Double Dutch

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!

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

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!

Ontario’s London Free Press called them “voice-over matchmakers”. Back in 2003, David and Stephanie Ciccarelli created Voices.com out of their condo. Now they have eight full-time staff and four computer developers on contract. David estimates about $11 million of business goes through the site annually.

If you’ve ever used their services, you know that Voices.com makes money from your subscription fees and from an optional 10% SurePay escrow fee on top of whatever the talent’s fee is, paid by the voice-seeker. According to the site: “this Escrow fee is kept by Voices.com to cover the charges that we incur from holding the deposit for a period of time in a secure third party account”.

Stephanie Ciccarelli summarized my unease regarding audition submissions as follows:

“You’ve noted that many people are concerned to see that some of the past jobs they’ve auditioned for months ago have not yet progressed to awarding a talent, leaving them to wonder if a client is merely window-shopping or kicking tires, possibly also wondering if auditioning online is a waste of time.”

“According to a snapshot of statistics from the last four months (April 2009 through July 2009) tracking the completion rate of jobs posted at Voices.com, we can confirm that at any given stage, half of the open jobs are still being reviewed by their client and the other half are completed (that means a talent has been chosen), with over 2/3 of those completed jobs being verified and processed via SurePay. Although this information is reassuring, we are aware that there is still room to improve and to grow.”

Stephanie cites a number of reasons as to why it appears that many voice-seekers on her site never seem to select a candidate. Allow me to paraphrase:

1. Some clients, regardless of their deadlines for finding talent, may not have a pressing need to have their voice over recorded instantly. In other words: they file away the auditions until they are ready to hire. Sometimes this could take many months, but eventually, someone gets the job.
2. Some clients use sites like voices.com, to find talent and they prefer to work with them off-site, leaving their job in an “Open” status (see the story of the Taylor family in my last blog). This explains why there are fewer “completed” jobs than there truly are.
3. Some voice talents and/or voice seekers don’t want to use the SurePay system. If that’s the case, the job won’t be registered as completed.

VOICE-SEEKERS’ PERSPECTIVE

So far we’ve heard the story from the perspective of a voice talent and from representatives of several pay-to-play sites. Be sure to check out Voice123 Steven Lowell’s comments on my previous blog. What do voice-seekers make of all this?

A former casting director for a nationally known ad agency gave me permission to share his (or her) thoughts as long as he/she would remain anonymous.

“Agencies will do a lot of casting for projects they “hope” will become a client. They will hold auditions…..actors will hold their breath…(after creatives fawn all over them)…..expect a hold or booking…..alas…..no call! Of course it happens that another is booked…..but it does also happen…..that no one is booked as the agency did not get the account or budget was cut. It also happens that an audition is used as a demo in pitch for the account…performer never knows about it. Top brass may not even know this practice is going on at his or her agency. Head of production is calling the shots without others in chain of command knowing anything about you (performer) being screwed. You may have been instrumental in getting an account. When time came to cast for account….you may be forgotten for a more high profile talent. I protested this practice…(to shock of production chief) …was an uphill battle to have any effect on this practice; did make some headway. In short…..we don’t have many options in regard to this practice. Many agencies or agents don’t participate in this practice…..it does happen.”

ISSUE RESOLVED?
There you have it. Were these answers satisfying to you? Were my initial concerns justified or were they a tempest in a teapot? Do you feel that the major pay-to-play sites offer enough accountability and transparency? Even though they’re not our personal agents, we are paying them to provide a service, so we should have some say in how our money is spent. What suggestions do you have regarding this issue?

Please keep in mind that I am looking for constructive ideas. It’s always easy to blame someone or something else for our own lack of success. However, there are so many things we can do to increase our chances of being spotted and hired. We should never completely rely on these sites to bring in all the work.

As you have noticed, sites like voice123, voplanet and voices.com are listening to us, and they don’t shy away from controversial topics. They are following up with job seekers, and they too have to work with ad agencies that are only using their service to test the waters.

And finally: as every matchmaker knows, no matter how carefully you select two interested parties, not every match ends in matrimony!

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

Don’t miss the next installment: “Why no one’s coming to your site“.

John was a realtor. The past couple of years had been the toughest ever. Plenty of prospects; very few buyers. John had to work twice as hard and twice as long to woo aspiring home owners. One day, his boss called him into the office and by the look on his face, he was not a happy camper. “John”, he said, “Do you have any idea how many leads you lost in the past three months?” “Well, maybe a few here and there”, said John. “I don’t really keep track”.

“What?” answered his boss angrily, “Are you telling me that you’ve spent hours researching homes and showing your clients house after house, and you have no clue how many sales opportunities you missed? Are you serious? How about the Taylors? They seemed ready to buy and they bailed out at the last moment. What went wrong?”

“Oh, I remember them” said John. “They backed out because they said the escrow fee was too high.” “That might be true” said his boss, “but do you want to know what really happened? After you had put in all your time and found them the perfect house, they walked out of our office and contacted the sellers directly. Two days later, the property was sold.”

JUST AN ANALOGY?

Of course I made this entire story up, and yet this scenario happens in voiceoverland each and every day. If you’ve taken a good look at your audition submissions of the past couple of months, doesn’t it seem like a majority has disappeared into a gigantic black hole? As I mentioned in my first blog about this topic: most of my submissions didn’t result in an actual booking, not because the job was awarded to another talent, but because the voice-shopper never became a buyer. How did I know? Because months after the deadline for a project had past, still no talent had been selected for the job.

It turns out that I’m not alone. Many of you have vented your frustration and are demanding an explanation. That’s why I brought the matter up with three pay-to-play sites. I specifically asked them about their “conversion rate”. That’s the term marketing professionals use when a prospective consumer takes the intended action. I particularly wanted to know the percentage of voice-seekers who had become voice-buyers.

THE INDUSTRY RESPONDS

Mike Gomez works for www.voice123.com. His initial response was:

“We have around 4,000 active Premium subscribers on the site and these are the stats we keep regarding hirings:

50% – book at least 1 a month

30% – book between 1 & 5 a month

20% – book more than 5 a month”

That didn’t tell me anything about the percentage of job offers that actually lead to bookings. So, I tried again and Mike sent me the following reply:

“(…) those are the numbers we have, since we don’t control who gets hired, why and when but only seekers do, we currently have no accurate way to account for this.  Although we do know most jobs are granted on the site because we see talents are renewing constantly since our sales have been growing constantly through the months and the only way talents have money to renew is if they get work.”

Let’s do the math here. 4000 Premium subscribers times $299.00 (the voice123 annual subscription fee). That’s one million, one hundred ninety six thousand dollars. Yet, they have no “accurate way to account for who gets hired”.

There’s no doubt in my mind that voice123 has earned its spot in the market place. But the fact that people continue to renew their membership doesn’t tell me a whole lot about the effectiveness of the service voice123 provides. One does not measure the success of a temp agency by the number of job seekers in the database, but by the number of real jobs these people find through the agency.

WHAT VOPLANET ARE YOU FROM?

Donna Summers is the president of VoiceCasting and partner at www.voplanet.com. This is what she told me about her companies’ conversion rate:

“Because we deal with large production companies and ad agencies for the most part, virtually all the auditions we do are for actual jobs.  It is rare that an ad agency would take the time, effort and money it takes to put together an ad campaign, hire a copyrighter to write the script, get as far as voicing it and then completely dump it.  If one of our talents gets the job, we are of course, thrilled.  If the client books elsewhere, we do call and thank the client for the opportunity and ask who booked the job.  In answering your question, Paul, I would have to say that 100% with a little margin for error would be the number of auditions that actually become jobs.”

VERIFICATION

As a former journalist, I have to add that there is no independent way of verifying these statements, especially because both companies don’t seem to have a conversion monitoring mechanism in place. There actually is software to keep track of these things. QVC uses it and so does Amazon.com. In fact, most e-commerce site tracks their transactions at least on a daily basis.

So, how would you evaluate whether or not your investment in a particular pay-to-play site is worthwhile? Without a clear conversion rate, you can only base your decision on:

1. Previous personal experience
2. Anecdotal evidence
3. Testimonials & recommendations
4. The reputation of the company
5. Trust and gut feeling
6. The size of your wallet

SLICING THE BREAD

The Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza once said: “Life is like bread – no matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides.” In my next post, I’ll tell you what Stephanie Ciccarelli (www.voices.com) had to say about her site’s conversion rate.

To be continued…

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

PS In my next installment, you can read the response of the www.voices.com team, as well as the revelations of an “Ad man”.