Pay-to-Play

Raising money for your business

by Paul Strikwerda in Articles, Freelancing, Internet, Money Matters, Pay-to-Play, Promotion, Social Media 2 Comments

So, you have this amazing idea for a new service, a movie, a video game or a CD. Your plans are in place. Your team is ready. What’s the one thing you need to make it happen?

Money!

One way to get your hands on a chunk of startup cash is to pitch your idea to investors. A few years ago, Priscilla Groves and James Kennedy did just that. They went on the TV show Dragon’s Den, to raise cash for their budding business called “Piehole,” an online voice casting service.

Did they get the money they asked for? Find out for yourself:

Audio book publisher Karen Wolfer had a different idea. She’s using crowdfunding to pay for her latest project, the spoken version of “Safe Harbor,” by Radclyffe. You can find her project on Kickstarter.com.

Since launching in April 2009, Kickstarter has successfully funded more than 20 thousand projects backed by 1.8 million people who raised over 200 million dollars.

The idea is simple. Once your project is approved, you post it on the site and you list how much you’d like to raise within a certain time frame. Visitors to the site can pledge a dollar amount and in return they receive a reward.

If the project succeeds in reaching its funding goal, all backers’ credit cards are charged when time expires. If the project falls short, no one is charged.

SUCCESS STORIES

Winning projects don’t get to keep all the money raised. 3-5% goes to Amazon Payments for processing the donations and 5% goes to Kickstarter.

Video game developer Double Fine Productions surprised everybody in 2012. They were shooting for a 400 thousand dollar investment. Within 24 hours they had received over 1 million. An hour before it closed, the project had reached the 3 million dollar level.

Entrepreneur Eric Migicovsky outdid them. He created Pebble, a futuristic watch that syncs with Android or iPhone apps. So far he has raised over… 10 million dollars!

Compared to them, Karen Wolfer is asking for a modest $4,700. Why did she decide to raise funds using Kickstarter? Karen Wolfer:

“With Kickstarter, the money is collected before the recording project is started. Fees can be paid for narrators, sound engineers and materials up front. And by involving fans of the story or of the narrator, it becomes a form of pre-advertising for the finished book. Social media is utilized in a big way, so buzz is created from the first stage of an audio book’s life.”

You need a minimum $4,700 for this project to get the green light. Is this your entire production budget, and if not, what does it cover?

“Yes, this is my entire production budget. It will cover travel expenses for the actresses (Diane Gaidry) we signed to do the book, her fees, the sound engineer fees, and a new pre-amp we need.”

How do you reach potential backers?

“Social media: Facebook, Twitter, emails. Lots of them!”

Your company, Dog Ear Audio specializes in lesbian literature. What has been the response, so far?

“Pretty darn good! There is a passionate fan base for these stories, and Dog Ear Audio is the only audio publisher serving this niche market. The biggest surprise so far is the dollar amounts being pledged. We’ve had more pledges over the $100 amount, than we’ve had of the expected $5 and $10 amounts. The biggest pledge was a whopping $500 from folks in the Australian Outback! That floored me. But it also showed me there is a hunger for these books.

All the money is coming from fans of the author our narrator, and of course, we also have fans of Dog Ear Audio’s other titles. They have been very loyal customers. We’ve had pledges from the aforementioned Outback of Australia, the UK, and all over the US. I wrote to my brother about donating, but have not heard back from him. If he doesn’t help, boy, is he in trouble.”

What will happen if you don’t reach your goal on June 1st. Will “Safe Harbor” still be recorded?

“Lol…I won’t let that happen now that we are so close. There are still lots of people to meet and share our project with. It’s all a matter of finding those ‘friends’ and groups that this story would appeal to. It is very much like any sales campaign, only the sales work is done first. You get paid first, and then you create the product.

The great thing is, there are still sales to be made after the book is published through the normal sales pathways. But to further answer your question, yes, I would still record “Safe Harbor” because I believe in this project so much, and I know the fan base is there.”

Based on your experience with Kickstarter, will you be using it again?

“Absolutely. The site is so beautifully organized. It is easy to create your project, all the answers are there to help you with the process, and I love the energy the creators of Kickstarter put into all their communications. Someone has put a lot of thought into the entire process.

A huge side benefit to launching a project this way, is that you can measure the likely success rate of your book, or any project, before you invest considerable time and money into that work. I have seen some projects receive no money, so maybe that idea needs to be revamped or even abandoned. But the person now knows that there may not be a market for that idea without having invested a lot of their own money.

Or, it may be that person needs to hone up on their social media skills. That can make or break a project, too. And as you see with Kickstarter, if a project does not receive full funding, no money is collected from donors. It is safe for anyone pledging.

I understand that it helps if a person donates to other projects before they launch their own. It is a form of ‘payback karma’; you help me, I help you, not only in donations, but in advertising of a project. I have ‘liked’ other projects that are similar to mine, and they have done the same to me, so the social networking is wonderful. Sooooo, if anyone needs a place to start, I would greatly appreciate any help from this voice-over community toward our goal.

One last detail. We are donating a percentage of any monies collected to the Safe Harbor Prison Dog rescue in Lansing KS. There are more details on this on our Kickstarter page. Again, it is in the spirit of paying it forward, and sharing the abundance that is out there.”

RISKS & RETURNS

With three weeks to go, Karen has almost raised all the money she needs. It doesn’t always work out that way. In 2011, 46% of the projects posted on Kickstarter were successful. In 2010 the success rate was 43%.

Let’s assume a project reaches its minimum limit. Who will hold the fundraiser accountable to live up to his or her promises? Kickstarter writes:

“It is the responsibility of the project creator to fulfill the promises of their project. Kickstarter reviews projects to ensure they do not violate the Project Guidelines, however Kickstarter does not investigate a creator’s ability to complete their project. (…) At the end of the day, use your internet street smarts.“

Pledges to Kickstarter projects are generally not tax deductible and if you live outside of the United States, the site will tell you that you might “experience a problem trying to pledge.”

Then there’s the fact that the success of a Kickstarter campaign heavily depends on word of mouth. It’s the number of backers that determines what gets funded and not necessarily the quality of what’s being offered. It’s a popularity contest.

If we would leave it to public opinion, the paintings of Thomas Kinkade would now be in the Museum of Modern Art. Indie artists looking for funding might think twice about seeking support for their work on Kickstarter.

Last but not least, funding Kickstarter projects is not an investment. You might get a T-shirt out of it, or some public recognition from an author, but that’s it.

What if Eric Migicovsky’s Pebble watch becomes a huge hit? We know that Kickstarter and Amazon together take about ten percent of his 10 million dollars raised.

If you have pledged $99, all you get is a watch. Okay, it’s a very cool watch, but still…

Would you back or post a project on Kickstarter?

Paul Strikwerda ©nethervoice

Karen Wolfer has reached her goal almost three weeks before the deadline. You can still contribute to her project and help her raise money for the Safe Harbor Prison Dog rescue.

Why Pay to Plays will Implode

by Paul Strikwerda in Articles, Internet, Journalism & Media, Money Matters, Pay-to-Play 58 Comments

It all started with a short article on his company blog entitled:

“A Quick Guide To Selecting The Right Voice Talent”.

The author, Chris Johnson, is co-Founder of Simplifilm, a young company specializing in “Hollywood-style Explanation videos”. They’ll have to make a video to explain what that means, but Simplifilm says it uses animation and storytelling to demo software applications.

This does not come cheap. Back in July, the company was running a “Grand Opening Sale” offering “3 minutes of broadcast quality demo movie work for $20,000. That’s 40% off the going rate.” You do the math.

Before he became a filmmaker, Chris was Finance Director at Robert Owens for Ohio Attorney General 2008, and he worked as a loan specialist at First Ohio Home Finance.

Thanks to his financial background, Chris seems to know the value of a voiceover, and he’s not basing it on anecdotal evidence. This is how he starts his blog:

“Did you know that the right voice can make a 35% difference in conversion rate? We replaced a voice track in a video – and made no other changes, and the conversion rate went from 2.5% to 3.8% on cold traffic. (Cold traffic is people that are mostly strangers that are coming in via search engines and social media).”

I’m not sure how “2.5% to 3.8% on cold traffic” leads to a “35% percent difference,” but Johnson is definitely on to something.

VOICEOVER CONVERSION

This is not the first time a video company noticed a correlation between the choice of voice and website conversion.

The conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors taking a desired action. It often refers to the number of shoppers turning into buyers. Depending on the size of a company, even a small increase in conversion could mean a significant rise in profits.

San Diego-based Fireclick monitors conversion rates. If you want to get a better idea of industry averages, the Fireclick index will provide some insight.

For software, it averages about 2% per year, with a cart abandonment rate of 75%. That means that three quarters of online software shoppers never become buyers! Could selecting the right voice really change that?

In 2009, Ginger software asked video optimization firm EyeView to develop an introductory video for their homepage to increase the number of visitors that would actually download their software.

EyeView ran a test: 50% of the global audience saw the video with a British voice-over, and 50% saw it with an American voice. Globally, the British voice-over was 4% more effective. For US audiences, the conversion rate for the British accent was 5.5% higher than the American one.

Eyeview:

“The Brits didn’t have it all their own way. In India, the American accent was 12% more effective at converting visitors. But the most surprising statistic of all came when we looked at the comparative performance of the two accents in the UK.

For audiences watching the video in the UK, the voiceover with the American accent was 8% more effective at making visitors download Ginger’s software than the British accent, representing a significant swing away from the global trend.”

Simplifilm’s Chris Johnson confirms:

“The right voice is key to converting video watchers into new customers. When you get the right voice, it breathes life into your video productions, and you should take the time it takes to select and respect your voice talent.”

Please remember that, next time you’re tempted to low-ball yet another voiceover project!

With voice talent having such a tremendous impact on conversion, how much does Simplifilm pay per production? Bear in mind that they charge about $33,000 for a 3-minute video. Johnson:

“Generally, productions are around a couple hundred dollars. We’re not going to lord over them or dangle money like some jerk, we want to do business, be respectful and move on.”

FINDING THE PERFECT PIPES

Now, wouldn’t it be interesting to know where Chris finds the right voices? According to his article, two talents work for him on a regular basis and he tells his readers:

“If -for some reason – you need to find someone outside of your network (…) you can start with Voice123.”

Voice Coach and talent Mark Avery read the blog and responded:

“Unfortunately, many producers and end-users of voice talent have gone to the “discount superstore” mentality of hiring voices for their projects, and the results often show themselves in low conversion rates.”

Of course I had to put my two cents in. Thinking back to my interview with Bodalgo’s Armin Hierstetter, I wrote:

“Chris, most online voice casting services will accept anyone with a credit card, talent not required. It’s not unusual for voice-seekers to receive over 100 auditions for a simple project. Imagine how long it will take you to listen to all these mediocre submissions…”

These turned out to be prophetic words. That same week, Chris joined the Voice Over Professionals group on LinkedIn, and this is how he introduced himself:

“Howdy, guys, I’m new to the group. I’m a production company doing software stories. We’re looking for a stable of 4-6 males and 4-6 females for future work.”

OPEN THE FLOODGATES

You can imagine what happened next. I’ll let Chris tell the story:

“So, when I asked for submissions here – and other places – they started trickling in. Then the floodgates opened.

Last count was 400+ and I have seen no slowdown… both here, from another couple of sources.
I’m surprised because I (hopefully) didn’t represent myself as being too “giant.” I caused 400+ auditions for what will amount to $5,000 or so in fees annually – at most.

Now, how do I read through ‘em all? I put everyone in a spreadsheet, but what’s next? How do I sort people out? I need say 8 voices. If I take 5 minutes per x 500 voices, that’s 2500 minutes.

Or 42 hours JUST listening to voices. I’m not doing that.”

At this point I started to jump for joy, thanking Simplifilm’s founder for the perfect example. This is exactly why most Pay to Plays will eventually implode. Do you get my drift?

Some of my clients have worked with voice casting sites for a while, and they’re starting to realize how expensive “going cheap” can be. Think about it!

How long does it take to find a quality needle in a huge haystack made of scrap metal?

Let’s look at the numbers.

Of course it’s unusual to get 500 auditions for one job, so why not assume that Chris Johnson has to weed through (only!) 100 demos. If he spends 5 minutes on each talent (as he just wrote), this will still take him eight and a half hours!

Imagine being in Chris’s shoes. Should he hire someone to do the dirty work for him and weed through hours and hours of audio? That person needs to be paid too.

If Chris is lucky, his hired help might find the perfect voice among the first 20 contenders. However, my clients concur with Armin Hierstetter that the overall level of entries is usually way below the mark. They’re forced to listen to a deluge of demos before they finally spot the right voice at the right price. What an expensive way to find cheap talent!

Critics might say that I am exaggerating the situation just to make a point. Voice seekers don’t listen to that many demos. Or do they?

In their Client Experience Report Winter 2011, Voices.com states:

“(…) it often surprises talent that the majority of clients review all their auditions. I say majority as that includes those who reviewed “all of the auditions” (45%) plus those who reviewed “50-100 auditions” (8%).”

A while ago I noticed that so many voices.com projects were still listed as open after many, many months. Could one of the reasons be that the client simply gave up after listening to 30 mediocre auditions?

Fortunately, there is an easy solution.

Some of my clients find it much more cost-effective and less time-consuming to hand their project to an agent and let him or her select four or five voices that can all deliver the goods. Clients might end up paying union rates and agent fees, but in the end they’re saving time, trouble and money.

Bye-bye Pay to Play, and thanks for the memories!

THE BABBLE BUBBLE

Online casting services have grown exponentially in the past five years. Fast growing companies often fall victim to their own success. Quality and customer service are compromised and sacrificed in favor of rapid expansion as they’re chasing after the big bucks.

It is no secret that more and more (pseudo)voice actors are joining Pay to Plays. That means that more dogs are fighting over the same bare bones. The chances of landing a decent job at a decent rate decline rapidly.

Here’s my prediction. At some point in the near future, there is no point in joining such a service anymore. It’s not worth it.

Saturation leads to annihilation. Bubbles burst. Cheaply made balloons will pop first.

What’s left is just hot air.

Try fitting that into a 3-minute video demo!

Chris Johnson, here’s a word to the wise:

If you need new talent, call an agent.

Don’t ask for any names of agencies, though.

You might get a list of … about 500!

Paul Strikwerda ©nethervoice

A High Point For Lowell

by Paul Strikwerda in Articles, Career, Internet, Pay-to-Play 16 Comments

If you’ve been around the voice-over block a couple of times, you know that Steven Lowell doesn’t always mince his words when defending the company he works for as Community Manager: voice123.com.

At times he can be rather undiplomatic, to put it mildly. Some appreciate his candor. Others not so much.

I know Steven to be extremely helpful, knowledgeable and a downright good sport when I poke fun at him in my blog. The picture he sent me of him in a tiny red bikini still haunts me in my dreams. Thanks a bunch!

This week, Lowell published “The Voice Over Guide,” consisting of ten well-written chapters packed with practical information for newcomers and seasoned pros alike.

After reading this free guide, I have gained a renewed appreciation and respect for Steven. This is a very comprehensive and helpful overview of what it takes to become successful as a voice-over artist and solopreneur.

It’s by no means a “Get Rich Quick” guide. It’s a “Build a Solid Career Slowly” resource that does not dumb down what it takes to make it in this competitive business.

This guide should be required reading for anyone who is contemplating the idea of launching a serious voice-over career. If you’ve already taken the plunge and you are wondering why your business hasn’t taken off yet, you need to start reading this guide now.

Not only that, you must take Lowell’s advice to heart and put it into practice, practice, practice.

Lowell’s Voice Over Guide zooms in on using the unlimited online possibilities of building a lucrative career as a voice talent. He takes a close look at marketing, making demos, making sure you get paid, and he busts a couple of myths along the way.

Steven Lowell

He makes no secret of the fact that online casting service voice123.com has been his bread, butter and jelly since 2007. Chapter Six of his guide is entirely devoted to his professional home, and that’s where Lowell demonstrates that he still is His Master’s Loyal Voice.

To me, that’s the weakest link in this guide. We all know that there are more Pay-to-Plays on the planet, and conveniently ignoring the competition does the uninformed readers a disservice.

Even after reading his exposé about the perceived advantages of the infamous SmartCast system, I am still as dumbfounded as before, at its “heuristic algorithm” that’s supposed to create a level playing field.

If we are to believe Steve,

“60% of auditioning voice talent book at least one job a month using voice123. Between 10% – 13% book at least five jobs a month.”

This is apparently based on

“Current averages in surveys”.

As a born skeptic I’d like to see independent verification of these numbers. Secondly, I’m not so sure a survey of a limited sample by the company itself can be taken at face value.

If -based on these numbers- voice123 is indeed confident that you and I will have a more than 50% chance of landing one gig a month using their service, I’d like to propose the following no cure, no pay system:

Keep the tax-deductible membership at $295 per year, but don’t charge talent a penny until they start making money on the site;

As soon as a talent lands a job and payment comes in, this money is applied toward the membership fee until it is fully paid off. In other words: the site makes money as soon as the talent makes money. Fair is fair.

This Play-to-Pay system creates the perfect win-win situation and acts as an incentive for the voice casting service to keep on providing quality leads at reasonable rates.

Anyone in favor say “Aye”!

Steven, are you with me, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Paul Strikwerda ©2011
www.nethervoice.com

Picking Bodalgo’s Brain

by Paul Strikwerda in Articles, International, Internet, Journalism & Media, Money Matters, Pay-to-Play, Studio 13 Comments

“I’m being offered $200 to narrate a 120-thousand word audio book. Do you think that’s a fair rate?”

“A client wants me to record a movie trailer for $150. Should I do it?”

Not a day goes by without someone asking these types of questions on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ (the latest way to go around in circles).

Sometimes I stick my neck out and I respond to these questions, especially when I get sentimental and remember the early days of my career.

I was young and unafraid and incredibly ignorant. Back then there was no Internet. Picking brains became my specialty.

On other days I’m not so sappy, as I remember the kind words of my business coach:

“If you’re a Pro, you know what you’re worth. If you’re not, go do you your own homework! You won’t learn a thing if I hand you everything on a silver platter.”

He was right.

These days, getting info has never been easier. Search Google for voiceover rates. You’ll get about 1,370,000 results in 0.40 seconds. How’s that for starters?

MONEY TALKS

Bringing up rates usually spells trouble. Talent likes them to go up; clients love paying less. Where to begin?

The Freemarketeers will tell you to leave everything up to the unregulated forces of supply and demand. After all, it worked well for subprime mortgages, didn’t it? The Interventionists fear a free fall for all. They want rates to be regulated.

Unfortunately, it’s not that black-and-white. Voice-Over rates reflect many variables, and unless you belong to a union or you have an agent, it can be tough to put a price on your pipes.

Enter a parade of Pay-to-Plays. You pay for the privilege of being offered the opportunity to audition and bid for projects (together with thousands of other privileged colleagues). Here’s the catch.

As a member, you often have to subject yourself to an agreed price range per project deemed reasonable by that site. Whether or not you choose to accept that range depends on your personal Price Floor.

A Price Floor is a point below which a product or service should not be sold, or else you’d incur a loss. I bet you anything that most people reading these words right now, have no clue what their price floor actually is.

Be honest. Do you?

A EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE

If you’ve visited my blog before, you know that I have written about U.S.-based voice casting sites and their perceived influence on dwindling voice-over rates.

On January 8th, 2008, a new player entered the market: Bodalgo. Based in Germany, Bodalgo is the brain child of a man who once had a very boring job as the deputy editor of Penthouse: Armin Hierstetter.

Armin’s no dummy.

He studied the existing P2P’s carefully, as he set out to take the good and improve the bad to create something beautiful. Unlike similar sites, Bodalgo is available in German, Spanish, Italian and English (American and British).

Now, if you think that you can buy your way into Bodalgo, you are wrong. No matter the credit limit on your Visa Card, if you sound like crap, you can’t join the club.

Bodalgo caters to clients from all over the world, but because it’s based in Bavaria, it’s a gateway to the European voice-over market. This brings me back to rates. How does Bodalgo compare to its American counterparts?

I (PS) decided to check in with the boss: Armin Hierstetter (AH). Here’s a transcript of the interview:

PS I just saw a project posted on your site in the 100-250 USD range. It made me think: Is Bodalgo going in the direction of its American counterparts, or did I miss something? Has $100 always been the minimum?

AH In USD the minimum range starts at 100 dollars (the Euro has a 50 to 150 minimum range as – for example – a local radio spot in Germany is usually 50 to 55 Euro).

If jobs are posted that are budgeted too low (intentionally or not), Bodalgo contacts the voice-seeker suggesting what we believe is a fair rate. Sometimes the voice-seeker sees our point and is willing to raise the budget, sometimes not. If the voice-seeker does not agree on increasing the budget, the job simply does not get posted. Period.

Of course, we hear many times:

“What? You want me to pay 250 USD for a job that is done in five minutes? You must be insane, you [censored]“

Well, depending on my mood, I sometimes try to explain why voiceovers cost what they cost (knowing that with these types of folks it really does not help at all in most cases), or I simply press the delete button and go on with whatever I am doing.

PS Bodalgo’s been in business for a few years now. What’s your overall take on how voice-over rates are established and where they are going?

AH There are many factors when it comes to rates. Here are few of them (this is by no means meant to be a complete list):

Your voice:

Experience
Skills
Uniqueness (most important if you ask me)

Your studio:

Equipment
Recording skills

Other factors:

Currencies
Inflation

I see a link between equipment becoming more powerful yet more affordable, and declining voice-over rates. Let me share three trends with you:

1. The costs for your own studio are coming down, so you can make this beneficial for your clients as well;

2. Because many talents build their own studios, there is much more competition which also leads to lower prices. That’s how the market works.

PS Sorry to interrupt, but clients are saving money due to the increase in home studios. No longer do they need to pay for studio time, an audio engineer/editor and a director.

It is my impression that these savings are simply pocketed and not passed on to the voice talent. In the end, we end up doing more for less. Shouldn’t this give us some leverage to raise our rates?

AH I fully understand that voice-seekers already save a lot of money because they’re used to getting the finished audio from the talent without paying for a studio.

I want to be honest with you. I really think that’s one of the biggest mistakes talents have made for a very long time: They did not charge properly for the studio work, only for the rate as a talent. It will be VERY difficult to change this to an approach where talent charges their normal rate plus editing costs;

3. More and more people of the type “My friends all tell me I should host a radio show,” buy a Shure SM58 microphone and think that their laptop recording is god’s gift to the audio world. Untrained amateurs seem to flood the market.

What’s worse, there are many voice-seekers out there that listen to crap demos thinking they are actually good, because they don’t have a proper recording at hand to compare.

But one thing is for sure: Bodalgo will never start to accept amateurs. Yes, there are a few talents with Bodalgo that have just slipped through the net that might not have passed if I had been pickier the day I activated their accounts. Still, the level of Bodalgo’s talent is much, much, much higher than with any other Pay2Play site that we’ve come across.

PS What’s your advice on how to best play the game? Everybody loves to win an audition, but not at any rate. Do you expect voice-over rates to go up any time soon?

AH If you ask me, the reasons why rates should go up are purely to be seen in costs of living. If those prices would be stable, I’d say it’s fair to assume that our rates would stay stable as well.

With financial markets facing the issues they face at the moment, including all the effects like higher inflation, increased costs for energy, food, rent etcetera, I think that we’ll see rates rising over the next years to cover the rising living expenses.

PS Inflation correction keeps rates at the same level. Talent won’t be making more just because the number on a check is higher. If we wish to increase the amount of money coming in, we need to compensate for the rise in the cost of living, and add e.g. 10% to whatever we’re charging.

AH Well, U.S.-based talent benefits from the weak dollar when paid in Euros by Euro-Zone clients. The opposite is true for Euro-Zone-Talent paid in USD. U.S. clients will not accept higher USD prices just because of exchange rates. It’s really just bad luck for us Euro-Talents. And – if you ask me – the U.S.-Dollar will become much weaker over the next months and years (but that’s a different topic).

So, to cut a long story short: Yes, I see higher rates over the next years. But this is only because everything else will go up in price as well.

PS So, how can we best prepare for the tough years that are ahead of us?

AH 1. If you have not done so already, invest in your own studio.

2. Buy the good stuff (like Neumann or Brauner for mics, for example) as it will serve you well many, many years. Personally, I would no longer waste money on analog equipment. I would solely buy digital stuff (like the TLM 103 D from Neumann).

PS Quality equipment is essential, but owning a state of the art camera does not make one a top-notch photographer.

AH I do appreciate that a cool mic does not make a great voice talent, but this is not where I am coming from at all. I am just a firm believer that successful talent simply needs both: A well-trained voice and great equipment to deliver high-quality audio. There are too many Samsung USB mics out there in my opinion.

I know, of course, that those top shelf brands are pricey. But when you look at what you (and your client) get for the money – it turns out to be an excellent investment.

3. LEARN HOW TO RECORD PROPERLY!!! It’s really, really, really (I mean it) horrible to hear how bad, bad, bad many of the auditions are recorded (hiss, bad miking, bad levelling, bad everything). Use proper headphones to proof-listen your recordings and be super critical about the work you deliver. [Armin insisted this should be printed in bold]

PS Can Bodalgo keep both voice-seekers and voice talent equally happy, or is that impossible?

AH That’s easy: Our main goal is to attract more and more voice-seekers that post sanely budgeted jobs. We want to provide them with the easiest solution available to find high-quality talent without paying any commission. That way, both sides will win.

PS Herzlichen Dank, Armin.

You can reach Armin at [email protected]. He is planning to do regular screen casts/vlogs in German and in English, and pass on his take on topics relevant to voice talent.

Why you are boring me to death

by Paul Strikwerda in Articles, Career, Pay-to-Play, Promotion 76 Comments

You’d think that voice-over pros always have something to talk about, but what happens when someone’s not feeding them any lines?

Would they still have something interesting to say, or would they be less vocal without a mic and a script?

Well, judging by the sheer length of Bob Souer’s blog roll (it’s as long as the Great Wall of China), we can’t seem to shut up.

And if we cannot talk, we must type.

Take me, for instance. You know I can’t stop yammering, and I am sure I’m not alone. Why is that? Is there really that much to blabber and blog about?

Yes, there isn’t!

MOO!

I’ve come to the conclusion that VO-Pros and cows have one thing in common: they are ruminants. Most ruminants have four stomachs.

The first stomach chamber (the “rumen”) is the chamber in which large amounts of food are stored and softened. Once it is processed, it is regurgitated and chewed and digested again in different chambers.

At the end there’s only one thing left: bullsh*t.

What I just have described is the recycling of supposedly “hot voice-over topics” you and I like to ruminate about. Every year, the same issues and trends resurface, and they are milked and milked until there’s nothing left but utter claptrap.

Here is my shortlist of some of the most boring issues of our business:

PC or Mac?
Are Pay-to-Plays worth the money?
ISDN: must or rust?
Do real pros only use ProTools?
Headphones or no headphones?
Do you perform better while sitting, standing up or laying down?
Could a headshot help or hurt your voice-over career?
Steven Lowell.
My mic is better than your mic.
Union or Non-Union?
Should I slate or watermark my demo?
Social Media: indispensable tools or magnificent distraction?
What did Stephanie Ciccarelli have for lunch?
How to succeed in voice-overs without really trying.
What would Don LaFontaine do?
Remedies for dry mouth and sore throat.
Harlan Hogan’s next big Porta-something.
Do egg cartons really help soundproof a room?
Joan Baker in a bikini.
Are celebrities stealing our business?
Is it “voice-over” or “voiceover”?
Why isn’t there an Oscar or an Emmy for Best Narrator?
Why Ted Williams?
What the heck is “neutral English”?
How many “followers” and “friends” does one need in order to be deemed relevant?
Don’t talk to me about reasonable rates. It’s just beer money.
What’s up with Elizabeth Grattan?
When does self-promotion become spamming?
Steven Lowell in a bikini.

MEA CULPA

I will be the first one to admit that I have sinned by writing about some of these topics myself. That’s why I solemnly vow to not behave like a cow. For my own sanity and yours, I will seek out greener pastures and find more exciting things to write about, and I challenge you to do the same.

Rumination might be good for our bovine friends, but “obsessive or abnormal reflection upon an idea or deliberation over a choice” may lead to depression in humans, says Yale University psychologist Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, PhD. Rumination may also weaken thinking and problem-solving, and drive away critical social support.

In other words, by chewing over the stories of the past, we might actually un-enlighten and isolate ourselves. That must be the last thing any serious blogger would hope to achieve.

Ruminating is not illuminating.

Having said that, here’s your last chance to list your favorite voice-over non-issue in the comment section below.

Once you get it out of your system, take a vow of abstinence and promise to never write about it again… unless you can’t help yourself.

In that case, I can’t help you.

Cowboys and girls, do we have a deal?

PS Be sweet. Re-tweet!

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