Wanna know why yesterday’s announcement involving VoiceBank felt so horrible?
Betrayal.
We’re all hard working freelance voice actors who expect the world to treat us fairly in return for our trust in the system.
And then cutthroat capitalism got in the way.
It certainly took over the mind of VDC’s CEO. Somewhere along the road, the worm turned, and there’s no stopping the onerous P2P from its hunger to become the most powerful marketplace force in voice acting.
Hey, the Rockefellers didn’t hesitate to ruthlessly take over oil fortunes back in the day. Same is true of JP Morgan with banking and EH Harriman ‘n’ railroads. Oh, believe me, I doubt VDC’s boss can even approach the mind and finesse of these titans, but the methods are familiar:
- relentless disregard for those from whom he makes his profit
- callous (maybe illegal) business moves across international borders
- appropriation of outrageous commission percentages
- unethical misrepresentations of market realities
- extremely litigious when unexpected challenges threaten
…and he’s laughing all the way to the bank.
We can get mad, but if the anger is not directed, grown, and formed into a credible alternative in a hard-scrabble business world, just kiss your sweet compensation rates goodbye.
Wednesday night we had an overflow crowd for an online meeting that had only 3 hour’s notice. The WoVO faithful turned up in a surprisingly determined and creative mindset. That’s what we need: reality and practicality. We have to acknowledge VDC’s deft business move in a realm few of us know how to operate within.
To see a video recording of the meeting, members only can view it on our private WoVO FB group.
I’ll save my comments about VoiceBank for a future blog.
For now, please help WoVO, help you. Join our ranks at http://www.world-voices.org.
Donate whatever you can at that same address.
World-Voices Organization was made for this hour. Lord knows it should be SAG-AFTRA stepping in to represent our souls in the marketplace, but they’ve made it abundantly clear time and time again that they’re not interested.
Until VDC comes in and steals the Disney jobs, and the ATLAS talent, and breaks open the insular LA marketplace… we won’t hear a peep from the union, and then it’ll be too late.
Now is the time to support your agent. Call ’em and ask ’em what you can do to help them. Get behind whatever organizational efforts they’re making, and keep up with the situation. Be informed and involved.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless in these instances, but you’re not and we’re not.
CourVO