Double Dutch

“He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on.”
- Benjamin Franklin

All of a sudden, the lame world of voice-overs is up in arms. Why? I have one word for you “VoiceJockeys”.

The website Voicejockeys.com describes itself as “a virtual meeting place for voice over talent and people in need of their services.”

Yep, it’s yet another on-line casting service trying to cash in on a market of hopeful but clueless voice-over newcomers. The more the merrier, right? At least these jockeys were honest about their intentions. According to their website they offer:

“(…) professional voice over work at a fraction of the cost. “

You might wonder: How do they do it, these clever casters? VoiceJockeys discloses their amazing strategy on their website:

“(…) we bring you directly to the source, the actual talent, not to a fancy agency or casting service. We empower you to make your own casting decisions and basically “try before you buy” entirely cutting out the middle man.”

Hold your horses… does that make any sense whatsoever? If there would be no middle man, wouldn’t the voice-seeker be contacting the talent directly, instead of VoiceJockeys?

VO-LAW TO THE RESCUE
Tipped off and ticked off, attorney and voice-actor Rob Sciglimpaglia Jr. decided to go over the VoiceJockeys talent contract with a comb as fine as only attorneys can get their hands on. In part one of a three-part VoiceOverXtra series, he concludes:

“I carefully reviewed the rates and contract that is posted on the web site for this company, and it is straight out of the dark ages concerning protection of the rights of the working voice-over artist.

I liken it to a SWEAT SHOP for voice talent.”

Sciglimpaglia spurred into action and offered to represent VoiceJockey voice-overs pro bono, as a group, in an effort to secure new contract terms. According to VoiceOverXtra:

“(…) he is already negotiating with VoiceJockeys, and he started a blog to report on similar companies that “prey” on voice actors with low pay and excessively restrictive contracts.”

BETTER LATE…
Rob’s right: Voice Jockeys.com is not the only on-line agency taking you for a ride. They are one of many sweatshop-services in a market that thrives on exploiting the hopeful, the desperate and the ignorant.

The fact that some members of the voice-over community apparently needed an attorney to analyze the fine print of a contract, doesn’t speak well of the level of professionalism in this industry. Always do your homework before you sign on the dotted line. It’s number 3 on my list of 10 classic mistakes why people leave money on the table.

I fully support Rob’s mission, and if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I take the issue of fair compensation and reasonable rates very seriously.

MIRROR, MIRROR
But reading Rob’s review could lead people to believe that “cheap paying companies” as he calls them, are the only ones to blame for sliding fees and unfair terms & conditions. That’s like blaming the fast food industry for the entire obesity crisis.

The only reason these business practices are perpetuated, is because people are falling for them. Sweatshop services exist because they feed a need. They prey on predatory pricers (or “poachers” in Rob’s words), and they appeal to those who want something for next to nothing.

What’s more, some colleagues have been defending bargain basement rates with arguments such as:

• we live in a capitalist economy and prices are determined by market forces
• setting minimum rates amounts to price-fixing which is illegal
• underbidders aren’t underminers; the low end of the market does not affect the high end
• lowballers have the best of intentions: they need to make a living too
• stop beating a dead horse; nothing will ever change
• Don LaFontaine never bothered to mount campaigns against people who voiced movie trailers at a rate below his

SOLIDARITY
As a freelancer, I have worked in many different industries. In no sector have I ever encountered so many colleagues who were ready to justify rip-off rates for whatever reason.

Could it be because some of them are also in the business of hiring voices? Is it because they don’t have to survive on a voice-over salary? Is their partner perhaps the main breadwinner? Or is there something going on, at a deeper level?

In the end it boils down to a matter of mentality. Let me spell it out in black-and-white terms:

Some people primarily operate from a ME-mentality. Others operate from a WE-mentality.

WORLD VIEW
The question: “What’s in it for ME?” is a powerful driving force behind human behavior. It focuses on immediate benefits to the individual, regardless of the impact on the community. It comes from an age-old survival instinct that puts self first.

In this vision, there are winners and losers. An oil spill in the Gulf is just an unfortunate consequence of a fossil fuel based economy. Who cares about the environmental impact, as long as it’s not in my backyard and I can keep on driving my SUV? It’s the price of doing business.

The question: “How does this affect the GROUP?” focuses on how individual fates are connected through a network of relationships. It looks at the long-term consequences and collective future rewards, rather than at instant individual gratification.

In this vision, we’re all in the same boat, sharing the same ocean. An oil spill in the Gulf is a signal that we should be serious about renewable energy, preserving this planet, instead of polluting it perhaps permanently. The world is our backyard, and we look dumber in a Hummer.

My question to you is this: which horse are you betting on?

SHAKESPEARE
The beleaguered King Richard III is a classic sell-out character. He is desperate. During the final battle his horse, Surrey, is killed and the King can no longer flee. Hoping to secure his survival, he offers his meaningless empire with the infamous iambic pentameter:

“A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

It was a bad barter, and we all know how the story came to an end. Richard the Third was left at the mercy of his enemies because he had devalued his Kingdom. He died at the hands of the Earl of Richmond.

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW
We all know how easy it is to get caught up in the excitement of the moment. In a few days or weeks, the drama of VoiceJockeys will be forgotten, or looked at as an isolated incident. New sites will emerge and it will be déjà vu all over again. Does it have to be that way?

Shakespeare’s Richard III starts with the following opening words:

“Now is the winter of our discontent”

Perhaps this VoiceJockeys episode could be the start of our “winter of discontent”.

OUR POWER
I once read that globally we spend more money on advertising than on education. It’s a scary statistic, but it goes to show how much money is spent and made in product promotion.

Let me ask you this: Can you imagine commercials without voice-overs? Can you think of documentaries or industrials without narration? How about instructional DVD’s, Public Service Announcements, Voice Response Systems…

All of the above would not be possible without voice actors. We can make or break a million dollar campaign. We can engage and motivate an audience. We can warmly welcome old and new customers. We can entertain and teach at the same time.

We are voice-over professionals.

Then why don’t we insist that we fully deserve and should get a significant slice of the pie? Are we lacking respect for our own profession? Are we degrading our training, our background and our craftsmanship? Are we devaluing our crucial contribution to advertising, marketing, education and cultural enrichment?

If we don’t take ourselves and our work seriously, why should others? Ultimately, we get what we deserve, and if we feel that we don’t deserve that much, we should stop complaining about rates going down and the cost of living going up.

Or we could start by charging reasonable fees that are a reflection of the added value of our work, as well as the respect for our talent!

It looks good on paper doesn’t it? It sounds even better, read by a voice-over professional.

Then why do I get the feeling that we’ll be having this same discussion in a week, a month or a year from now?

Here’s why:

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

Are you thirsty, yet?

Paul Strikwerda © 2010
www.nethervoice.com

PS Even the best teams need a coach. Read all about the brand new Internet Voice Coach  website in the next installment, and  be sure to check out a very special offer for readers of this blog.

RATE SHEETS. Do you have one? If you don’t, why not? Wouldn’t it be handy to publish your fees on your website? That way, the powers that are thinking of hiring you, know what to expect.

Not only is this your first line of defense against those who can’t afford you, it will also establish you as a professional.

Rate sheets. Why would you want your competition to know how much you charge? Wouldn’t you undermine your competitive edge by giving others the ammunition that will allow them to underbid? Do you want people to write you off based on your rates, without giving them a taste test of what you have to offer?

Rate sheets. Some voice-over casting sites have ‘em, but are they up to date? And when you compare the rates listed, to the budgets offered for projects posted on these sites, what do you see?

Do these sites stand behind their own rate sheets, or are these ‘average fees’ nothing but a marketing tool to attract new members: “Look at how much money there is to be made in voice-overs. Sign up today!”

There is a big difference between suggested rates and suggestive rates.

So, what do you do when someone asks you for your rate? In my last article, I warned you against blind bidding, and I suggested you do your homework. But here’s the thing: you’re only one part of the equation.

What about your clients? How can we make them understand that they can’t expect us to just pull a number out of a hat (unless your name is James Alburger, who is also a professional magician)…?

That’s how I came to I write an

OPEN LETTER TO VOICE -SEEKERS

Dear voice-over shopper:

Thank you so much for getting in touch! Before we get down to business, may I ask you a question?

Would you ever bid on a project without knowing the specifics?

Let’s assume you’re in the construction industry. A prospect sends you an email asking:

“How much for a building? Give me your best price!”

Could you honestly answer that question? Of course not. Yet, I receive emails every day, asking:

“How much for a voice-over? Give me your best price!”

… as if we’re talking about the cost of a Big Mac or a quart of milk. Even that differs depending on where you live.

If you were a builder who was asked to come up with an accurate estimate, you’d minimally need to know what purpose the construction would serve (commercial or residential); you’d have to know where it will be located, how big it needs to be, when it needs to be finished etcetera, etcetera.

Voice-over professionals are no different. They’re  independent contractors. They need to know what purpose their recording will serve, in what market it would play, how long the script is and how soon you need it (among other things).

Without specifics, any bid is based on pure guesswork and not on the particulars of your project.

“Then why” -you might ask- “are so many of your colleagues willing to plug in just about any number -no questions asked?”

I’ll answer that question with a question.

Would you trust a builder who’d name a price knowing hardly any details of the project? Or would you consider that to be… ‘unprofessional’?

STANDARDS, ANYBODY?
The voice-over industry is populated by seasoned pros, hopeful hobbyists and anything in between. With today’s technology, it’s so easy to plug a mic into a computer and hang up a sign saying:

“Voice for Hire. Will work for food.”

There are no requirements, no regulations and no standards.

What would happen if the construction industry would operate that way?

Some might argue that that’s an unfair comparison. When builders don’t follow regulations, people could get hurt. No one’s ever going to get harmed by an unprofessional voice-over artist, right?

Think again, and let’s zoom in on Medical Narrations. What would happen if the name of a medication would be mispronounced or if the narrator messes up the dosage? What would happen if a procedure would be read in such a way that it could be misconstrued?

These are extreme examples. I agree. How about something less serious: Audio Tours.

Imagine hundreds of tourists getting stranded on a hot summer’s day because the narrator had instructed them to go left instead of right. Among the group members are elderly people, pregnant women and folks with various medical conditions.

That’s not just a ‘small oversight on the part of an inexperienced narrator’.

That’s a lawsuit in the making!

THE REAL DEAL
Professionals do their homework. When a voice talent gets back to you with specific questions, that person is not trying to be a pain in the neck. It’s a sign of professionalism. It means that you’re not getting the cookie cutter treatment. It’s an indication that this person takes his or her job and your project seriously. Please remember:

Amateurs passively plug in guesstimates. Pros ask questions and give informed quotes. There’s a reason why the word pro is part of ‘pro-active’.

Think of it this way: your voice-over project is a destination. If your end-client does not provide you with a clear description, how can you be sure that you’ll ever get there? Without the right information, you’re setting yourself up for failure, as well as the talent you’re hoping to hire.

Let’s assume the end-client asks for fruit and you come back with the juiciest orange ever to hang from a tree. It could have been a lucky guess. But what if your client says:

“Oh come on… I didn’t want a boring orange. I had an orange yesterday. You should have brought me an apple. A green apple. From Holland.”

THE BLAME GAME
Now, it’s easy to point the finger and blame your unspecific client. But blame is lame and disempowering. The ball was in your court. What did you do with it?

Not only are you now wasting your own time; you’ve just posted a vague project on a casting site and hundreds of voice-over talents are wasting their time recording a custom demo that’s nothing more than a shot in the dark.

Some of you might respond: “That’s just too bad. It’s part of the industry. It’s always been like that and it will never change. You win some. You lose some. And if you don’t like it, go do something else.”

That might be true, but does it really have to be that way? It’s 2010. Are we still running the industry based on these inefficient, expensive, last century old-school ideas?

IT ALL ADDS UP
Please consider this: how long will it take you to weed through all these shot-in-the-dark submissions? You might end up picking a very affordable talent, but -thinking of your hourly rate- how much did all that weeding just cost you and your company? Don’t you have better things to do than listen to auditions that totally miss the mark?

If you expect talent to be on target, give them a fair chance to hit the bull’s eye.

Tell them what you’ll be listening for in as much detail as possible. If not for the sake of the voice talent, do it for your own sake. You’ll get much better results in less time.

Here are a few other tips. Don’t worry, they won’t cost you anything!

• Language. Don’t just put “Spanish” if you really need a speaker from Chile. Otherwise you’ll get accents from wherever Spanish is spoken. (more on accents in this article)

• Age. When you need a young and energetic sound and you’re not clueing us in, don’t be surprised to receive demos from mellow middle-aged matriarchs and serious sounding seniors (as well as from blogging voice-overs who love alliteration).

• Budget. You say that you want to hire an experienced voice talent. Do you really think you’ll get one for a hundred bucks? Try this experiment: go to a jewelry store and shop for a 24 carat diamond. When you’ve picked out a nice rock, tell them you wish to get it at the price of a cubic zirconia. Let me know how that worked out for you.

I assume that you take pride in your work, just as we take pride in ours. Don’t devalue what we do. Believe me; it’s not as easy as it sounds.

• Expert. If you don’t want to pay a pro, ask Sam in Receiving to record that power point presentation you’re about to give to potential investors. It’s only the future of your company that’s at stake.

Cindy the secretary has a nice voice too. Perhaps she’s willing to do that phone greeting that will be heard by thousands of customers every day. It’s not our job to determine how you want your company image to be perceived by the rest of the world.

• Editing. If you expect a talent to deliver clean, edited audio, don’t assume that someone will throw that in for free. First of all, editing is a special skill, and not every talent has mastered that skill.

Secondly, it takes an experienced editor at least twice as long to clean up the audio, as the time needed to record it. People deserve to be compensated for their time and expertise. Aren’t you?

• Payment. Don’t be surprised if we ask you to pay 50% upfront and the remainder upon receiving the recording. Some colleagues won’t record a word without getting paid in full first. You see, we haven’t established a relationship yet, and most of us have been burned in the past. Did that band you hired for the office party require money upfront? Did the hotel ask you for a deposit at the time you reserved that conference room?

Don’t take it personally. We run a voice-over business; not a collection agency. We give you our word (literally) that we’ll deliver the goods. In fact: we will WOW you! Please PayPal your down payment so we can get the ball rolling.

FINAL THOUGHTS
If you happened to detect a slight sarcastic undertone in my writing, please know that I’m aware of that. It’s a bad habit and I’m working on it. Just not today.

Secondly: not all voice-seekers are created equal, and it’s not right to put all of you into the same category. You’ve got to make a living too and make your boss happy by hiring the best talent at a reasonable price.

I’m confident that we can meet in the middle, and I’m committed to making your product or service shine as if it were my own. You and I are in the same boat:

Happy customers are our best credentials.

Testimonials from satisfied clients are stories that can never be accurately reflected in the most detailed of rate sheets.

Now… let’s talk some business, shall we?!

Sincerely,

Paul Strikwerda ©2010
www.nethervoice.com

PS If you had a chance to write your letter to those who are thinking about hiring you, what would you like them to know? Share your comments and thoughts below!

PPS Voice seekers are not the only ones trying to get more out of you for less. My next article is about Internet Casting Services  taking it to the extreme.

The voice-over market is a buyer’s market. Voice-talents are exposed; voice-seekers are protected. As voice-over pros, we want to work. We need to work. Sometimes we’re so happy to be picked out of a pile of 100+ auditions; it’s tempting to say “YES” when we finally get a break. But would we have done so, had we known the facts?

The World Wide Web has put me in touch with the wonderful, the wacky and the weird. Anyone can pretend to be anything on the Net. That nice guy you met online might very well be the next “Craigslist Killer”. Or he could be Prince Charming! How can you be sure?

THE VOICE-OVER AS P.I. (VoPi)
I have a question for you: do you think you should have to play Sherlock Holmes if you audition for a job on a site like voices.com? Aren’t you paying the staff to do their homework to make sure you’re not connected to some creep?

If you’re a member of voice123, you might have seen the following disclaimer:

Legal note: Although Voice123 tries to establish the legitimacy of all voice seekers, you are responsible for conducting your own investigation into any and all claims made by prospective voice seekers, agents and/or clients. You assume all liability for use of any information you find through Voice123, LLC, or any of its publications.

Good luck, especially if the voice seeker is purposely hiding his or her identity! As we have seen in the case of the founder of Newspapers for the Blind, the voice123 team responded after members had complained about the way they had been treated. Make no mistake about it: at the end of the day, “You are responsible for conducting your own investigation.”

Here’s the good news: the Internet is not only a place for con-men and convicts. With so much information in the public domain, we might as well use it as a tool in our fight against the frauds, the fakes and the phonies. My story of Newspapers for the Blind is the perfect example. Before I get into that, I have an admission to make.

A GOOD CAUSE
When I was young, idealistic and hopelessly naive, I honestly believed that people involved in philanthropy must be good people. It never occurred to me to do a background check on a charity. What can I say? Even Steven Spielberg thought that Bernie Madoff was a nice guy…

After my story about Will May, some of you wondered: Is his organization a real charity?

On its website, Newspapers for the Blind (NFBT) says it’s a 501C-3 Corporation. This is a type of incorporation that is used to set up a charitable corporation, founded with the intention of providing a service to the community, rather than making a profit.

Incorporating a company makes it a legal entity, responsible for its actions in the community. This is important, because it removes a great deal of the responsibility from the person who is starting the company.

One source puts it this way: “If you start a 501(c)3 company, you want the legal liability for possible damages to be the responsibility of the 501(c)3 corporation so that your personal possessions are safe from creditors.”

FACT CHECK
So, how do you separate the chaff from the wheat? The IRS web site has a search engine that makes finding a registered charity a piece of cake. The Better Business Bureaus* have a similar function on their website. In both databases, Newspapers for the Blind does not come up as a registered charity, and I have asked the IRS and the BBB to look into this. I also checked the Maryland Charities Database (the state where NFTB is based). Again: nothing came up.

But there’s a catch: Elisabeth Leamy, the ABC News Consumer Correspondent warns:

“ (…) even if the IRS really has granted non-profit 501C-3 status to a group, that’s no indication of quality. The IRS doesn’t have the time or staff to really scrutinize those who apply for charity status. I once investigated a company that earned 501C-3 status. The IRS overlooked the fact that the founder was a convicted felon who kept most of the group’s money for himself and didn’t even register with the state as required by law.”

In her article “How to Identify a Fake Charity”, Jamie K. Wilson recommends we carefully examine a charity’s website and look for the following signs:

• A board of directors numbering at least six people, with their credentials or regular job titles and place of employment listed
• A permanent street address in the United States or your own country
• A 501(c)3 statement
• Success stories
• An outline of this charity’s goals
• Downloadable financial statements that detail where money has been expended in the past
• Accurate statistics with verifiable and legitimate sources
• Good writing, spelling, and grammar

She concludes:

“Any charitable website lacking two or more of these traits is suspect. That does not mean the charity is fake. On the contrary, it might be very new and very legitimate, but without a track record. However, fake charities generally lack at least two of the above items.”

Steven Lowell of voice123 had this to say about Will May, the founder and editor of NFTB:

“Truth is…if he is rough to deal with, and pays, that is one thing. You get your money and never work with the person again. But to pose as a charitable organization, then not pay, and pull the routine that the people who delivered work must be the problem, when he in fact hired them…It is not a better business practice, and to some extent, illegal. I am not up to date on laws governing posing as false charity, but he did promise payment, and never came through.”

WHO IS WILL MAY
Again, using what is in the public domain, what can we learn about the founder and editor of Newspapers for the Blind? Let’s first see what Will May tells us about himself on his LinkedIn profile:

Interests: I like to sail boats and fly aeroplanes

Groups and Associations: Chief Medical Examiner of the Lesbian Fighter Pilots Association

May lists himself as the owner of Nevis LLC. A Nevis Limited Liability Company is based in the Caribbean tax-haven of Nevis. For $1495 USD, you too could become the proud owner of a Nevis LLC. It has a few benefits:

• Nevis does not impose corporate tax, income tax, withholding tax, stamp tax, asset tax, exchange controls or other fees or taxes on assets or income originating outside of Nevis.
• The owners and managers are not registered anywhere, which provides for complete secrecy.
• A Nevis LLC allows you to shield your assets from lawsuits, agencies, and financial creditors.
• Owners can manage the company without becoming liable for company financial obligations or legal liabilities.

THE LAST TYCOON
Voice-over colleague Juliette Gray worked for Will May and never received a penny. She confirmed what I had suspected when I questioned where the money for Newspapers for the Blind was coming from. Juliette wrote:

“One long conversation I had with him he told me that he had put a lot of money himself into it and he was a retired real estate tycoon from NYC.”

This is confirmed by the information May listed in his LinkedIn profile under “experience”:

“Chairman of Wm. B May & Company- Real Estate from 1982  – 2006”

This is not your average local realtor. The William B. May Company once was the nation’s oldest real estate brokerage firm, and it has been in the hands of one family for four generations. The website of the New York Real Estate Institute states:

“William B. May’s impeccable reputation has been built on a singular philosophy of integrity, trust, full accountability and integrated service. To this day, we pride ourselves on unwavering ethics, steadfast client loyalty, and competitive endurance.”

In a December 2000 newsletter, the company boasts:

“With age comes wisdom. The development of 57th Street at the heart of New York City was what first put William B. May on the map in the late 1860’s. At that time, we sold property to the Carnegies, the Fricks and the Vanderbilts.”

Today, the company is no more. Only the brand William B. May has survived. The business concept is owned by Broker Services Holding, LLC and it is operated as a franchise.

On his  LinkedIn page, Will May concurs that the company as it had existed, ceased operations in 2006, after -as he put it- “a tumultuous take-over fight”.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST
Gabriel Sherman is contributing editor at New York Magazine and a special correspondent for the New Republic. Prior to 2006, he was the media reporter at the New York Observer. In April of  ’05, he witnessed the demise of the venerable family firm.

When I read his article  “William T. May Sues Agency On Century 21 Ads”, a few things fell into place. This is how it begins:

“William Talcott May is the co-chairman of the storied real-estate brokerage founded by his great grandfather in 1866 and inheritor of the New York real-estate dynasty that bears his father’s name, William B. May.

But when the 44-year-old eccentric bounded into City Bakery on West 18th Street on a recent Thursday morning, wearing a fire-truck-red Scottish kilt and a navy-blue wool sweater, his broad, leonine cheekbones streaked with charcoal-hued face paint, he looked more Braveheart than businessman.”

If you don’t have time to read the entire article, here are some of the ‘highlights’:

• Mr. May studied economics at Duke University. He dropped out in 1982 after two and half years. At Duke, Mr. May was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, played rugby and co-founded the school’s polo club with 40 ponies he said his cousin won in a craps game in South America.
• After leaving Duke, Billy May -as he was known- returned to New York and worked in William B. May’s brokerage business while managing some of his own buildings. On the job he was stabbed and shot by tenants.
• As he was flying his private plane on 9/11/’01, he witnessed the entire disaster from 10,000 feet above New York Harbor. He told Gabriel Sherman: “I was on the radio to McGuire Air Force base in 20 seconds saying there had been a terrorist attack.”
• In December of 2001, the FBI and police arrested Mr. May for leaving six fake bombs at the New Castle County Airport in an attempt to highlight lax security.
• Between trial and sentencing, he served 31 days in solitary confinement. Mr. May received a felony conviction and four years probation for the incident.
• Mr. May’s attorney at the time, Penelope Marshall, said in reports that Mr. May was not medicated for his bipolar disorder.

Sherman ends his report from 2005 as follows:

“Mr. May, who says he has already spent $1 million of his own money to stanch the attacks on his family’s business, said he will not surrender until his family wins its name back. “I’m like a one-man pack of wild dogs when I get angry,” he said.”

LESSONS
You don’t have to be  a psychologist to realize that past behavior can -to a certain extent- predict future behavior. In the case of William Talcott May, knowing about his background made me understand where his Mr. Nice and Mr. Nasty type of behavior was coming from. I just hope that he doesn’t unleash his ‘one-man pack of wild dogs’ on me. I’m more of a cat person.

As I said before: I think that Newspapers for the Blind offers a terrific service. I sincerely hope that it will survive Will May’s erratic actions. Eventually, his karma will catch up with him.

INTERNET CASTING
As for our friends at the voice-over casting sites (sometimes known as Pay-to-Plays)… we realize that you don’t have the time or the resources to conduct extensive investigations. However, it would be very helpful if you would publish information on those individuals who have pulled a fast one, and share it with your members and with other voice-over casting sites. That way, scammers who are exposed on one site, won’t be able to set up shop at another site.

Instead, you have left it up to our trusted colleague Mahmoud Taji, to come up with a Scam-Alert for our industry. As much as I applaud his hard work, this should not have been left to the efforts of one blogging voice-over talent in Egypt.

As voice-seekers, we pay you in order to take advantage of your internet voice-casting service. We don’t want to be taken advantage of, because you choose to protect your voice-seekers from our phone calls.

Come to think of it… isn’t that how we used to do business? We simply picked up the phone and introduced ourselves to a prospective client. What would Sherlock Holmes call that? Elementary, perhaps?

Paul Strikwerda © 2010

www.nethervoice.com

*The BBB Wise Giving Alliance has developed Standards for Charity Accountability to “assist donors in making sound giving decisions and to foster public confidence in charitable organizations. The standards seek to encourage fair and honest solicitation practices, to promote ethical conduct by charitable organizations and to advance support of philanthropy.”

PS Is your accent preventing you from booking gigs and if so, should you change it? My next blog is about tweaking your twang!

Posting jobs under false names, not paying invoices and Jekyll and Hyde-treatment of voice-over talent… these appear to be the trademarks of William May.

Mr. May is the founder and editor of Newspapers For The Blind Organization,Inc,  a web–based service, offering a daily selection of newspaper articles for the vision impaired, read by voice-over pros. The site was quietly launched during the last quarter of 2009 (and should not be confused with NFB-Newsline®).

The idea behind Newspapers for the Blind (NFTB) is not new but certainly noble. The other two people involved, Dr. Edward E. Boas Jr. and Noelle Mills Adler, have impressive credentials. Dr. Boas is a Professor of Computer Science, Data Processing and Electronics at Cecil College in North East Maryland. Ms. Mills Adler is a past president of the Ladies Christian Union of New York City (now known as the LCU Foundation).

But it’s the voice-over professionals known as “newspapercasters” who are at the heart of NFTB. Newspapersfortheblind.org  raves:

“Our three dozen readers, culled from 3000 auditions, bring the precise vocal skills to reach and meet our unique audience.”

THE OFFER
At the beginning of September, last year, I became a member of this “elite team,” after auditioning for the following job posted on voice123:

Newspapers for Blind
This is a daily long term commitment to read a newspaper article into an MP3 for webcasting and free-phone service to the blind and hearing-impaired.

The files would want to be recorded from roughly midnight to 6AM US Eastern Time, so, geography may be important to readers.

The pacing of the delivery is painfully S-L-O-W, and the voice resonance is highly critical for the hearing-impaired. Tenors and sopranos need not bother; it won’t work for the hearing-impaired. Professor Henry Higgins diction is important; bite the words.

Voice-seekers name: confidential
Company name: hidden

I was absolutely thrilled to have made the cut. Regular gigs are hard to come by in this industry, but there was another reason why I was so excited. Some jobs we do for the money; others because it is the right thing to do. This was the best of both worlds!

THE AMAZING MR MAY
On top of that, the founder/editor seemed to possess an incredible drive and contagious enthusiasm to make things happen. His initial emails were personable, funny and encouraging. After I started reading leads from The Independent and The Times, he commented:

“My Cat; BraveHeart, loves your voice. She always perks up when I play your readings.  You have a fan.”

One day, I shared with him that I wasn’t feeling too well. He responded:

“Paul, hope you shake the cold…..just don’t shake this perfect voice, W”

This was clearly a man with a heart! One thing bothered me a little, though. Whenever I asked May if he intended to formalize the relationship and how payment would be handled, it took him months to come up with something that came close to a straight answer.

WORRIES
A month or so into the job, I had yet to be paid. Then I noticed that May had placed another job posting on voice123. Why would he be looking for new recruits? When I asked him about it, he answered:

“Please don’t worry about not enough readings for NFTB. Stick with me; I have to keep a Chinese Wall between the not-for-profit and other activities. There will be plenty of other activities to follow.”

He was right. Not only would I be recording and editing at least two articles a day, Will asked me and four other colleagues to record public service announcements for NFTB (a 501C-3 Corporation). I was tickled when he told me:

“Out of the 5, they chose your Public Service Message on 970 AM, New York.”

By that time I was on a roll. The only thing that was missing was a regular paycheck and eventually, that became an ordeal. I had to send out countless reminders, only to hear that my “address was lost” or that someone would be looking into it.

GIVE ME A BREAK
On November 15th, May surprised me with the following message:

“Lets let your money catch up with your readings; take a break.”

I responded:

“(…) As you know, I am very supportive of your charity, and I don’t understand why I should take a break. (…) If you do not have the money to pay me, you should have said so from the beginning. As a professional, I made my commitment based on your commitment. Financially, I plan ahead and make future projections based on assurances that have been made by my clients. Knowing that payment would not be forthcoming or would be seriously delayed, would have given me the opportunity to reconsider my commitment to NFTB, and possibly spend my time and energy generating income in other ways. (…)”

The answer:

“I had interpreted your last mail as unhappy. I was simply saying lets let the accounting, our weakest link, catch up with you. We have enough money, just not enough accounting bobbins.”

But on November 20th, I received the following email:

“Don’t count on any more readings in your planning; nothing to do with you.  We’ll catch up the accounting, and probably just wind things up.
May try to limp along at half or one-third normal see what happens.

(…)

Also, frankly, not enough users to merit all of the work; I’m working 18-20 hour days to throw 8-10 k out the window each week…what for.

I think we made sliced bread, when the world wants baguette.”

ANOTHER VOICE
The truth is that it was business as usual at Newspapers for the Blind. They didn’t miss a beat, and never have. I was sidetracked for no apparent reason, while waiting for my checks. And I was not alone:

Voice-over colleague Juliette Gray picks up the story:

“I was hired in November. They required reading articles (in my case from the London newspapers). These articles were long and the editing took ages. Then the person in charge decided because these people were also partially deaf that I needed to change my sound system. I did this willingly because I thought I had a steady job.

At quite a bit of expense I was ready to start working again and it was then he turned out to be a complete nightmare. We exchanged numerous e-mails, phone conversations, etc. and then he did a 180 degree turn – sort of like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Became impossible to communicate with and finally did get nasty in his final e-mail. Needless to say I never got paid.”

VOICE123
Steven Lowell handles the PR for voice123. This is what he said when I asked him about NFTB and Will May::

“When I first saw the job posted a while back, I was very excited because in NYC, I got some early voice over practice in the 90′s doing charity by reading books to the blind at a local church. It was something a coach recommended I do for practice.

The job made me think, ‘Wow! Good to see something like this again! Yet, what followed was an unpleasant experience of several talents with decades of experience, complaining to me that he was harsh and unfriendly to work with.

When reaching out to Mr. May to present that there have been problems, merely as a way to communicate feedback, his reply to me was, ‘Who complained? I don’t have the time to coach every talent to perfection….’

Before hearing my side of the story, voice123 heard from Juliette and 2 other voice-over professionals; one from the US, and one from the UK. As I was researching this article, I got in touch with other newspapercasters. Without exception, they asked me not to reveal their names, because they’re still hoping to get paid and they want to keep their job. But all of them told similar tales about Mr. May, and I wondered if voice123 had taken any action.

BANNED
As a rule, voice123 only investigates non-payment matters that are 60-days old. Steven Lowell: “This is because we do not get involved, and most payment disputes are resolved quite easily with a reminder email from me.”

Having examined concrete proof from email correspondence as to what had happened, voice123 banned Will May from the site. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the matter. Lowell:

“Mr. May posted the initial jobs under his own name. Once removed from the site, he began to use different names. During verification efforts by our staff, it was discovered who was posting the job. The staff at Voice123 has not changed in 2 years, and we have become very aware of ‘who is who’, and as such, have been able to catch people easily trying to repost after being banned.”

MONEY
Juliette Gray is still waiting for her paycheck, and she’s not the only one. I was lucky. Even though Mr. May still owes me a substantial amount of money, I did get paid for approximately two-thirds of my work.

For months, I asked May to pay the remainder of the balance, but he was MIA. When my knocks on his door became louder, he finally sent a very unfriendly email, accusing me of “futzing the dates” on my invoices. He wrote:

“I am in no great rush to go through hours of checking to deal with whatever might be outstanding to you. Checking truth versus falsehood is a nuisance.”

I responded:

“The invoices were sent on November 9th of last year, so you have had over two months to figure things out. I resent your remark that I “started futzing the dates”. My invoices accurately and faithfully reflect the work I have done for your organization at your request, and that’s the work I deserve to be paid for.”

CLOSING THOUGHTS
I think that Newspapers for the Blind offers a terrific service. The newspapercasters are dedicated and talented readers who can be proud to support their families by bringing the news to the blind and vision-impaired, day in day out.

The website has an impressive list of reputable institutions labeled as “dedicated listeners“. There is no doubt in my mind that the energetic editor has moved mountains to realize this project. Based on my email exchanges with him, Will May works night and day to keep the service up and running. I don’t know for sure,  but I suspect that he has invested a substantial amount of his own money into this worthy undertaking.

I also believe that people are not their behavior. From time to time, all of us do things that we are not proud of, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t know any better. Just because we do something crazy, doesn’t mean that we are crazy.

Having said that, it is not okay to treat people the Will May-way, and voice123 was right to ban him from the site. Other sites have been alerted to make sure he doesn’t pull the same stuff. Furthermore: May needs to pay his talents. Without them, there would be no Newspapers for the Blind.

For now, I am left with one question: why would someone who is clearly invested in and dedicated to such a noble cause, turn from Mr. Nice into Mr. Nasty?

In my experience, there’s always a story behind a story. And believe me, in this case there is.

But that’s for another time and another day.

Paul Strikwerda © 2010

Mahmoud Taji is not only a Cairo-based Creative Director, he’s also a successful Arabic voice-over talent and blogger extraordinaire.

Taji recently relaunched his Voice Emporium, and on this site you will find thought-provoking articles, but also a very valuable Voice-over Directory of 231 casting websites and a Scam Alert for the Voice-over industry.

Taji is a man on a mission. A mission to create a monster. He writes:

“Let’s (for the sake of argument) say that you and I are partnering together on a business venture. We are going to build the perfect Voice Over Casting Site.

It’ll be a Pay-To-Play site… and it will be an amalgamation of the best parts of all the voice over casting websites that are on the market these days… so it’s a Frankenstein’s monster (remember Frankie was the doctor… his creation was the monster) consisting of the best from Voices.com, Voice123.com, VOplanet.com & Bodalgo.com.

What would it be like? What would it have?”

Of course I couldn’t resist the temptation. These are some of the elements my ideal Pay-to-Pay site would have:

• Organizational structure: a cooperative. The site is owned and partially run by its members. Every member pays a relatively small membership fee to cover operational and promotional costs.

• Decisions. Members have a huge say in how the site is run and who is running it. Every year, they receive a detailed account of the state of the cooperative. Members vote on major decisions and they monitor (and can vote on) the performance of the site manager. One person, one vote.

• Earnings: the site takes 10% of the earnings of each job. This money will pay for staff salaries. What’s left after deduction of operational costs, salaries and overhead, will flow right back to the members at the end of each year.

• Rates. The site and its members promote and practice fair trade: every project posted has a minimum budget based on industry averages (to be adjusted every year). That means that the minimum budget for an audio book will be higher than the minimum fee for a one page narration. No project shall be less than $250 and underbidding is unacceptable.

• Accountability. Every single project posted will be accounted for. Members will know when the job was awarded and for how much. Voice-seekers who find talent on this site, must book the talent through the site. Demos will no longer disappear into a black hole.

• Standards. In order to be eligible for membership, each prospective member has to agree to uphold and promote certain standards of ethical business practice and professional conduct.

• Quality. Before being accepted, members are screened to ensure that they meet minimum professional criteria in terms of vocal and technical delivery. Throughout the year, auditions are monitored to ensure that quality is maintained. The reputation of the site rests on quality; not on rock-bottom rates.

• Openness. Voice-seekers are expected to do business openly and honestly. They cannot hide their identity. This allows the voice-talent to conduct his/her own investigation into any and all claims made by prospective voice-seekers, agents and/or clients.

• Specificity. Without a clear map, it’s hard to reach a destination: voice-seekers must clearly and specifically define what type of voice-talent they are hoping to hire. They must clearly outline the terms of the contract, listing and limiting the use of the end-product.

• Auditions are open to any member; as long as this member fits the criteria for a particular project (see 8). This is left to the discretion of the talent.

• Payment. Talent will be paid 50% of the agreed rate after a contract is signed, and the remainder upon delivery of the audio file(s).

• Joint venture. Overall, this cooperative is characterized by quality, cooperation, transparency and accountability. It’s a place where professional talent is working with each other and for each other, rather than against each other.

Well, those are my two cents. I think Taji’s right. This ideal Voice-over casting site is probably going to be an intelligent version of Frankenstein’s monster; a patchwork of positive elements from existing Pay-to-Plays, combined with some brand new features. Is it a pipe dream? Not really. Revisit my article “What Pay-to-Plays don’t want you to know” . You’ll find out that this cooperative model is used to run one of Holland’s most successful multi-billion dollar businesses.

TALES FROM THE CRYPT
One thing’s for sure. This imaginary Voice-over casting site is going to be radically different from the current Dracula-model, where competing voice talents are sucking the life blood out of each other by low balling, undercutting and underbidding on bargain basement projects posted by cheap, anonymous voice-seekers.

Read my lips: eventually, only voice-over virgins will fall for this scheme, and this model will implode when it’s held up to the light, just like the illustrious Count from Transylvania.

If you’d like to join vampire-slayer Taji on his quest for the best Voice-over casting site, wake up out of your slumber; bring your cloves of garlic and have your say today!

Don’t be scared.

He’s not going to bite…

Paul Strikwerda © 2010

www.nethervoice.com

On January 14th, 2008, a team a of scientists from the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University, published a paper called:

“Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness.”

It was the result of research I would have loved to be part of. The hypothesis was that the price of a wine affects the way a person experiences it in their pleasure circuits in the brain. It should answer the age-old question: does an expensive bottle of Bordeaux taste better because of the price tag?

The theory was put to the test using functional MRI scans of people while they tasted wine samples they thought were from different wines at different prices, when in reality they were the same. What a mean thing to do! Lead author Antonio Rangel, associate professor of economics at the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Caltech, said he was “shocked” when he saw the results.

What determines the price of wine? Here are a few factors:

• Profit the wine maker & distributor & seller wish to make
• Resources used
• Expenses such as production cost, labor, transportation, promotion, overhead, taxes
• Skill level of the wine maker
• Uniqueness and positioning of the product
• Market demand and market value
• Experience: the older the wine, the more expensive

SHAKESPEARE
Since this is a blog about the art of voice-overs and not about vinification, here’s my question: “Shall I compare thee to a Chardonnay?” Well… that’s a rather risky idea and I’ll tell you why: a nice bottle of Chardonnay is probably richer and more expensive!

Let me give you a taste from the bottom of the barrel:

Craigslist: “You have an awesome British accent that Americans go crazy for. I want to have an awesome British accent as the voice of the message on my voice mail. It’s really simple and shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes (at most!). Compensation: $20.”

Virtual Vocations: “Voice talent – 60 second recording. You need to be British or sound British. You need to be able to record this at your home with your computer. P.S. I’ll happily pay you for this. I was thinking $5 to $15 by PayPal, since it’s pretty simple.”

Odesk: “Voice over is for a 20 page presentation naration. If your bilingual that will be the best if you able to do only on just mark it in your letter and make you price in concideration. $50 fixed”

LOW AND BEHOLD
Mind you: I did not make these examples up (I use my spelling chekker… well, most times). Is it just me, or is there a serious disconnect between what you and I need to earn to make a decent living, and what these voice-seekers are prepared to pay? Of course you can always argue that these examples are extreme. But are they, really? Here’s my challenge:

Sign up for Odesk; go on Craigslist, VirtualVocations and similar sites, and report back to me in a few weeks. And please, don’t limit your search to voice-over jobs. Ask your friends in IT, copy writing, translation and graphic design to join you in your quest for fair compensation. You might be as surprised as Antonio Rangel. We’re not talking about incidents. We are dealing with a serious trend.

But if you want another example, here it is: the project I mentioned in my last blog, the 304-page book by a former Goldman Sachs partner. The client was offering between $500 and $750 for a recording that would take at least ten hours, if not more. Not one single reader of this blog got back to me and said: “Wow, that’s a phenomenal payday!” Nevertheless, how likely do you think it is that this producer found his narrator for even less? Four letters sum it all up: V E R Y.

GAME TIME
Did the rules of  the game change, and nobody bothered to tell us? Go back a few years. How did we put a price on our services in the past? Remember the days we actually had direct contact with the voice-seeker? A personal connection has always been a pivotal part of any business relationship. It’s the grease that makes things go smoothly. Doesn’t it all begin with building trust? How do you do that, if your client is purposely hiding his identity? It’s impossible to do your own background check to find out if this company is even legit. These days, you can’t even be sure your demo is nothing but a time-wasting test balloon for a campaign you’ll never be part of.  

But let’s continue our flashback. With the rapport going, we could start talking about the requirements of the job. We could ask simple questions such as: “What sort of a read do you need? Who’s the audience? What kind of person is the narrator?” It was an opportunity to go beyond the vague descriptions we’ve gotten accustomed to. Descriptions such as: “Male voice. North-American. Middle-aged. Non-Union.” How much help is that?

In the old scenario, we wouldn’t have to second-guess the word count, what market our commercial would play in and details about a possible buy-out… things that anyone needs to know before putting in a serious and realistic bid.

And finally, with all the blanks filled in, we could talk money. We could educate the voice-seeker about the going rates; the value we’re adding and why we’re worth it. We could discuss a reasonable time-frame for the project and counter objections about our fee, and do the back-and-forth that’s part and parcel of the sales process. It was give-and-take. Negotiate. Communicate. And now? Now, you and I just type a few numbers into the “Your Fee” box and send our hopes and dreams into cyberspace. Someone once said: “Change is inevitable. Progress isn’t.”

NOT ALONE
Social Media Consultant and freelance writer Deb Ng believes that independent contractors have dropped the ball when it comes to setting rates. Deb writes:

“Did you know many freelance writers won’t give a rate quote to a client and would rather the client set the rate? There are many reasons for this:

• The freelance writer doesn’t know what to charge

• The freelance writer is afraid of bidding too low

• The freelance writer is afraid of bidding too high

• The freelance writer is unsure of the “going rate”

• The freelancer lacks the confidence to request what he deserves”

and she continues:

“Do you know why so many web masters pay $1, $3 or $5 for an article? It’s because they can. They believe it to be a going rate. Since so many freelancers accept the client’s terms and price, the client is able to dictate the payment. If less writers accepted these rates, employers would be forced to pay more money. If you want to break out of the low paying rut, you have no choice but to set higher standards.

By letting someone else set your rate, you’re doing yourself a great disservice. Writers should have an idea of what to charge before embarking on a freelance career. If you enter into it with the mindset that you have to take what is offered, you’ll never be paid what your worth. Remember, you’re freelancing because you want to take charge of your career and your life. How can you do this without knowing how much to charge?”

IN VINO VERITAS
Antonio Rangel and his team discovered that people who were given two identical red wines to drink, said they got much more pleasure from the one they were told had cost more. Brain scans confirmed that their pleasure centers were activated far more by the higher-priced wine.  

One of my favorite BBC programs is “Dragon’s Den”, where “cash-hungry entrepreneurs pitch for investment from some of Britain’s top business brains.” A young business woman made an excellent presentation, and the multi-millionaire investors we visibly impressed with the product and her poise. However, she walked away empty handed.

What was her mistake? She had low balled the amount of money needed. Peter Jones, one of the investors, summed it up like this:

“What a shame. If you had asked for more, I would have taken you seriously.”

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

PPS Do you know how much you’d need to make to break even? Read the next installment for the Double Dutch recommended freelance rate calculator.

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“Attention Voice-Mart shoppers… in aisle 7 you’ll find a fresh selection of promising audio book narrators, ready to read your epic 300-page novel for only $499.99. But hurry! Only today, they’ll throw in free editing. That’s right, a $199.99 value could be yours, absolutely FREE.”

The shrill sound of my phone woke me up out of a bad dream. So much for power naps! Ever since I had helped my friend Fernanda with her website, she regularly calls me because she wants to pick my brain about ‘the business’. Her enthusiasm is contagious, and sometimes I feel almost guilty to be the one who has to add the rain of realism to her parade.

The thing is, Fernanda is incredibly talented. I could listen to her voice for hours, and as it turns out, I’m not the only one. Not only is she blessed with amazing vocal chords; Fernanda has the uncanny ability to take you on a journey to a place where time and space no longer exist. Her unique talent is only matched by her naiveté about the less artistic aspects of our work; minor details such as contracts, rates, self-promotion… you know, the boring stuff. In other words: she’s the ideal candidate to be taken for a ride. The other day it almost happened again.  

A GENEROUS OFFER
The phone rang. “Paul, I found this amazing project on-line. Can I read it to you?” Fernanda asked. “By all means”, I replied. “Shoot.” “Well, it’s for an audio book, she continued, “and they’re offering between 500-750 dollars.” “Wow” I said. “Why so much? How many pages does this book have? Thirty?” “Oh, I don’t know” said Fernanda. “Are you going to be a party pooper again?” “It depends.” I said. “Any other information about this masterpiece? Is there a script for a custom demo? Do you know the word count? Are you sure these are not the memoirs of some perverted, monstrous mind?”

She gave me the web page with the job posting, and I glanced over the details… that were not there. The voice-seeker did offer a link to a page on Amazon.com, and lo and behold, we found the book. It was called “Ahead of the Curve: A Commonsense Guide to Forecasting Business and Market Cycles”, by Joseph H. Ellis*. Even the summary looked promising:

“Economic events are not as random and unpredictable as they seem. This book will help readers recognize and react to signs of change that their rivals don’t see—and win a sizeable competitive advantage.”

“Alright. This doesn’t sound like the autobiography of a madman to me. That’s a definite plus”, I said. “Let’s find out who this Mr. Ellis really is.” Harvard Business Publishing gave us the answer:

“Joseph H. Ellis was a partner at Goldman Sachs and was ranked for 18 consecutive years by Institutional Investor magazine as Wall Street’s No.1 retail industry analyst.”

As soon as I read these words, my mind drifted off to a recent newspaper article that had somehow stuck with me:

“Goldman posted the richest quarterly profit in its 140-year history and, to the envy of its rivals, announced it had earmarked $11.4 billion so far this year to compensate its workers. At that rate, Goldman workers could, on average, earn roughly $770,000 each this year — or nearly what they did at the height of the boom.”

How many audio books would I have to narrate, in order to make what the ‘average’ Goldman worker would earn this year alone?

COUNTING PAGES
Back to the book. The Harvard web page also gave us another vital missing piece of information: we were talking about a 304-page hardback. “Now, how long would it take you to read this book?” I asked Fernanda. “Two hours… a day… a week?” She admitted that she didn’t really have a clue. That was my signal to go into my Sherlock Holmes mode.

“So far we have established that this guide is over 300 pages long. We don’t know anything about the actual word count, though. That will depend on the font, the font-size, the spaces and the margins. It’s amazing what some academics manage to fit on a page by using a 10-point font. On the other hand, I’ve seen 400-page volumes packed with graphs and other illustrations, printed in a 12-point font, double-spaced and wide margins. In other words: the pages were filled with fluff.”

Fernanda sounded discouraged. “What do you suggest I do? Go to the bookstore and get this Guide? If I don’t put in a bid within the next five minutes, 4 dozen others will have jumped on this project and I might as well forget about it. And please stop with this patronizing Conan Doyle routine.”

“If I were you, this is what I would do.” I said. “Come up with an estimate, based on the assumption that the average manuscript is printed in 12 point Arial, double-spaced, margin-to-margin. According to the handy-dandy Edge Studio Words-to-Hours Converter, the typical reading time for such a page is one minute and forty seconds. Based on these parameters, how long would it approximately take you to read this book?

300 pages x 100 seconds = 30.000 seconds = 8.33 hours

The next question is: how much would you charge for a minimum of eight and a half hours of work? Here’s the easy answer: you are an independent contractor, are you not? Theoretically, that means that you can charge whatever you think you’re worth. If your name is Julia Roberts, you’ll probably get it. If you’re not, dream on.

Seriously, according to the same Edge studio rate card, audio books “usually pay ‘per completed hour (the length of the final product) rather than ‘per hour’ (the length of time you are in the studio).” This does not include the time you need to prepare yourself for the recording. I spent hours and hours reading and researching my last audio book. It was filled with foreign names; I had to practice unusual accents and I needed to get the script ready. My scrips are usually packed with symbols and colors. Just as a singer would make notes on where to breathe and where to place accents, I do the same thing. Every character is highlighted in a different color, making it easy for me to change my voice and speech patterns. All of this takes time. Lots of time that you’re usually not getting paid for.

UNION or NON-UNION?
If we were to take out  the table of contents, the footnotes and any other fluff, you’re probably looking at 8 completed hours on CD. New readers who happen to be AFTRA members, can charge $139.25 per hour, which would give you $1114. The AFTRA rate for experienced readers is $168.25 per completed hour, and that would leave you with a total of $1345 in your pocket.

If you don’t belong to AFTRA, the world you live in looks very different. Bear in mind, Edge Studio explicitly says that their numbers are “pure suggestions for less experienced, non-union talent. Rates reflect average and realistic rates being fairly charged within the industry, and do NOT include editing.” For audio books the rates are:

• Inexperienced narrator – $85 to $140 per completed hour
• Moderately Experienced – $90 to $175 per completed hour
• Very Experienced – $150 to $250 per completed hour

In other words: the very, very inexperienced reader could realistically charge $680 for 8 completed hours (8 x $85). Her colleague on the other end of the spectrum could charge $2000. But we’re not done yet. There are other sources we can use to determine your bid for this Wallstreet saga.

The voices.com FAQ reference rate page has an overview per project category. The indicated range for audio books is 500 – 10000 (even though they’re headquartered in Canada, I think this is in USD).

Voices.com even has a second list of “Average prices, rates and costs”. Based on this overview, the site suggests $300 for a one hour audio book recording session, plus $100 for each additional hour. Let’s say that you’d minimally need a 10-hour recording session to produce an 8-hour audio book. That would mean that this project would bring in $1200 (the client pays an extra 10% SurePay escrow fee).

To make things a bit more complicated, voices.com offers a third list of rates. The suggested rates for audio books in this overview are:

• 1 hr recording session: USD$125 (10 studio hrs. x $125 = $1350)
• Per finished hour of audio: USD$500 (8 finished hrs. x $500 = $4000)
• Per page rate: USD$125 (300 pages x $125 = $37.500)

If you’re still with me, let’s throw one more number into the mix, straight from the voice123 reference rate page. Voice123 clarifies:

“These rates have been calculated by surveying and averaging Voice123 non-union voice over talents with two or more years of experience as voice-overs. Prices in this document are averages for suggested minimums (base rates).”

The average rate per hour of work (regardless of the length of the audio delivered) for a project taking up to 10 hours is $164. So, if we once again assume that 8 hours of completed audio takes at least 10 hours of studio time; using the voice123 minimum rate, a talent could charge $1640 for this project.

GUESSWORK?
I’d be the first one to agree  that these numbers are based on a few assumptions, because the voice-seeker left out vital information when posting the job (either by accident or on purpose). However, the rates I used are in the public domain. “Fernanda, remind me, what book were we talking about again?”

“A 304-page guide, written by former Goldman Sachs partner and Wall Street’s No.1 retail industry analyst that “will help readers recognize and react to signs of change that their rivals don’t see—and win a sizeable competitive advantage.”

“And how much was the budget again?”

“Between 500 and 750 dollars.”

“How many responses did the voice-seeker receive so far?”

“Only 105.”

WINNER or LOSER
“How much do you think the client will end up paying for a narrator? Fernanda asked. “And is there a minimum rate per project?”

“Unless you happen to run into the person who put in the winning bid, you’ll never know,” I said. “But I would be very surprised if all 105 hopefuls would bid the $750 maximum. Can you even call it a winning bid, or is it more realistic to speak of a losing bid? Anyway, voices.com has a minimum project posting requirement for any job posted publicly, and this amount is $100. Voice123 doesn’t have a rate floor.

But let’s not turn this into another Pay-to-Play issue. It gets kind of old, and besides, these guys are only part of a huge market. Take a good look at a majority of the projects posted on these sites. With all due respect for the hard work they put in, I don’t think we’re exactly talking about the high end of the business.  

When it comes to determining reasonable voice-over rates, we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. If you really want to discuss what you should charge, there are two crucial questions you need to ask yourself first:

1. How much do I need to make?
2. How much do I want to make?

But let’s talk about that some other time. I think I need to get back to my power nap now.”

The comfortable couch was still there waiting for me. I rearranged a few pillows and curled up in a ball. As soon as I closed my eyes, a soothing voice whispered into my ear:  

“Thank you for shopping at Voice-Mart. Please come again soon.”

When I woke up, I realized that I hadn’t told Fernanda how much she should quote. Thank goodness you’re still here! May I pick your brain for this one?**

-What would you tell her?
-Given the specifics of this project, is a budget of $500-$750 reasonable?
-If yes, why? If no, what would be a number you could live with?
-Would you do it for less? Would you put in a higher bid?
-What do you factor in when bidding on a project like this?
-Do you ever use the rate cards quoted in this article; are these rates realistic, optimistic, outdated…?
-If there’s one thing you could change about this process, what would it be?
-What would need to happen for this change to be implemented?
-What’s preventing this from happening?

Paul Strikwerda © 2009 www.nethervoice.com

*the author of the book, Joseph H. Ellis, was not the voice-seeker who posted the project.

** if you’d like to respond, but would prefer to stay anonymous, please send your suggestions to doub...@nethervoice.com. I’d be happy to include your answer, and I promise not to name names.

PS Is there a serious disconnect between what we need to earn to make a decent living, and what voice-seekers are prepared to pay? How did we lose our bargaining power? And is there a connection between price and pleasure?  That’s the topic of my next article!

In July, something happened to me that had never happened before: I won a prize. Voices.com had asked members to write about their experiences with their service, and somehow, they liked my story the best. Here’s a quote from what I wrote:

“Two months ago, I decided to challenge Voices.com. My dollar-a-day membership plan paid off big time. With $2300 in the bank, I had earned more than 38 times my investment.”

The genuine article was posted on Double Dutch (and all over the Web). Thanks to this entry, I became the surprised winner of a $500 gift certificate to Sweetwater. So far so good, right? But, wait… is there something wrong with this picture? My winning entry sang the praises of a Pay-to-Play. You might have noticed that there’s even a voices.com banner on my blog. Yet, when you take a look at this blog, I seem to be “Mr. Critical” when it comes to these voice-over matchmaking sites. Could Double Dutch be accused of Double Standards? Colleague Steve Hammill put it this way:

“I must say that I had to chuckle when I saw your endorsement of a P2P site on this web page. It’s quite an elaborate endorsement.”

So, what’s the real deal with the Dutch dude?

At the time of my unexpected win, some blogging colleagues suggested that they would never take part in a competition like that, because they wanted to remain ‘impartial’. Even though I don’t agree with their assumption, I respect their point of view. I also believe that my writings have shown that my opinion is my opinion… no matter how sweet the waters may be.

INSIDER INFO
Let’s get personal for a moment. I happen to be one of those guys some psychologists eagerly label as “fixers“. A few weeks ago, I was looking for an item at my supermarket that wasn’t there. Yes… it was a product from Holland. What else could it be? Now, I could moan and groan about it for the next twelve weeks, or I could go the manager and suggest he stock this particular Dutch delicacy that nobody should live without. The first option was easier and would have taken less time. So, I picked option two. The manager listened to what I had to say and put in a request. Within a matter of weeks, I got a phone call that the item was on the shelves, and by the way…. how soon could I stop by to pick it up, compliments of the store?

It was a small thing that made a big impact. Now my friends tell me: “Stop talking about where you go grocery shopping. We get it, already!”

I happen to be a strong believer in bringing about change from within... one Dutch treat at a time. That’s why I Pay to Play. My P2P-memberships give me access to some of the inner workings of these sites, and that means that I can speak from experience when I write about them. I don’t want to be one of those armchair referees. I enjoy being out on the field, playing the game.

THE P2P ADVANTAGE
There’s no doubt about it: voice-over matchmaking sites have earned their place in the market. In fact, if you’ve been kind enough to keep track of my “ponderings” on this blog or on various LinkedIn-voiceover groups, this is a recurring theme. Every day, sites like voices.com save you and me time and money that we would otherwise have to spend on advertising, marketing and acquisition. The free podcasts, articles and expert advice are a treasure trove for beginners and old-timers alike. And occasionally, these sites even help you or me book a job. However, I’d advise any voice-over pro or amateur against totally relying on P2P’s for leads. I’m sure these sites would be the first ones to tell you that.

FAIR IS FAIR
Every medal, no matter how shiny, has two sides. I’m not one of those people who, blinded by one side, can’t see the other. There’s still so much room for improvement, and rather than being a winner or a whiner, I want to come up with ideas on how these sites can make their services even better. Sometimes they actively ask for my opinion. Sometimes I just can’t help myself, and I blog about it. At times, people even read these blogs and respond.

But let’s be honest: not all is well in voiceover land, but we can’t blame everything on P2P’s, and I don’t think I ever did. WE are part of the problem. A BIG part. Every time we take on a job for less than we deserve, we send a signal to voice-seekers that we’re willing to be taken advantage of. Every time we put in a bid that’s below what’s commonly accepted as reasonable, we’re telling our colleagues that we don’t give a bleep about the long-term consequences. We can’t force sites like voice123 to uphold minimum rates. It’s their business to run their business any way they want. They make most of their money from memberships and not based on how much we get paid per gig. That’s what agents do.

Last but not least, when we’re operating out of the bargain basement, we’re telling ourselves that our unique talent, our invaluable experience and our phenomenal skills are only worthy of a handout. If you truly believe in leading by example, is that really what you want to instill in your children? Of course I know that there’s much more to self-worth than a bunch of numbers on a paycheck. I’m not asking you to charge astronomical fees either, simply because you feel like “you’re worth it”.

All I’m asking for is that you please educate yourself by taking a good look at resources like these… many of them offered by the same voice-over sites listed in this article:

http://www.edgestudio.com/Voice-Over-Rate-Card.htm
http://www.voices.com/voice-over-rates.html
http://support.voice123.com/article/How_Much_Are_Talents_and_Voice_Producers_Charging_for_Non-union_Voice_Over_Work_Delivered_Online.html
http://www.aftra.com/documents/2009_Radio_Commercials_Ratesheet_Revised_5-6-09.pdf
http://www.voiceoverresourceguide.com/index.html

NOW WHAT?
Even the best information is totally useless if you don’t do anything with it. You have at least three options:

1. Show me that the rates listed in these resources are outrageous and out of touch with reality, and argue that you don’t deserve to be paid that much. OR…
2. Agree that these rates (no matter how average they may be) are reasonable, and stick to them when bidding and negotiating.
3. Don’t be involved in this discussion, but keep on complaining and watch from the sidelines as others are sticking their necks out.

SAVED BY THE UNIONS
Some of you have asked me: “How about the unions? Isn’t it their job to deal with remuneration? If you’re so unhappy with the current rates or the lowballing bidders, why not join AFTRA?”

I’d say: Well, if you can afford to be a union member, great! If you get paid union rates or above, even better! However, don’t walk away from your own responsibility by telling me that the unions are the only parties who can fight our fight, and that non-union members have to pay the price for not being in the union. Members are usually the first ones to tell you that things aren’t what they used to be, and that the presumed power of AFTRA, SAG, ACTRA, EQUITY and others, is fading fast. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the majority of Pay-to-Play users are non-union.

Do you remember these numbers? Almost 40% of professional voice-overs make less than $25,000 per year, even after having been in the business for 10-25 years. Over a quarter of those surveyed make less than $10,000 per year.  (Source: VoiceOver Insider magazine). I don’t see these people joining a union in the next few weeks. So, who else will stand up for the thousands of unrepresented voice-overs, who love what they do and who also wish to make a decent living?

Don’t expect SaVoa (Society of Accredited Voice Over Artists ) to go to battle for you. That’s not SaVoa’s mission. Article 2 of their STANDARDS OF BUSINESS CONDUCT clearly states:

“neither SaVoa nor its members shall collude to set or attempt to set minimum rates for voice over services.”

So, at the end of the day the ball’s back in your court… where it always was and always will be. We all choose what we want to live by, and what we’re willing to accept. The great thing about living in this free country, is the fact that in many situations, we can choose where we wish to draw the line. Sometimes it’s not so easy to see that one decision, no matter how small, has an impact on the whole. If you have any doubts about that, ask Rosa Parks.

CONTEST IN CONTEXT
And finally… here’s an update on my voices.com “success story”. I became a member on April 24th of this year, and I have no regrets. Stephanie Ciccarelli who handles the PR for “voices”, knows that my endorsement of her company was not motivated by a prize, but it was inspired by my experience at that moment in time. There’s a reason why there still is a voices.com banner on this blog.

It’s almost six months later, and I can tell you that I have landed exactly THREE jobs through voices.com. All of them were booked before I won my prize. It’s not for lack of trying. In fact, since I became a member, I’ve sent out a total of 378 demos; most of them custom-made, hand-crafted and with a touch of Dutch. I think I can do better, and I think sites like voices.com can do better. And that’s exactly why I share these thoughts with the rest of the voice-over community and beyond.

A RESPONSE
Voices.com has a dedicated LinkedIn Group for members who’d like to be involved. Whenever I write a new article, I post it under “news”, and that’s how many of you probably found out about Double Dutch.

Stephanie Ciccarelli wrote the following about my previous blog on her LinkedIn group page,:

“With regard to what has been posted re: “What Pay-To-Plays Don’t Want You to Know”, let me share the following:

These sort of postings in the Voices.com LinkedIn group are giving me cause for concern. I would request that articles deliberately questioning the integrity of services such as Voices.com not be posted in the Voices.com LinkedIn Group in the future. While the article may mention our company, or others in this space, it is unacceptable for me to let unfounded information as it pertains to Voices.com be shared through our own property.

I will be replying to the blog posting personally with my thoughts.”

I encourage you to read her thoughts in the comment section of my last post. I also urge you to share your thoughts on the following:

-Do you believe that I questioned “the integrity of services such as Voices.com?”

-Did I provide “unfounded information as it pertains to Voices.com?”

-Do you agree with Stephanie, that we should refrain from posting articles such as “What Pay-To-Plays Don’t Want You to Know” on sites affiliated to those that are mentioned in the article?

Paul Strikwerda © 2009
www.nethervoice.com

PS Are you having a hard time figuring out what to charge for your voice-over services? You’re not the only one! My next article will take you through some of the steps involved in bidding on an audio book project.

Imagine an international marketplace where suppliers and buyers meet. This business environment offers the broadest and most colorful selection from all over the globe. A fast and furious bidding process determines which supplier will sell to which buyer at what price.

Can you guess the name of this marketplace? Could it be eBay? Is it uBid? Voice123, perhaps?

TEAMWORK
Let me tell you what’s unique about this particular auction. It’s actually a cooperative, owned by about 5000 members who have united to organize their sales. Their aim is to achieve the best possible market position for its members at the lowest possible cost.

The auction I’m writing about offers a transparent market and an objective operation of the price mechanism. A fair minimum price is set for each product, based on normalized averages. If that price isn’t met, there’s simply no sale.

THE PLAYING FIELD
Here are a few other clues. The items that are auctioned off, are of some 20 thousand different varieties. And all of this takes place on the largest trading floor in the world – a conjoined complex of cavernous warehouses as large as 200 soccer fields. That’s roughly the size of Monaco! Inside, 22 million separate items are sold and distributed to buyers every weekday, mostly in Europe and North America.

The “Dutch auction method” is used for price determination. This process uses a clock, where the clock hand starts at a high price and drops until a buyer stops the clock to bid and accept (part of) the lot. The clock was invented in the 1870s by a cauliflower grower from Holland .

As a voice-over pro, fighting my own daily bidding wars, I’ll tell you what I like about this type of auction:

1. The element of collaboration. Although the members of the cooperative are competing against each other, they are working together. What a concept!
2. Vigorous quality control, based on the highest professional standards, is part and parcel of this business.
3. Set minimum prices (based on weighted averages of goods or services in a particular region during a given time period).
4. Products or services are sold to the highest bidder. Imagine that in our industry!
5. Transparency. Everyone involved knows immediately what the winning bid was and who won. Only if the quality is not as told, the buyer can complain. The products have to be paid directly.

BACK TO YOU
Of course you know where this is going, don’t you? I am going to ask you about the market place you do business in. But here’s the twist: you’re auctioning off your vocal versatility on sites like voices.com. You spot a project that might be a good fit. You record a free custom demo, and you put in a bid. Then you wait… To quote Dr. Phill: “How’s that working for you?”

Let’s go down my list again, and contrast and compare.

OWNERSHIP
1. As a member of the cooperative, you would be one of the co-owners of the business. You would elect representatives and a board that manages the daily affairs on your behalf. In other words: you could directly influence how your business is run. The board answers to its members, and every year it must give those members a detailed account of the state of the cooperative.

Compare that to the marketplace where you auction off your services. You are a member of that marketplace, are you not? Let me ask you this: do you have any say in how this business is run and by whom? And by “say” I don’t mean filling out a survey, or posting your praises on their website. There is a difference between giving feedback, having influence or actual power.

Do you get to see the balance sheet, at least once a year? And if an executive is underperforming, can you vote him or her off?

Do you work together with your colleagues to maximize results, or is it every man and women for him- or herself and against each other?

QUALITY
2. Can anyone offer their services on this voice-over marketplace you belong to, or is there a screening process based on professional standards? And once accepted, is there any type of quality control in place, to ensure that voice-seekers won’t be bombarded with third-rate ‘talent’?

PRICE
3. What does your marketplace do to promote fair trade, if anything? Are buyers (and sellers) educated about what rates are reasonable for different types of projects? Does your site set minimum prices, or is everything left to a market that has no bottom, no ethics and people who have no clue?

4. What if our on-line marketplace would operate like a Sotheby’s, where goods (or in this case services) would actually go to the highest bidder?

ACCOUNTABILITY
5. I saved the big one for last: Does your on-line auction site ever notify you of the winning bid? Let’s say a voice-seeker posts a project with a budget range of $100-$250. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how much or little he eventually ended up paying? Don’t you want to know if the job ultimately went to an undercutting ‘underbidder’ or a habitual ‘lowballer’? Aren’t you curious to find out how successful this site really is in securing fair and reasonable deals for its members? Or is that too much to ask?

I recently read a comment from someone who regularly uses P2P’s to hire talent. He said (and I’m paraphrasing): 

“You should realize that when a job is posted with a $100 – $250 range, that over half the people who audition will offer to do it for $100. Another quarter will offer to do it for less.”

Mmm, any idea why you’re not having much luck, lately? Of course the voice-over dot coms could hit back and say: “That’s nonsense. Some people get paid even more than what the job was posted for.” My response would be: prove it! And don’t give me anecdotal evidence. I want numbers.

Am I wrong, or do you have a right to learn how many posted projects materialized into something concrete, and how many disappeared into thin air? And wouldn’t that information help you determine whether or not it would be worthwhile for you to join such a site? Why aren’t these facts available to the members who are paying for these services? What is it that these sites don’t want you to know? What are they hiding and why?

GOING DUTCH
My favorite auction is an open book. The FloraHolland flower auction is the international market leader in floricultural sales. Their auction building  in Aalsmeer is the second largest building in the world. With six locations situated close to the most important production areas in the Netherlands, 9 thousand growers sell just over one-third of all flowers sold in the world, which adds up to about 2 billion Euros each year. There are 125 thousand auction transactions every day. In other words, 12 billion cut flowers and over half a million plants a year. Business is blooming for this cooperative.

I wonder… is there anything we can possibly learn from this model? Isn’t it about time we add a touch of Dutch to our auctions? You tell me!

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

PS don’t miss the next installment: is it okay to endorse a voice-over website and criticize it too? Find out why I’ve been asked that “articles deliberately questioning the integrity of services such as Voices.com not be posted in the Voices.com LinkedIn Group in the future.”

Which orchestra was voted the best symphony orchestra in the world?

Eminent music critics asked themselves that same question at the end of  2008. They narrowed the list down to twenty. Last year, the renowned British music magazine “the Gramophone” published the results.

The famous Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra ended up in second place. But who came first? The New York Philharmonic? The “Wiener Philharmoniker”? The Chicago Symphony?

AN EARFUL
I just spent a few hours on-line listening to YOU… my colleagues, my competition, my inspiration. It was both frightening and enlightening. As I was clicking away part of my day, I was amazed by a number of things, going from Pay-to-Play to Pay-to-Play. This is what I found:

1. Anyone can sign up for a voice-over site these days, on three conditions:

a. you have to have a voice
b. you have to have a credit card
c. you have to have a computer and a mic

2. Fifty percent of the advertised ‘talent’ can’t interpret a simple script;

3. The same people don’t seem to know the first thing about recording either;

4. Amateurs who put themselves out there as voice-over pros, have a lot of guts, coupled with a deadly mix of unrealistic expectations, a lack of experience and the funds to invest in a pipe dream;

5. As I wrote in another article, foreign voices are often not as advertised. We still have Flemish speakers posing as Dutch talents, German speakers who are really from Austria, and Australians pretending to be Americans. Whatever happened to quality control?

6. Don LaFontaine is still very much alive, but he goes by many different names these days. Or is just every other American male voice-over talent riding on his coattails as they are trying to emulate the master?

PAYING THE PRICE
I must say that I don’t envy the voice-seekers who have to sift through over one hundred auditions to find the perfect voice for their low- or no-budget project.

Then again: they asked for it, so we shouldn’t feel too sorry for them. It’s the price you pay when you’re asking every Tom, Dick or Harry to tape a custom demo for that cheap frying pan you’re trying to sell on late-night cable television. You often get what you pay for… frying pan, voice-over talent, it doesn’t make a difference.

What do I make of all this, you may ask? Well, here’s what I think (and feel free to disagree)…

Having a microphone, a MasterCard, a laptop and a fantasy doesn’t mean one should be allowed to join a professional site, no questions asked. We have websites for amateur dog breeders, amateur sports people, amateur musicians… why not design a site dedicated to amateur voice-over artists? I bet you’ll make a lot of money in the Odesk-market segment. It could be a kind of Bargain-Bodalgo.

Don’t get me wrong. Hobbies are wonderful things. My neighbor takes great pictures, but he wouldn’t dare to advertise himself as a professional photographer, nor should he. National Geographic would immediately show him the door.

A friend of mine is not a bad trumpet player, but if he were to audition for a real job in the music industry, he would never make the first cut (and he knows it). Apparently, those stringent standards don’t seem to be in place in certain segments of the voice-over industry. Why not?

THE PROBLEM BEHIND THE PROBLEM
As long as some sites make most of their money through subscriptions, more members means more money. It’s a business model, not a charity. It’s a model that essentially values quantity over quality. The only way to go, is to grow.

Let’s be honest. The voice-over market is pretty much saturated at this moment. You don’t need a degree in economics to realize that a greater supply in a weakened market can only mean one thing: tumbling prices.

The best way to speed this process up, is to have suppliers engage in a furious bidding war. Darwin would have named it: “Survival of the Cheapest”. Isn’t that exactly what is happening? And if you don’t believe me, why is it so hard to buy products that are not “made in China”? Before we know it, all of us will be replaced by IVONA speech synthesis technology. It’s almost as good as the real thing and I bet it’s a lot cheaper.

NO CURE NO PAY
If it were up to me, I’d rather have a performance-based No Cure No Pay-system in place. Out with the premium, platinum and titanium memberships. From now on, voice-over sites should get paid when I get paid. And the only way I get paid, is when voice-over sites do their job and connect me to reputable voice-seekers that are ready to pay reasonable rates.

Perhaps that will make the Pay-to-Play’s more accountable and selective in terms of whom they’re willing to represent. Perhaps that’s the way to separate the wheat from the chaff. Let the dabblers do their thing. As long as they stay in their own league and stop messing with my market.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
Secondly, I’d like to see these websites publish and uphold certain professional standards, very much like SaVoa’s accreditation criteria. Accreditation comes from the word ‘credo’, which means “I believe“. Although related, ‘credo’ is not the same as ‘credit’.

Our belief in someone’s talent should be based on professional principles, instead of on the spending limit on their credit card. So, let me ask you this:

1. In your experience, are you aware of any professional standards that are promoted and actively upheld by Pay-to-Play sites?

2. If the answer is “yes”, are you happy with these standards, and are they well-advertised and implemented?

3. If the answer to the 1st question is “no”, do you think that voice-over sites should adopt, publish, promote and maintain certain standards?

4. Should talents be denied membership, if they don’t meet certain basic criteria of professionalism?

5. Would it make sense to create a special category for amateur voice actors, or even a dedicated website? Or do dilettantes have no business being in our business?

6. What’s the best and most fair way to compensate P2P’s for their services? A subscription fee? A percentage of  what you’re making for a particular job?  A combination of both?

AND THE WINNER IS…
One question remains.  For that, we return to the quest for the best symphony orchestra in the world. The votes have been counted. The sealed envelope is opened as the audience collectively holds their breath. And the winner is….

the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from Amsterdam

Why? Because their standards are higher. After a grueling audition process, the Concertgebouw only hires the cream of the crop; well-trained people playing the very best instruments. No amateur fiddlers. The Gramophone’s editor James Inverne, put it this way:

“It is hardly possible any more to recognize particular orchestras by their individual sound. I think that with some orchestras, and the Berlin Philharmonic amongst them, that’s a bit of a worry. Whereas with the Concertgebouw you always know it’s the Concertgebouw. And I think that’s what has given them the edge amongst our critics.

Maybe it’s occasionally very slightly rougher than what the Berliner Philharmonic can produce, but it doesn’t matter, because they’re like a great actor bringing their own charisma and their own personality to every work, and always giving you the sense of the spirit of the work.”

Now, that’s what I call music to my ears! I’ll gladly pay to hear them play any day!

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

My next blog is a little more lighthearted, and I’ve invited Steve Martin, Peter Cook and Cyril Ritchard to add some  fun to the pirate party!