OnLine audtions

[jimron]

I agree with silversurfer. You don't know who these people are, and you don't know what they're doing with your audition. Yes i'm sure the majority of voice seekers online are honest and trustworthy; but there are those out there who are not. And you have no way of knowing who is honest and who isn't. Trust is earned, not given out willy nilly (did i just type that?).

Obviously if the audition comes from an agent, then you shouldn't watermark... because it's coming from someone you already know and trust and have a working relationship with.

Example: a spot I voiced for a local winery was given to the client for audition purposes. Never heard from them after that. Figured they couldn't come up an advertising budget. I had sent them the spot with a watermark, and as a low quality file. a couple of months later i got a call from the production director at a radio station (who's a friend) wondering if i 1) knew that XYZ client was planning on running the spot i created with them, and 2) if i had a higher quality spot they can use. i told him they couldn't use the spot since the client never paid for it. i called the client, they claimed to not know anything about this new schedule. then got another call from my friend saying XYZ client was now cancelling their order because someone at the station notified me they were using the spot. true story... and this wasn't even online.

whether you watermark, or change copy, or don't read the entire script, you need to protect your work. look at some online photo galleries. most have a watermark embedded into the preview photo to prevent people from just downloading and printing the preview photo.

in the old days you didn't have much of a choice. you'd go to the studio or office for the audition, read the copy, and they'd keep that recording. you had no control over it. you had to trust that they wouldn't use it without paying you. with online auditions it's different, you have that control.

[connieterwilliger]

I hope your friend at the station didn't get any grief about contacting you - that would be a real bummer.

[jimron]

Originally Posted by connieterwilliger

I hope your friend at the station didn't get any grief about contacting you - that would be a real bummer.

well the account rep wasn't happy cause she lost a commission, but what can you do. we've all got to look out for one another!!

[Lee Gordon]

Originally Posted by jimron

well the account rep wasn't happy cause she lost a commission, but what can you do. we've all got to look out for one another!!

The account rep shouldn't have been too unhappy because her loss was only temporary. She would eventually have had her commission charged back after the "client" ultimately stiffed the station for the media charges, as you know he would have.

BTW, to answer the original question, "What to you do to prevent someone from using your audition without paying for it?", I do nothing. I work on the assumption that the majority of people we deal with are honest and will pay me for my voice work. If somebody want to steal my demo, let 'em. It costs me nothing out-of-pocket, just a few minutes of my time there are not being taken away from anything that would generate revenue. And if my stuff is good enough to use, it's probably good enough to get some results and eventually, there will be a need for a new spot or a copy change and the client will have to contact me if he wants to keep using my voice. At that point, he'll either have to pay up or move on.

[Steve Royal]

Originally Posted by Lee Gordon

BTW, to answer the original question, "What to you do to prevent someone from using your audition without paying for it?", I do nothing. I work on the assumption that the majority of people we deal with are honest and will pay me for my voice work. If somebody want to steal my demo, let 'em. It costs me nothing out-of-pocket, just a few minutes of my time there are not being taken away from anything that would generate revenue. And if my stuff is good enough to use, it's probably good enough to get some results and eventually, there will be a need for a new spot or a copy change and the client will have to contact me if he wants to keep using my voice. At that point, he'll either have to pay up or move on.

That's my philosophy too, Lee.
It's not as if I have to recover costs of stock or raw materials. For an audition, all that I've used is a few minutes of my time and a little electricity. If a client uses it without paying, I'm really not out of pocket.
I wouldn't like it if it did happen, but I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it.
I never watermark my auditions as I also believe that the majority of the people I work with (for?) are trustworthy. As I'm in Australia and most of my clients are overseas, I have to have quite a bit of trust.
I'm rarely disappointed.
I've only had one online client refuse to pay for material they used. On a percentage basis, that's a failure rate I can live with!
...and I will remember them the next time they ask me to do something for them!
Cheers!
Steve

[jason216]

When I first started doing on line auditions, about 6 months ago, I was worried about theft of services. Now it’s still a concern, but not anything I fret over. If it’s gonna happen, most likely you’ll never find out and think it’s just gone in the pile of other auditions you never heard from, or they will need you again for the new copy they need read for that 4th of July sale coming up. Either way…I was going to do the aud.

I also, feel that in representing myself as a professional I want to give that same courtesy to the professionals I may be auditioning for. That means I don’t put any music any more to watermark or show off my skills, If they’re pro’s…they know what they want…your voice…properly emoted and recorded…that’s it. Any other skills I want to present…I do it in the introduction letter I send out with auds, and I've gotten peripheral work from that letter. Somebody's reading what you write...

Now I know a lot of auditions go out to all kinds of clients looking for voices for all kinds of things…true, but I treat them all with same amount of respect. After all we do put our name on these things.

Lastly, I just don’t want to live my life worried about extremely short-sighted individuals, and I really think it’s really low number, who have to resort to stealing services from people. I need to feel there are good people out there even though they’re anonymous…
It helps me sleep.

Jason