To go as an addendum to the blog below, Fred North of NorthImaging.com adds this perspective, which just might sum up well the reaction a good many of us would have.
I've seen this debate on VO rates before. What you charge for your your services is up to you. What I charge for mine is up to me. If you want to work for less than me and you get the gig that's called competition. I accept that. I just have to be so compelling in my work that the client feels that he/she has to choose to pay me more.
I'm guessing if someone is willing to voice a book for $75 the laws of economics dicate that it will sound like it was voiced by someone who was paid $75 for voicing an entire book. About 10 pages in the enthusiasm will be gone and if the talent has weaknesses they will be amplified. It is not wrong or right, it is what the the client was willing to pay and the VO guy was willing to take. I suggest that everyone takes a deep breath and steps away from their dramatic proclomations about how it hurts the industry or will cause global warming to speed and instead learns now to compete.
The union talent in LA and New York will get much of the high dollar work. The rest of us will bust our butts to get as many of those deals as we can working remotely and then do a ton of local ads. I'm
tired of the whining. I've done some cheaper deals when I was slow and I'm guessing everyone has at some time even though they won't admit it. I push my rates as high as I can, but it's just good business to fit your rates to the market you're dealing with. Some of my markets are Rolls Royces, others are Chevy's. That's called doing business.
Fred
Thanks Fred…hope you don't mind that I posted this. I've added you to my blogroll.
CourVO
