VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

LaurenVoiceRealm · Joined: 29 Apr 2012 Posts: 22 Location: New York, NY

Hey guys.

Looking for feedback from talent like you on what you would like to see on a voice casting website.

And then secondly what you dislike most about casting websites.

Continually trying to make The Voice Realm the ultimate destination for voice talent and clients.

Always open to hearing ideas!

Thanks Smile

Lauren Maree
_________________
Voice and Client Support
The Voice Realm
www.thevoicerealm.com

Here to be a part of the community and get involved in some great conversations with people passionate about the voice over industry.

Bish · Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 6:41 am Post subject:

Hey Lauren... I'll jump in here with a couple of observations.

First of all you have to decided who is your customer and who is your product. With someone like V123, it is clear that their revenue stream is directly from the talent via subscription. The producers (I hate the expression seekers) are offered a free service and access to the talents who pay for the opportunity. Like it or not, at least it's an honest and transparent business model.

On the other hand, Voices try and squeeze both ends (and the middle)... subscriptions provide a steady stream from the talent, and then the compulsory 10% SurePay fee (a thinly disguised agency fee of dubious legality). In addition, their (so called) "professional services" will take a cut from the producer, and then another cut from the talent.

You have to decide who you are serving and above all be up-front with policy. Do you want to be another 800lb gorilla and get thousands of talents paying a subscription (with no quality control), or do you want to present yourself as the "professional alternative" to the existing bear-pits? Are you going to be another vote for the "voice-over is easy... give me your money and find out how" school of business?

Talents are drained (financially and emotionally) by everyone trying to get money from their wallets. Personally, I think that if you attack the market as yet another $300 per year P2P you will not do well. If I were starting a business like this, I would maintain a relatively small roster... don't go crazy with QC and review... simply make it for people who already have accredited representation (let the agents be your QC). Take a slice of the job, or take a subscription. Not both. If you must do both, make the subscription nominal ($50pa). This will act as a filter but offer a low barrier to entry.

However, the most important issue is how you treat the talent. Voices are getting a lot of criticism because they have made it patently obvious that they don't care about the professional talent on their roster. They obfuscate email addresses and actively prevent direct producer/client contact for fear of losing their cut. They probably lose more revenue because of this policy than they protect by forcing it through the site. It simply becomes a challenge for both the producer and talent... a challenge that is somewhat driven by the unacceptable behavior of Voices. In my dealings with producers, I am finding more and more will contact me directly because they simply don't like the Voices policies... which hinder a good producer/talent information flow.

On this point, I'm sure you are aware of a recent discussion on Facebook that is highly critical of your own policy of only using the talent's first name. Yes... I understand that giving the full name makes it easy to find the person directly on the web... but seriously, this policy is so flawed that you lose more opportunities by setting a challenge for people (and it really isn't that difficult to find people). I have a brand identity that I want to preserve... and I accept that a percentage of producers may use your site as a resource and then go direct. But I honestly think you must consider this as the cost of doing business and you are actually losing more (producers and talents) by treating people like children and applying draconian rules (which, ultimately, are nothing but a minor inconvenience). Anyway, I always consider presenting by just their first name is amateurish (like a cheap dating site). A professional with a full name (and brand) is a quality product.

OK... that was longer than I expected. The biggest single issue is to respect the talent and don't treat them like idiots. We are all solo entrepreneurs, and resent being treated like dullards. This has led to a flood of professional talent leaving Voices... however, they don't really care as their business model is not geared around the needs of the professional community.

There's your opportunity. Grab it.
_________________
Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 7:04 am Post subject:

GREAT feedback and insight, Bish! Hear, hear!
_________________
Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

heyguido · Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 8:26 am Post subject:

Yep. Absolutely.
_________________
Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

Rick Riley · Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 10:50 am Post subject:

Lauren, you were recently interviewed by Marc Scott, in a blog, with the interview posted on Linkedin. http://marcscottvoiceover.com/interview-lauren-maree-from-the-voice-realm/?goback=%2Egde_132961_member_5794481000033570816#%21

I'm only familiar with Betty Zoller by name, but she made this comment.

I have been a naitonal voice since 1972 and before than a child actor at MGM Hollywood contract player under contract. Your price is reasonable and your rationale seems good. Best of luck.
Bettye Zoller

Yet I followed this link that someone sent me to your pricing structure. http://www.thevoicerealm.com/quickcast.php

I don't find that Betty's comment and the link match up, as anyone in the business for any length of time, IMO, would find your pricing structure extremely low. Either that, or misleading. Am I missing something?

BTW, I'm with Bish on all counts!
_________________
Never do anything you wouldn't want to explain to the Paramedics

www.rickrileyvoice.com

heyguido · Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 11:32 am Post subject:

Rick....

Try this page....
http://www.thevoicerealm.com/voice-over-rates.php

As I'm not on VR, I can't speak to who gets the cheap rates you pointed to, but the rates above are enough to attract some talents known to many of us.... I saw a certain friend in Vegas listed on the 1st page.

Just sayin'. Inoccent

_________________
Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

Edwino · Joined: 29 Oct 2012 Posts: 22 Location: Mid Atlantic

My opinion is that the rates at Voice Realm are on the low side. I think it would be better with a range, or if not, at least the option to put a higher rate (not lower).

LaurenVoiceRealm · Joined: 29 Apr 2012 Posts: 22 Location: New York, NY

Hi Bish

Let me answer all your valid comments below:

LaurenVoiceRealm · Joined: 29 Apr 2012 Posts: 22 Location: New York, NY

Hi Rick!

Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 4:09 am Post subject:

So as a talent who has been on the two other 'big sites', I'm curious as to what kind of success some of you have had with VoiceRealm compared to the "800 lb gorillas" out there?

To be honest, I was not even familiar with VoiceRealm until this thread appeared. At $99, the annual fee is very reasonable, and if any of you have experienced good ROI with this site, I'd like to hear about it, to consider whether to add it to my own personal arsenal.
_________________
Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 11:00 am Post subject:

LaurenVoiceRealm · Joined: 29 Apr 2012 Posts: 22 Location: New York, NY

Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 12:16 pm Post subject:

Lauren, may I offer a really unbiased observation?

You and I don't know each other at all, and up til now I was not familiar with the Voice Realm. So there's no avarice or bias in my comments that follow, just factual observation.

You started this thread stating:

Looking for feedback from talent like you on what you would like to see on a voice casting website.

And then secondly what you dislike most about casting websites.

Continually trying to make The Voice Realm the ultimate destination for voice talent and clients.

Always open to hearing ideas!

Interestingly though, every single objection that has been raised by the very talents here whose feedback you sought, has been answered with a "yeah... but!" type of response.

I personally don't care one way or another. I don't have a dog in this fight. But go back and look at your responses to Jeff and Bish in particular above and you seem to be more interested in justifying the current operating motif as opposed to saying "Thanks for that input. Maybe it's something we need to think about" (if, in fact, you really ARE looking for constructive input).

Just my .02 worth.
_________________
Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

Rick Riley · Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 12:26 pm Post subject:

Lauren, you asked for feedback. I'm with others on this who don't like the fact that you remain a roadblock between talent and the client.

I belong to both Voice 123 and Voices.com. I have pretty much quit using Voices.com because they are so demanding that they receive their 'share' of the pie, they pretty much say, 'we don't trust you' in providing it to us. So we're going to make sure you can't even include your email address when communicating with the client for an audition. That way you HAVE to go through us so we get that 10% SurePay fee that we say upfront, you're not required to use. In essence, you're doing the same thing.

Being a Voiceover talent is all about marketing. Why go to all the trouble of marketing yourself to become a professional in the industry, and then be represented by someone who refuses to acknowledge who you are? You say, 'We only have pro's on the site, but we're not going to tell you who they are!' Isn't that kind of silly?
_________________
Never do anything you wouldn't want to explain to the Paramedics

www.rickrileyvoice.com

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 2:27 pm Post subject:

You asked for feedback, Lauren, but apparently you weren't REALLY asking for feedback. The correct response to a paying customer like me, would have been "I hear your complaints and will escalate them to my company for consideration. Thank you for the thoughtful feedback." And *then* flatly ignore them like any other company.

But that didn't happen. So tell us what you want to hear and we'll repeat it back to you.

Also, don't quote entire posts, thanks.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com