A Speedy Race to the Bottom

Bottom feeder voiceover services are making a killing with YOUR money! Not only do they charge their clients ridiculously low rates, but it's the talents on their rosters who get screwed. Let's use VoiceBros as an example; Voice actors who have used the site have said their rates are really low. A brief look at their site confirms this. The site keeps a ridiculously high 35% to 50% of the budget from every gig.

Here is some verbiage taken from their site; "Each project is priced on a 65% artist commission, 35% service fee basis. A voice artist earns their full 65% commission on all projects submitted within the specified time frame. When a project misses its submission deadline, the voice artist's commission grows smaller. After a 24-hour submission delay, the voice artist's commission will have been reduced from 65% to 50%." Uhm, no thanks! Not to mention that on the site, there is ZERO indication of who owns/runs the site. They've even registered their domain name privately, so there's no info available there. Personally, I prefer to know who I'm doing business with. This is the case with the Voice Realm as well. To this date, nobody in the voiceover industry has any clue who owns the company. Not good.

There are others; Speedy Spots charge their clients a whopping $55 for a sixty-second commercial. Imagine what the voice talent gets paid after they take their commission. Like Fiverr, you would have to work 60 hours a week with dozens and dozens of clients to make a decent living. This is insulting to the talent.

As I have recommended in several blogs already, focus on direct marketing and working with clients direct. The good-paying clients are out there! Many UVT coaches on my staff, including myself have made an excellent living marketing directly to VO buyers. Don't waste your time on these lowball dumpster fire directories where the owners keep a ridiculously large percentage of your money. You've worked hard to get to this level and deserve better.

One of the most popular and accurate rate cards online is the GVAA rate card. These rates are a good starting point for your business. No, not every client will have the budget to pay these rates, but many do! Use this rate card as a blueprint for what you should charge your clients. Don't allow one of these low-rate VO services to rob you of your money! Work with clients direct and try to get on a few talent agency rosters.

The Voice Realm claims to be a talent agency but that is misleading. They are just another pay-to play audition site. Legit talent agencies take a 10% cut of what you book. They don't charge an annual fee to be a part of the roster and don't keep a large percentage of the client's budget for a project. Their rates are fair and pretty close to what you'll see on the GVAA rate card.

I have several other blogs on direct marketing and rates. Be sure to check them out on the main blog page.