Do Voiceover Directories Work?

In short: Mostly Not. Well not for well-paying voiceover jobs anyway

Many of the voiceover directories are over-subscribed and any producer who is trying to find a voice is not very likely to pick you. You are just one of hundreds or thousands of voiceover artists who are listed.

Then have a look at how many of these directories are on the first couple of pages when carrying out a search for voiceover. Apart from the widely-respected voiceovers.co.uk there were none. In fact, just searching today I got to page 5 before one voiceover directory was listed.

When I tentatively started pitching for voiceover work in 2002, I got listed on as many free voiceover sites as I could. Then plucked up the courage to spend some actual real money on voiceovers.co.uk; my first voiceover gig followed shortly afterwards.

There are dozens and dozens of directories: Voice123 (voiceover artists bid for the work - how low will you go?); Voices.com; Opuzz; BigTalent; thevoiceoverdirectory.com; the voiceworks; voicefinder.biz and Bodalgo. As far as I know I only secured one client (who spent thousand of pounds) from all of these websites combined. They are free for a reason.

And then there is another site which I discovered recently called voicejockeys.com with a 50 per cent commission rate and terms and conditions from the dark ages.You do wonder how many of these voiceover websites have your interests at heart. Or do they just treat you like a number as fodder for their own potential clients?

From my own experience, it's much better to spend your money on your own decent website and pay for Google Adwords. In the short term, this is the only way to get onto page 1 or 2 of Google.

However, the BigFish Media website is now near the top of page one of Google in the organic (free) listings - thanks to regular blogging, a good reputation (gained through hard work, repeat business and client satisfaction), using social media, (Twitter, Facebook, Linked In etc) and six months of dedicated work by the team behind our Search Engine Optimisation process.

And we don't have to pay for adwords for our voiceover business anymore.

Do Voiceover Artists need to do Networking?

Running a voiceover business we know how important social media is to its success. You know: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linked In etc.

I have met a couple of real life friends through Facebook. We have also made a good few business contacts (both as voiceover artists and clients) the same way.

But this week we met a potential business partner through Twitter. In real life. And there I was thinking no-one actually reads what is posted there. How wrong can you be?

Anyway Phil runs a video production company also in Woking so we met for a cup of coffee and a chat about the day-to-day running and the challenges facing media production and voiceover businesses. We exchanged ideas and discussed how we might be able to help each other - or indeed work together - in the future.

It seems to have become the norm for people who live and work very close to each other to meet through an international medium of the internet.

Even for voiceovers, its a funny old world isn't it?

Why should voiceovers know about Intellecual Property?

In the United Kingdom there are different forms of intellectual property rights. They all individual and have different duration periods. They are all there to help you protect yourself against other people duplicating or stealing your work. 

The work could be the names of your products or brands, your inventions, the design or look of your products, the things you write, make or produce.  Among these is trademark, copyright and what we discuss in a subsequent post will be copyright. 

As a voiceover artist it is important you know what your rights are and as agents we work to protect those rights. We have turned down work if we cannot guarantee the client will adhere to IP rights. 

What exactly is intellectual property?

An idea by itself is not intellectual property. What is though, is what you do with it. So for example, it is something unique you create physically. An idea for a film is not intellectual property but writing the screenplay is. 

I have this idea for a plucky little fish that finds their voice and when I get around to putting pen to paper then it will be intellectual property. At the moment, then it is simply an idea swimming around my head. And now your head. 

So, who owns what?

There are three areas where IP rights can be owned. Specifically, you own it if you created it (and it meets the requirements for copyright, a patent or a design), you bought the IP rights from the creator or a previous owner, you have a brand that could be a trade mark. 

So I could have bought the rights to my Fish Story from someone else who either wrote it down or someone who had the rights themselves.

Also note that intellectual property can have more than one owner, belong to people or to businesses and can be sold or transferred.  

For example, my Little Fish Story could be owned by me and my fishy friend who collaborated on it, or a team who I wanted involved in it and should events happen that I find myself selling the story then I could decide that a business could own it.

If you are self-employed like many of our voiceover artists are then you usually own the intellectual property rights even if the work was commissioned by someone else. However, if you sign a contract, then that can change. 

This is why it really is important to read that fine print. We always check all contracts and NDAs so that you always retain ownership of your audio and we won’t sign our voices up to things if they are asking you to give up that particular IP right.

Now, if you are employed and you create something as part of your work while you were employed by someone else then you do NOT hold the intellectual property rights. 

In our next blog we will talk about copyright for voiceovers which is an intellectual property right.

What do TV Continuity Announcers do?

There you are, at home, just about to start watching your favourite show Murder She Wrote featuring the fabulous Angela Lansbury (well at least we here at Big Fish Media HQ are). However you can’t recall if you have seen this particular episode. Help is on hand with the informative voiceover - the voice of the continuity announcer

A little like the voice of God, the continuity announcer is that voice that informs you of what is coming up, a short breakdown of the episode or programme.

As it does inform you of what is coming up next this is especially helpful to know if you should make dinner or pour out a cup of tea to watch it instead.  

This voiceover role is fun but with a weighty responsibility and a lot of work. The voice will indicate what is coming up next and then close a programme.

Those chosen to take on the mantel of TV continuity are highly skilled and multi-taskers. They have to watch oodles of programmes before they go on air and get creative to sum up episodes without ruining the plotline and fitting it into a short amount of time.

The voices tend to write their own timed scripts, watch for the time they need to open their mic as the programme credits roll, talk and then settle back to wait for their next live mic moment.

It can be very creative to work on a tight time script and continuity announcers are chosen for their ability to work well in a crisis.

There are times when a breaking news story will interrupt programming and announcers have to think quickly but maintain a sense of calm.

Programme schedules will change very quickly and the continuity person will have to ensure they keep up to speed with the changes and work around that. We are lucky to have several of the major broadcasters continuity announcers on our books and they are a joy to work with.

They are time fiends and can easily make long reads fast but sound slow and make slow scripts sound fast. These voiceovers do it day in and day out. If you would like to work with some amazing narrators, then please get in touch. 

How much does a Voiceover cost?

We are asked on a daily basis how much we would charge to record a voiceover.

Often that is the only information we are given at the initial enquiry.

Well there is so much more information that we need to be able to quote.

Firstly which voice artist would you like?

We'll need the actual script (not just a word count.)

Will this be a wild recording or do we need to fit the voiceover to your video ("sync" or "voice to picture")?

Recording to picture takes much longer and therefore costs more.

Do we just need to send the voiceover artist to Soho (or another third party studio) - and you pay for the studio? Or would you like us to record here?

And most importantly:

Where will the voiceover be used?

Will it be a corporate voiceover (used internally for training or an intranet)? Initially we are often told its a corporate voiceover but it later transpires it will also be used on the web.

Will it be used on the internet? If so on which websites? Will it be on any Social Media sites?

Will it be used on TV? If so which TV stations, for how long and what are the TVRs of the voiceover (usage/repeat fees)?

So you see its a bit more complicated than "How much?"

Should I get a Trademark for my Voiceover Business?

After a lot of faffing about, a lengthy wait and a fair amount of money spent, we have been granted our Trademark!

You will notice the nice little "R" on our logo - a Registered Trademark. This protects our brand for voiceovers.

Interestingly, you will see lots of logos and names with a little "TM" on - this does not mean the company has a Trademark.