Today’s blog post is inspired by a great question that was posted on Such A Voice’s Facebook page about watermarking auditions that you post on directories such as Voices.com and Voice123.com.
When discussing watermarks for audio files, a watermark refers to a second layer of audio that you would lay over your voice over to prevent a shady client from using your work without paying for it first. If you are auditioning for a commercial, your watermark might be as subtle as a “bing!” sound every few seconds, which shouldn’t be so loud as to get in the way of your actual voice-over work, but would render your voice-over useless for commercial purposes. If you are auditioning for something longer, like a narration, another common watermark would sound like, “This is just a demo by John Smith.” You would insert that watermark anywhere from 10-30 seconds into the full script audition.
Although it’s a great idea to be on the look out and protect your voice over jobs, we don’t recommend that you watermark all of your auditions. If you are working with a well-known client or a repeat client, there is a degree of respect and mutual trust that they won’t use your work without paying you for it. You don’t want to find yourself in the situation where you get passed up for a voice over gig because you offended the client by inserting an intrusive watermark.
After all of your voice-over training and hard work to become a professional voice actor, it’s natural to want clients to treat you with the respect you deserve. However, make sure to maintain good working relationships with all your clients, and you should trust the people you’re working with.
That being said, when should you watermark your voice-over work?
It depends on the interactions you have had with the client. The longer you work in the voice-over industry, the better you’ll be able to tell how to handle these nuanced situations. Some instances in which you should at least consider watermarking your work include:
1) An over-seas client you aren’t familiar with. 2) A new client you haven’t heard of who would like the entire script read for the audition. 3) An “unknown” client or project that was posted through a questionable venue. (I love craigslist.com, but anyone can post jobs there with any goal in mind.)
One good thing about the highly globalized world we live in today is that it’s easy to network with voice-over artists all over the world. If a client treats you badly, you have the option to let the world know through social media. If someone is trying to scam you, it’s also easy to get that information out there to protect future victims. (Ref., the Sleazy Sneeze Guy.)
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July 26, 2010 by Catherine Marshall