unfortunately, the internet has destroyed/altered the voice talent industry.
it used to be that talent would go to a studio, and there weren’t that many who did it, so it was a viable living.
now the competition online is so great that the money makers are the site owners, not the artists.
and I’m talking a TON of money.
and there are WAY too many ‘artists’.
I used to make a solid living at this, now I 'm lucky to get a gig or two a year - in fact, I quit trying.
literally thousands of ‘artists’ submit hundreds of takes, the ‘decider’ (usually an untrained ear, hence alot of average work out there) picks form the top 20 - how the hell could anyone remember if artist 3 or 28 or 59 was the exact one they wanted? after hearing all those…
admittedly, it’s not a tough gig. many folks can imitate or come close to lots of desired results.
I do a perfect Sam Neil (truck guy), but who wants to be mocking for a living?
one other thing -it ‘globalizes’ the concept which I personally think is a shame, case in point:
I live (now) in a small town - I found a 150$ job for my small area, on a large voice site, I bypassed the site this time and approached the agency - I said, why would you spend money elsewhere instead of feeding the local economy? they said its easier and faster (which it is)
so some guy in Nebraska (or?), who’s never been to the store the ad is for, nor heard of it, gets the gig because he’s in the first wave of ‘auditions’, even though the exact accent, the natural accent of the area, can be presented by at least 100 local actors - none of whom got the gig, and most didn’t even know the job was available. but the agency gets it cheap.
it cheapens the concept, so I stopped.
and I can do almost every accent there is, not boasting, just saying for the sake of the argument.
another case - in the province I live, the provincial government has a long running ad series for it’s tourism product -we have a very unique way of speaking here - I can do the voice of the talent used, I can do it exactly, I can do it with many variations. but the guy in Toronto gets the long term gig and all fall-out gigs that come from the notice he gets with the awards.
I think it’s unethical and short-sighted in terms of the local economy - that the province allows ANY money for its promotion to spent on talent outside if the talent is here. and there are MANY guys here better than me.
there I finally had a chance to say it. thanks for reading
4 Likes
