also check out voice123
Thank you so much this helps.
Who do you recommend out of interest?
Hi Sio,
Thanks for leaving a note… :-)! I’m basically cutting and pasting the same response to Amanada below…
Assuming you have a full-service studio and a professional demo package, I would recommend you go with Voice123 and Bodalgo. These platforms allow you to build up a client base, where the Voices.com Contact Police does not.
Hope this helps :-)!
Kind regards,
Todd Schick
Hi Todd, Many thanks, I’m with both of them and Voicerealm, but I’ll definitely check out voiceovers.com too 🙂 Sio
What’s your opinion of Voices For All?
As a general rule, I am highly suspect of any establishment offering VO coaching services.
This is because for over two decades, I’ve heard nothing but bad news regarding pretty much anyone offering this kind of service IE:
“I spent $4,000 on this demo and coaching and can’t seem to get an agent much less any work…”
Watch your back and get a LOT of references.
Cheers,
TS
Hello, a friend recommended voices com to me, but with all this review am already scared to dive in. But would be much more grateful if you can recommend another site with same purpose. Thanks
Hey Jane,
As I tell everyone, not a single site does riches make. ALL sites contribute to bottom line revenue….and ALL of them (in one way or another) are suspect.
Except for Bodalgo. Armin has a great site, but the leads are normally from Europe (poor script translations) and it’s a free-for-all with respect to auditions (120 in under an hour).
So, it doesn’t matter what the site is, they all have their issues and most are scams.
Bottom line? 20% of those who are talented win 80% of the work.
Hope this helps…..
TS
Good Afternoon your article is very detailed and well said. Ive been a member of voices.com for 3 years now. And I feel approx 80% of the auitions posted are the lowball 100-240 category.And the higher rate jobs are just put out there for show. (Going to the more seasoned voice talent)..Im really skeptical about renewing my membership.
How do you feel about the information they provide in the “Starting voice acting” section as well as their information articles?
Hey Nesha,
ALL the information on the site is bogus.
From the start, VDC employed smoke and mirrors to give people the impression that they were the go-to source for anything voiceover.
But, when you take the time to read the stuff, it’s not hard to come to the conclusion that it’s all keywords and no substance.
TS
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought something felt “off” about it. So glad I did my research, and grateful to you for sharing!
Thank you for your review! I have one recurring voiceover client that I got by chance and I was hoping voices.com would help me to find more. Now I’ll have to find another route. Do you have any recommendations for a beginner finding voiceover work?
Hey Ashley, Many of those who read my articles on P2P sites tend to focus on the negative aspects of the content. Indeed there IS a lot of negative stuff in these articles because it’s unavoidable; those who operate P2P sites are greedy scammers who know little (or care) about the work that is voiceover. They simply run a website that happens to feature voice artists as a product, but they don’t have any interest in helping or otherwise enriching the voiceover community on the whole. As such, my articles tend to focus on the pitfalls associated with P2P because… Read more »
I don’t believe this information has yet been shared in this forum, but VDC changed their pricing structure back in October so that they can make even MORE money. The premise is that clients and talent were “too confused” by the addition of the 20% platform fee paid by clients on each job. The alleged scenario is that a client posts a job with a budget of $500, and then they are shocked — SHOCKED, I tell you! — when they get a bill for $600. So in order to “fix” this terribly confusing problem, Ciccarelli now simply deducts the… Read more »
Hey Tiffany, Thank you so much for sharing all this information; I was aware of VDC screwing with the fees they charge on the platform, but haven’t had the time (nor wont) to research it. As you know, anything related to VDC and their operation is an exercise in frustration and disappointment. As a Canadian, please accept my sincere apologies for the train wreck that is VDC. Please understand that while for the most part, Canadians are nice and polite, sociopaths (bullies) like David are everywhere; they are incapable of caring for others and are only interested in themselves –… Read more »
Greetings Todd, we corresponded eons ago, as we are both seasoned vets and among the earliest talents with a web presence…before ‘in-house studios’ were all the rage…not to date anyone of course: ). Hope all’s well man! As for P2Ps…it’s a repugnant phenomenon to be sure for all reasons you’ve often cited but at a certain point I copped an attitude of, just using them for client ‘data mining’ and poach as many contacts as possible in order to just market to them directly.. and to that end, I really don’t give a damn or have any bad conscience whatsoever… Read more »
Hey Mike… This is a question that has many answers. Fundamentally, it all depends on the level of talent, service offerings and business acumen. For those that have talent to do voiceover in a variety of formats, have excellent studio sound and a good work ethic, P2P sites are a viable revenue stream, yes. Voice123 has for a long time now allowed talent to work the client directly. In the case of Voices.com, greed has led to protectionism. This is why I composed this article: https://www.toddschick.com/hire-voice-talent/ In the current economic climate, I am noticing a shift back to the way… Read more »
I hate to say it but… Before October Talent quote: $400 Client bill: $480 Voices.com revenue: $80 New numbers Talent quote:$400 Client bill:$500 + 3% = $515 Voices.com revenue: $115 $80 to $115 is an increase of 43% FORTY THREE PERCENT!!!! In the middle of a global pandemic! People are not able to go to studios anymore, so companies are FLOCKING to sites like VDC. Their job postings have gone up by more than 250%. So they are getting a significant increase in postings, which means a big increase in their revenue… and then they decide to increase their fees… Read more »
Hey Mike,
No big surprise, really. This is standard behaviour for a sociopath (bully). They only care about themsleves and see a pandemic as an opportunity to make money.
The best you can do is educate clients via your responses to leads such as:
“My bid of $400 is before the Voices markup of “X” %. They recently increased their commission rate by 43% to take advantage of the global pandemic.”
Just be sure to stick to the facts.
Cheers,
Todd
I am proud to say I have moved a few clients off of VDC.
But I really like your approach. I will use it. 🙂
It’s a rigged system favoring the Platinum members ( particularly for “Managed” jobs). Just ask Mr. Cicarelli and see how he “artistically” evades answering this question.
Hey Todd, I’m looking to get into voice acting (I have a BFA in acting and a Scarlett solo mic) but after reading your review I am worried that I made a wrong decision. Do you have any advice? Thank you so much for the article!
Hey Sean,
That’s a bit of a loaded question and one that I get quite often. Before you delve in too deeply, I strongly recommend you read my book as a starting point.
https://www.funnyvoicesinsmallpaddedrooms.com
That will answer most – if not all – your questions and will likely be the best $20 you’ll ever spend. Be sure to listen.
Finally, I’ll say that multiple revenue streams are the key to driving revenues, a subject which is also covered off in the publication.
Cheers,
Todd Schick
Hi Todd, I enjoyed reading your review of Voices.com. I actually worked there for a year as an account manager – and hated it. Except for the catered lunches management provided once a month. Those were actually pretty good. As for the business “practises” in my experience, the only goal of the business was to keep as much of the money from the client as possible, while sharing as little as possible with the actual voice talent. In fact, I once tried to give a talent more than they asked for, and my manager called me into a meeting with… Read more »
Thanks for sharing….and good for you to have the courage to do so. It’s my understanding that the heavy-handed (threatening….?) behaviour you mentioned from HR at Voices.com is a common denominator amongst those who have worked there. Everything you mentioned here, I have heard in one form or another from many others – both former employees and those who have done business with Voices.com. The bottom line is, these people clearly have no conscience and therefore, there’s no end to the depths they will sink to screw over a talent, client or employee. And yes, the government grants; all predicated… Read more »
Hello! I’m new to the Voices.com site, I’ve recently become freelance ️and thought I would give this a try, and just signed up for “platinum” last week. However, I been doing a bit of Math, and something is not working out; maybe it’s me, my profile or the algorithm, but I’m posing the question… Voices.com claims to post 5000 Jobs A Month, according to the website https://www.voices.com/talent When I signed up, again just last week, I suddenly received 75 job postings that day. Pretty exciting. The next day I completed my profile and started submitting auditions. That day, technically day 1, I submitted… Read more »
Hey Anonymous Entity… Your first mistake is actually believing any of the BS posted on the Voices website. Many people fall into this trap; trying to figure out the What, How, Why…etc. of the Smoke and Mirrors that have prevailed on the website since Day #1. Yeah, they may (or may not) post 5000 leads a month…..but that doesn’t mean every single member gets that many invitations. There is much going on behind the scenes regarding both who gets how many leads….and further, who gets paid what (RE: Voices brokered job postings). My best advice to you is to ignore… Read more »
I just recently got ripped off by voices. I was contacted by email and offered a job by them. I accepted and submitted the videos that were requested. After a few weeks I hadn’t heard anything from them regarding my payment. I have tried to contact them several times and I am just being ghosted. Avoid these crooks!