I would like to wholeheartedly thank all of you that have supported me concerning my article about VoiceJockeys.com. I am happy to report that we are in negotiations to make their site more fair for US VOICE TALENT.
In the midst of this all, I was sent many, many emails and I realize that sites like these are rampant. This blog is dedicated to exposing these sites, educating voice over talent about them, and ideally, to work for a positive change for all involved.
I already have been alerted to a few of these sites which I will be checking out and posting, but if you know of any sites, out there, feel free to post them to get the concensus of the communtiy about the particular site.
Thanks!
Rob Sciglimpaglia
Thanks so much for all your work Rob.
Another company that has followed the business model of Voice Jockeys
TV affiliate work:
$15 for each VO :15 or less
$20 for each VO :15.1 -:35
$35 for each VO :35.1 -:65
They don’t post rates on their website but I have a pdf file for prospective talent. To what email address would you like me to mail it?
BTW – the company is ezvoices.net
THANK YOU DAVE!! NO NEED. I have already been alerted to this company. Here is their letter. Comments anyone?
Dear Prospective Talent,If you are:
•In your home studio or near a production room every day
•In need of a little extra cash Then read on! (If you are not,it’s ok to delete this fileJ)TurnaroundYou will need to provide same day or 24 hour turnaround PaymentTV affiliate work:
•You will need to send us an invoice the 1stday of every month for previous month’s activity and accept 45 day terms from date of invoice. Every TV station we deal pays within 30 days, so you will most likely be paid sooner than 45 days.Other work:
•We watermark all audio till the payment arrangements are final and you will know exactly when you are getting paid
RevisionsYou will need to offer 1 free revision,all revisions after that will be paid
RatesTV affiliate work:$15 for each VO :15 or less
$20 for each VO :15.1 -:35
$35 for each VO :35.1 -:65
Narration rates will be negotiated
Other work:Rates for other jobs are negotiated and are very close to industry rate or above.
•Recent Examples: (updated 4.28.10)
•Radio :60 read for local cell phone retailer :$50
•TV :15 read for local car dealership through an agency: $75
•Instructional Video:75 dry read: $150
•Instructional Video:90 dry read: $100So, it varies and we negotiate the best rate we can get without losing the business!
ProductionYou will need to voice & edit to fit the ordered time
•i.e. if the script calls for a :15,then voice & edit to fit
•YOU DO NOT NEED TO PRODUCE, THIS IS DRY VOICE ONLY!Other Stuff
•You will need to agree to listen to a sample of what the client is looking for at no charge,this will be rare and provided to you by EZ Voices
•If requested, you will need to voice a short sample for the client to hear a demothis audio will be watermarked by us for security
•We will not advertise this, however it is a great marketing tool when negotiating with clients
•You will be a star if you give us more than 1 cut of any length copy,but 2 cuts are only mandatoryfor :10 or less
•You will agree to a conference call with the client/producer when requested and you will be receive additional compensation for this task.
•You will in NOT be asked for exclusivity to EZ Voices, we don’t believe in “non-competes”! We will however, ask that you let us know if you are already doing a car dealership in Raleigh if we send you a script for a competing dealership.
If you are interested, Please respond with your:Turnaround Time (same day or 24 hour)
What name & address to send payment to
Updated :60 demo(s)
ISDN? Phone Patch? Source Connect? Skype?
If you know other talent that would be interested,please forward this letter to them, we are always looking for new talent!
Hello Rob!
And thank you so much for providing this much needed service to the voice over community.
I am looking forward to reading your blog, and contributing if I come across anything that merits your review.
Thanks again Rob!
Thank you, Rob, great idea to start a blog!
Thanks for sharing your expertise.
Best, Linda Joy
Thank you, Rob, for following through with your commitment to shed light on business practices from those that hire VO talent, and your offer to negotiate on our behalf. That you started a blog with this topic in mind is so very important. You have our VO support and gratitude!
Bless you and your family for the time and effort you’ll dedicate to this cause. It is a truly valuable service that will help highlight fair pricing and expectations for the VO community.
Warm regards,
Linda
Thanks for keeping us up to date. All of this information is so important to everyone but especially new voice talent. You are helping so many and I do appreciate your efforts. I look forward to adding all of this to my learning.
Thank you for all your time and effort.
Best Regards,
Joyce
As a professional voice-over talent, and former radio professional, I’d like to know why there isn’t more discussion here about the end client and voice-over rates? Why is the focus on the middle-man and not companies like Charter Media and Comcast Spotlight, who have budgets as low as $35 per :30 and will absolutely not consider going any higher. There should be more focus on educating these corporations on the value of professional voice-work and the value of paying a more competitive rate, rather than going after these middle companies. Also, what about small businesses, who are certainly struggling in today’s business environment, but often realize the importance of advertising? They can’t pay high talent fees and often can just barely run a decent schedule of TV or Radio to bring in a minor amount of new business. The success or failure of small business should be important to everyone and the quest for higher talent fees isn’t necessarily in the best interest of small business success. I work with a few of these voice-cooperative groups and have found them to be mostly hard-working, ethical former media pro’s who do “get it.” They do care about treating talents fairly and often have their hands tied with smaller budgets. I don’t begrudge them their business efforts at all. Many of them escaped corporate media to try to be independent and have better lives. Ultimately we all have the freedom to decline work that we feel is too low. If you don’t like the rate, don’t take the job. Let people run their businesses as they see fit and they’ll either succeed or fail. Finally, isn’t there a little arrogance going on here? Yes, we all want competitive rates and a fat payday, but not all of us have the skills or experience to justify the higher talent fees. Ultimately, I’m happy for every job that comes in, especially in this economy. I feel that it is an invasion of privacy to “out” these middle companies and I certainly won’t participate in distributing their talent agreements.
Gen. I agree completely with what you are saying. Yes, end client’s should know a talent’s true worth and pay fairly as well. The difference between negotiating with a client directly, where you can walk away if you feel your not being paid what you’re worth, and these websites, is that these sites are acting like brokers, but they are taking the majority of the profit off of unfair amounts that they are charging. And, they make the talent agree to ridiculous things in their contract on TOP of paying very little that, in some instances, even hurt the end client that the site is selling to.
As an example, I received an email from a voice talent who told me a war story about one of these places where he had recorded a voice over for a client, and the client wanted to use the same talent for a future gig, but the talent had dropped off the roster. So, the client tracked down the artist, but the artist was prohibited from recording the new spot due to a non compete clause in the website’s contract. What BOTH the client and talent discovered was that the client had paid MUCH more to the website to have the original recording done than what was paid to the talent. For instance, the Client paid $500 to the website, the website paid the talent $50 as per their agreement, less an outrageous commission, and pocketed the rest.
This is not about arrogance or jacking up the rates. This is about being paid what is fair for EACH job, based on EACH talent’s skills and experience, and not a “Pay One Price For All Jobs or Else” arrangement that SOME of these sites have.
Now, granted, I have not looked at all of these sites, and I am not prejudging ANY. I definitely hear what you are saying that free market is free market. But, you as a talent, and EVERY talent should be aware of what they are agreeing to and whether it is “fair.” What is “fair” will have a different definition for everyone so that is not my place to decide. This site is simply for information so voice artists can have a better feeling as to whether they are being treated fairly or not.
I am also NOT against doing freebie or charity work at all! My general rule of thumb is that if the client stands to make a profit from the use of my voice, I need to charge them a fair fee. If the client is not expecting to earn anything, then I would consider doing it for free as well. This blog is called “Treat Voice Over Actors Fairly.” That truly is what it is all about.
Rob S.
Rob,
Thanks for your reply. The example that you gave here of $500 charged to the client and $50 paid to the talent is, of course, very unfair. I also feel that this is the exception, not the rule. As business people, we talents have to do our homework, ask for clear contracts and use some common sense, just like anyone else in business. I think it would be a mistake to assume that these broker companies are all out to use and abuse us and, just personally, that’s not what I’ve experienced. Additionally, I’ll take volume at a decent rate vs holding out for a high rate and only having minimal work. I understand what you’re trying to do here, and I’m sure it’s being done with good intentions, but I think there are many factors that have to be considered when looking at talent fees. Thanks!
Hi Gen! Again, I agree with you 100%, and this blog is ONLY to call out those who we believe are treating the talent unfairly. If you believe you are being treated fairly, that is great, and that is the absolute bottom line. I do not want to, nor do I intend, to try to “fix” rates, set “minimums” or anything like that. The market is the market. “Slave labor”, or other abuses, however, I believe, must be exposed. Thank you for posting, and thank you for helping me to clarify that.
Hi Rob,
I curious about any updates concerning VJ.
I was so shocked by their contract when it was all exposed last month.
Ever since I’ve been weary of joining ANY sites because I don’t want to sign my rights away as an artist.
I know you’re hard at work but I figured I’d throw out a couple sites to see if they are on the Up and Up as well.
42voices.com
Elance.com
Freelancer.com
I look forward to reading more Blog posts from you and the great work you are doing for everyone in our profession.
Best,
Lauren
Hi Rob,
Firstly, kudos to you for taking on the good fight and not only exposing the slave labour predators of the vo world but also educating along the way.
As a follow up to Lauren’s mention of 42voices in a previous blog post – i discovered this on You Tube from 42voices “resident sound expert” on sound proofing your voice over studio..ahem “room”.
If i didn’t think they were serious, I would expect this from MAD TV. wow…words can’t describe the horror. see the freak show for yourselves. nuff said about 42voices:
Regards,
Stone