Voice Actor and Impressionist Josh Robert Thompson (Late Late Show, Family Guy) gives amazing advice about making a living in Hollywood, the work you have to put in, and finding his 'voice' post Late-Late Show (Vocal Qs Podcast)
Voice Actor and Impressionist Josh Robert Thompson (Late Late Show, Family Guy) gives amazing advice about making a living in Hollywood, the work you have to put in, and finding his 'voice' post Late-Late Show (Vocal Qs Podcast)
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If you host any demo reels on YouTube, it might be time to find a new platform. The November 18th changes to YouTube's Terms of Service allow them to monetize any video they want, even if you turn off monetization. This means your demo reels might start with an un-skippable ad, pretty much guaranteeing any voice director will skip over your demo immediately. Also, YouTube will keep all the money from the ads. This is especially bad for any Upwork freelancers, since your Video Introduction is not allowed to have monetization on (I already sent Upwork an email, but feel free to do the same so they actually look at the problem). Here is the paragraph and a link to the TOS:
YouTube’s right to monetize. As noted in the changes to our Terms of Service, YouTube has the right to monetize all content on the platform. YouTube will begin placing ads on videos from channels not in the YouTube Partner Program as part of this.
or to those that are. Allegedly, ACX / Audible is allowing users to return the audiobooks they've listened to which means the authors don't get royalties for that listen which means, if you're royalty share, the narrator doesn't make any money. That's the gist of it, but here's a detailed blog post. While I don't want to discourage anyone from doing what they want or love to do, I believe that it's best to have all the information to make informed decisions. There's always FindAway Voices if you still want to narrate books.
For those that didn't see it, here's the full email (I've highlighted the bit I was most interested in):
"Launched in 2011, the Audiobook Creation Exchange has paved the way for exponential growth in audiobook production and consumption, today supplying over 200 audiobooks in store per day to Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. The ACX online rights marketplace and production engine is available to all authors, publishers, literary agents, narrators and studio pros in the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland. ACX.com connects and educates independent authors and rising actors—many of whom are among 20,000 professional actors who have worked with Audible in the past 5 years—in the art of audiobook performance and creation, and provides title-promotion tools and methods to drive sales and audiobook awareness, allowing our creative stakeholders to reach new audiences on Audible and beyond. Free programs, including ACX University and the Promo Code Tool, seek to level the playing field and further expand opportunity for authors, narrators, rights holders and producers alike.
As you know, we’ve been working to address some ACX authors’ concerns about Audible’s overall exchange policy, and we appreciate your feedback. The intent of this program is to allow listeners to discover their favorite voice, author, or story in audio. In instances where we determine the benefit is being overused, Audible can and does limit the number of exchanges and refunds allowed by a member. But as designed, this customer benefit allows active Audible members in good standing to take a chance on new content, and suspicious activity is extremely rare.
We hope this helps convey perspective to our valued writers and ACX partners as to the impact of our current returns policies. However, in recognition of these concerns, moving forward and effective as of January 1, 2021, Audible will pay royalties for any title returned more than 7 days following purchase. This adjustment does not impact our customers' current benefits of membership, and we look forward to continuing to welcome millions of first-time listeners, enabling our members to discover new content they enjoy and growing the audience for our valued creative partners.Respectfully,
The ACX Team"
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