A: Andrea, thanks for your inquiry—it’s a good question.

For those readers not familiar with watermarks, it’s a SFX used during an audition that renders the actual track unusable to an unscrupulous “producer” who decides to use the submission without paying the talent for their work. Sometimes the watermark is a constant tone under a portion of the read, other times it’s an intermittent tone or noise that’s peppered throughout the read. And it’s understandable that many actors are concerned that their work will be used without permission or remuneration, which makes this a tough question to answer.

Voices.com has suggested using watermarks on their auditions as protection against sleazy “clients” who take advantage of voice actors’ time and talent. While I haven’t heard of any specific instances of this happening, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised that it has. At the same time, I relate to your concern that watermarks might “put off,” as you say, potential clients.

I personally do not use watermarks, as I find them distracting, and feel that the listener will, too. My approach is simply to leave out a bit of copy, or change a phone number or website address. But when I do this, I make specific note of it in my cover letter, explaining that this is my form of protection, particularly if I’ve never worked with the client before. This way my performance isn’t compromised, and the client understands that I didn’t misread their copy by accident or through incompetence.

I’m sure everyone who submits auditions through Voices.com has decided, one way or another, how to handle submissions. And it would be interesting to see the results of a poll of subscribers to see how it all breaks down. You might try submitting your auditions a few different ways and, through your cover letter, ask the client if your watermark did, indeed, put them off. Most will probably not take the time to respond, but a few might, and it may give you some valuable insight into how your auditions are received.

I do have a question, however, about your auditions that you don’t submit through Voices.com. You say that of the auditions you do in the studio, you get a very high percentage, yet your Voices.com auditions are not yielding what you would call a similar percentage. Do you use watermarks on those auditions? Just curious. There’s the possibility that you may have a lot more competition among Voices.com submissions, versus the auditions you compete against in Spokane. Either way, it’s a numbers game, to a large extent, so don’t despair if you’re not booking a lot through Voices.com. Just audition for the jobs you think you’re really right for, and your bookings will pick up.

I hope this answers your question. Please feel write to write again or call with any other questions anytime.

Sincerely,
Marc Cashman

Cashman Commercials © 2008

MARC CASHMAN creates and produces copy and music advertising for radio and television. Winner of over 150 advertising awards, he also instructs voice acting of all levels through his classes, The Cashman Cache of Voice-Acting Techniques in Los Angeles, CA, and is now also offering one-on-one coaching via email or phone. He can be contacted at cashcomm@earthlink.net or his website, www.cashmancommercials.com.