As a former tv producer and casting person (who has cast and directed hundreds of voice actors over the years) and now as a full-time vo artist and V123 member, this site is definitely playing some games. Now, to be fair, I've gotten some really amazing gigs on this site... most of which I had to hunt down payments from, over the course of 2 to 4 months, but I digress.

The ranking system? Just silly. Most casting people are way too busy to worry about hitting the Like button on auditions or the heart icon on profiles... they have a job to do and fast. Which, of course, hurts Talent and forces them to "beg" for reviews/ratings, which can be annoying to clients. So, why does V123 bother with it if no one seems to really want/need it? To create a sense of insecurity so that when it goes down Talent become worried enough about their reputations (motivated) to spend more money on the next tier up that promises more auditions and earlier delivery. Until you do that and discover that you only get a handful more auditions an hour or two sooner than before. Pretty gamey.

But, I'm here to tell you that it's all about the audition, regardless of what tier you're on. If you're the right fit for the job and have great sounding audio quality, that's all that matters. Just choose your auditions wisely for the best chance. All this ranking business is just a distraction and a manipulation. Focus on your performance and you should see some progress.

That being said, however...my biggest issues with this site are: the economically discriminatory tiers, the fact that all clients aren't required to pay the money up front to guarantee payment as soon as the job is complete, and way too many mismatched audition opportunities (again, most likely by design... to get us to pay more money for more expensive tiers).

Also, V123 encourages offsite client/talent relationship building, which on the surface, looks great, even generous. However, if the client doesn't pay up and you reach out to V123 for help, they'll tell you they legally can't do anything about it (since it's technically happening off their site) and the most they'll do is send them an email. So, in other words, they encourage you to work off the site so they don't have to take any responsibility. Womp womp

Which brings me to this issue--what if clients prefer to audition Talent on the site, but book and work with them off the site? Or, message them saying how much they like their voice and would like them to audition off the site? Talent doesn't get V123 credit for booking those jobs or being "liked" (happened to me many times) unless they ask the client to do that... which can be very awkward and "needy". Hear that downward whistle sound? That's the sound of my ranking percentage plummeting, despite my bookings and "Likes". Haha. In other words, the ranking system is so not a reflection of reality at all. And clients know that, that's why they mostly don't bother with it.

Anyway, I mostly ignore these tricks because guess what? It doesn't matter. Remember: clients are no more concerned about furthering your career than you are about furthering theirs.;)

Hopefully, V123 will make some changes to better serve Talent, overall. But, in the meantime, ignore the "noise" if you can. Don't give up. Keep going, keep auditioning. That one great opportunity/audition could be a life-changer.

I've used this site since 2013. If you are an actor, I'd like to recommend this platform to anyone who has their Audio 101 already down. In other words, if you're starting out and hoping for an easy way to make money on a "pay to play" site, this is not it. I've been on both sides of Voice123.com - as the client looking for voice talent(working at an ad agency) and now, as the voice talent auditioning to be hired. I recommend this site for both parties. In order to be successful, on the "getting hired" (talent) side, you as the talent need to have a good base knowledge when it comes to the right microphone (condenser versus dynamic), sound card (aka audio interface) and last but certainly not least, your DAW ('digital audio workstation' or your audio production program of choice). Ie: Protools(typically used by more advanced producers or recording engineers), or Audacity (good for beginners learning how to use recording software). In my opinion, a great yet affordable bundle of all but the recording software program, is the: Rode Complete Studio Kit with NT1 Microphone and AI-1 Audio Interface. You can purchase this on Sweetwater's website for $350. Most clients on this platform, can go through an audition list and within the first 2-5 secs of listening to the voice talent, know if they want this talent added to their shortlist simply based on the quality of the recording. As a client we consider this:
Did the talent read the script provided, with the inflection and delivery we described in the instructions part of the audition posted? Does the recording sound like the talent recorded in a room where you can hear a lot of room noise in the background?(AC, refrigerator, or computer fan running, next door neighbor leaf blowing). Is there reverb?(the recording space needs more sound proofing because of a hollow or echo sound in the recording). Is the recording too loud?(maybe your gain is too high) Is the recording too compressed(may sound robotic)? Can you hear pops (plosives) when you say your "p"'s?
Many factors go into a solid recording for an audition worth sharing with the final decision maker. If you have all your production p's and q's checked, you absolutely CAN make this a lucrative gig. Go get em! I've been fortunate enough to make great connections with clients and often, when you give a quality product with good customer service (doesn't take much - be professional, responsive and deliver a quality product) they will come back to you with more work. As a talent, if you paid for the premium membership(the only membership that is worth it and sustainable.(platinum is a whole other ball game and if I didn't know any better I'd think it's there own internal roster of full time talents, background checked, signed in blood and soul sold. Needless to say, I've attempted to get on this list but it's quite the hoop jumping) Any who... premium members... you receive invites to audition via the site's SMARTCAST system(algorithm that uses key words from your profile that are matched with a client's posted and open audition) - think google SEO, so take quality time to create your profile and be honest in your capabilities - Also, don't be discouraged when you see that 20 actors have already auditioned for a project that fits your profile and you're just now getting the invite to audition because guess what?... 9 times out of 10, half of the talents are not submitting quality recordings. So yours stands a chance to stand out. There is an annual subscription fee(currently it is $395/1year) for the previously mentioned, premium membership(most effective way to make use of the site - don't go the free route - more of a teaser) YES! It's worth it if you are capable of delivering a quality audition. I have always made my money back, often times in one single project awarded. Voice123 does not take a percentage from what you make. They make it so that there is quite the autonomy between you and the client once the match has been made, unlike Voices.com (I do NOT recommend that site but that's another review) I do positively recommend this platform for voice talents who wish to beef up their client list or simply want to earn more income as well as to clients who will be able to source from an enormous, world-wide talent pool where you can list a fixed rate to be paid or request quotes from the actors. Any other questions, feel free to look me up on the site.

I've read a few of the reviews and have some comments. Paying $400/year giving you access to many, many auditions is a good deal. Yes, you may have to invest anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for equipment, but there aren't many places where you can get opportunities to make money for a fairly small amount invested. Yes, you may book nothing. V123 isn't in the business of teaching or making sure you book. But every teacher I know in the voice over business here in NY will not tell you you have no chance. They leave it up to you and they do their best to train you. V123 is a business. They aren't going to encourage you not to join.

That said, the new website that was just launched is terrible. There were useful things in the old site that no longer exist in the new one. I just don't get where they got their ideas for a design. I've sent in suggestions for improvements to their old site and NOT ONE was implemented (sure, they may only implement ideas when many, many people suggest them) but I didn't see ANY changes for the better in the old site. They would have been much better modifying the old site rather than completely redesigning the site to where it's almost unusable.

I have been hearing for some time that they were planning on launching a new design. Each time I called, it was, "Oh, be patient, it's coming soon. Nothing. Finally, now, after all the time they supposedly spent on this design, they've come up with this?

I will stay on the site and pay my $400 because I make more than that from the site each year so it's worth it to me, although this new design is going to make it harder to find jobs I want to audition for.

Just an example. The old site allowed you to click one check box and select all auditions on a page (up to 20) and easilty delete them to keep your inbox from being cluttered. Since only about 1 in 15 auditions, for me, were worth submitting, I would click that little box, then UNclick the auditions I wanted to submit, then hit the delete button. That way I didn't have to look through a cluttered inbox to find the good ones. That feature is gone.

If you only had one audition in your inbox and you clicked on that "select all" checkbox, it wouldn't select the one audition. So you had to click on the actual audition to delete it. This was a VERY MINOR bug but in the many years I've been on V123, it was NEVER fixed. And that was just one of many bugs I submitted, along with countless suggestions about design in general that were ignored, not only on the old site but more importantly, on the new site.

The websit is very useful for me