The remains of the pay

Transparency has always been of paramount importance to bodalgo. Our reputation heavily builds on our open communication about how exactly bodalgo works from the inside. Consequently, bodalgo's business model is no secret either (and why would it?): Talents may subscribe to a very affordable membership to be able to audition for incoming jobs posted by clients. That's it.

Unlike most other casting websites, bodalgo does not charge the clients, i.e., companies looking for voice actors, in?any?way for posting their jobs. There are no escrow fees, "processing" fees, or "professional services fees." In summary: No. Fees. At. All. Period.

That is hardly the case with any other online casting service, many of which will charge talents?and?clients to use their platform. But – in many cases – the clients don't even realize they are paying fees. To them, very often, it looks as if they solely paid the?talent. And although some players have been forced to be more transparent, hardly any client knows that hidden fees eat up a significant portion of the budget they intended to spend on the talent.

"So what?" you might ask. "Why would a client care at all who gets the money?" – Answer: If they don't, they will not get what they paid for. An example makes this crystal clear:

A 1,000 Dollar project with bodalgo will get you the?experience, quality, and professionalism?of a 1,000 Dollar voice actor. The same project on other services might get you a 300 Dollar talent (and a delighted CEO who cashed in the balance via hidden fees and questionable services).?That?is the issue: As talents only see a fraction of your budget (without you knowing), you end up with auditions from the lower end of the quality spectrum. If you had posted the very same job on bodalgo, for example, the auditions and the final result would have been far superior. And your budget would have ended up where it belongs: With the talent.

Clients are hardly aware they pay the website rather than the talent

Of course,?many voice actors have complained about questionable business ethics for years.?And many openly called very well-known industry players fraudulent because of their intentionally misleading way of conducting their business. To which they even have – deliberately or not –?admitted to!?And many more professionals have left the platforms in question.

Clients, on the other hand, are hardly aware of the situation. The primary reason for this: Talents are preaching to the choir and voice their concerns in voice-over Facebook groups clients have never heard of. And never will. And so the fury is not heard by the ones who – unknowingly – suffer the most: clients who end up with over-priced, sub-par recordings by amateurs who are often the only ones willing to audition for jobs with fee-crippled budgets.

The system of funneling client's budgets into websites' pockets has been going on for years, and it won't stop unless clients demand full transparency about what happens to their money and refuse to work with the companies that charge clients processing fees, escrow fees, and funnel even more to their bottom line by useless "professional services." And it won't stop unless talents refuse to accept these practices and turn their back on platforms that so shamelessly exploit them.

Budgets pay professional quality

A?professional?voice-over does not come cheap. A professional voice-over can boost a commercial to unseen heights where an amateur read can render an entire campaign ineffective.?Professional quality is the most relevant thing a client's budget can buy.?It must not be wasted on useless services and unnecessary fees that only help the bottom line of an unethical business.

That's why bodalgo will never introduce any processing, escrow, or "professional services" fees to clients. Because all they do: Transfer your money, the money you intended to invest in the best audio possible, into the website's pocket.

If you hire talents online,?make sure you?know?what you are paying for. Please don't fall for hidden fees and services that do not add relevant benefits and instead make it more difficult for you to understand where your money ends up.