You’re buying two things, not one<\/h2>\n
Every voice over fee pays for the recording and for permission to use it. The recording is the voice actor’s time and skill: preparing, performing, the retakes, the clean files. That part barely changes whoever the client is.<\/p>\n
The permission is called the licence, and it’s the part that moves. It has four limits: where the recording plays, how far it reaches, how long it runs, and whether the voice actor can also work for your competitors. Change any one of them and you’ve bought a different licence. If you want the longer history of who owns what after the session, our earlier piece on who owns your voice once the mic is off<\/a> covers it.<\/p>\n Here’s the part that surprises people. Most voice over work has no time limit at all. A company video, an e-learning course, a phone greeting, an app, a podcast intro: on our rate card these are unlimited use. Record it once, use it as long as you like, in the media it was made for.<\/p>\n Only advertising carries a clock. Radio commercials, TV commercials and internet commercials (spots paid to run on other people’s websites and feeds) come with one year of use from the day they’re recorded, in the area that was chosen. That’s because an advert is bought precisely to reach more people, and the more people it reaches, the more the recording is worth.<\/p>\n The usage calculator in our new guide. Four choices, one price from the rate card. \u00a9 The Voice Realm<\/p><\/div>\n Area is the biggest lever, because it’s the closest stand-in for audience size. On our card a commercial is priced first for its broadcast region, then for how far it reaches inside it.<\/p>\n A local spot covers one city or market. Regional covers several markets or a state and adds 25 percent. National covers the whole country and multiplies the price by six. The jump to national is deliberate: more stations, more viewers, and a voice that becomes part of a brand people hear everywhere.<\/p>\n The base price changes with the region too. A sixteen to thirty second local commercial is $150 in North America, $200 in Europe and $75 in Australia and New Zealand, because ad markets are different sizes. The calculator does all of this for you.<\/p>\n \u00a9 The Voice Realm<\/p><\/div>\n One year is included. A second year doubles the price, a third triples it, and a buyout in perpetuity costs four times the one year price. Perpetuity means no end date: run it for a decade and there’s nothing more to pay.<\/p>\n Two small things save a lot of trouble. The year starts on the recording date, not the launch date, so if your campaign is weeks away, book closer to it. And when a licence ends while the ad is still running, it needs a renewal. A renewal is just paying for more time, and it’s far friendlier to sort before the end date than after.<\/p>\n So is perpetuity worth it? If the spot could run past three years, yes, because four years of licence buys you forever. If you might change the ad next year, almost never.<\/p>\n Numbers make this click faster than any definition, so here are three jobs worked through the card exactly as the calculator does it.<\/p>\n The corner bakery.<\/b> A thirty second radio spot for one town in Ohio, running for its first year. That’s North America, sixteen to thirty seconds, local, one year: $150, and nothing else to think about. If the owner later wants it on their own Facebook page, posting it is fine. Paying to boost it to the whole state turns it into an internet commercial, and that’s a conversation to have first.<\/p>\n The car dealer group.<\/b> A forty five second spot across Queensland, kept on air for two years because the dealers like to run it every spring. That’s Australia and New Zealand, thirty one to sixty seconds ($100), regional (plus 25 percent, so $125), two years (times two). The total is $250. Notice how cheap the extra year is compared with recording a fresh spot and casting again.<\/p>\n The national brand.<\/b> A thirty second TV commercial across the United States, with a sign off line the brand plans to keep for years. North America, sixteen to thirty seconds ($150), national (times six, $900), in perpetuity (times four). The total is $3,600, once. A three year licence would have been $2,700, so for a line they’ll still be using in year five, perpetuity is the better buy. If they want it on radio too, that’s chosen as a second item, because radio and TV are different audiences.<\/p>\n The national brand in the calculator: $3,600 once, against $900 for a single year. \u00a9 The Voice Realm<\/p><\/div>\n Three very different numbers, and every one of them is fair, because each client bought exactly the audience and time they needed.<\/p>\n “Buyout” is where most quotes go wrong. Clients hear it as “we own it, everywhere, for ever.” Voice actors often mean “one payment, no further fees, for what we agreed.” Both can be true, and they’re not the same thing.<\/p>\n A buyout is only as big as the media, area and time written next to it. A buyout for one year of local radio is still one year of local radio. That’s why the most useful thing either side can do is say the limits out loud before anyone records. Our older piece weighing a full buyout against residuals<\/a> goes into the trade off for voice actors.<\/p>\n The test is simple: is money being spent to put the recording in front of people who didn’t come looking for it? If yes, it’s advertising.<\/p>\n A corporate video on your own website, your own YouTube channel or your own social pages, posted normally, is ordinary web use with no time limit. The moment you pay to promote it, including boosting a post, it becomes an internet commercial with a one year licence like broadcast. And a radio or TV spot doesn’t include online use by itself. On our card there’s a separate “also used online” option for that: $100 for spots up to thirty seconds, $200 for longer ones.<\/p>\n Paid to appear in someone's feed or before their video? That makes it an internet commercial. \u00a9 The Voice Realm<\/p><\/div>\n Clients, put the answers in your brief. Voice actors, ask for any that are missing. What is it, a commercial or something else? Where will it play? Is any of it paid promotion? How far does it reach? For how long? And is there exclusivity or any AI use involved? Both of those last two are off unless they’re agreed, and both are priced separately. On our site, no recording is used for AI audio or data training unless that’s specifically agreed with the voice actor and with us.<\/p>\n If you’re not sure yet, buy the smallest licence that fits today and extend it later. Extending is easy. Paying for reach you never used isn’t something you get back.<\/p>\n \u00a9 The Voice Realm<\/p><\/div>\n Usage is what stops one modest fee turning into years of free national advertising with your voice on it. When you quote, put the licence right next to the number: media, reach, time, non-exclusive. Keep the end date in your calendar. Our guide to quoting without underselling yourself<\/a> has the wording, and if you work union jobs, our SAG-AFTRA rate calculator<\/a> handles the cycle system those contracts use instead.<\/p>\n When a job comes through The Voice Realm, the licence is set by the rate card before anyone records, so you and the client are reading the same terms. You can see the open work on the voice over jobs board<\/a>.<\/p>\n The easiest usage conversation is the one the rate card has already had. \u00a9 The Voice Realm<\/p><\/div>\n The easiest way to get usage right is to stop negotiating it. On The Voice Realm every voice actor works to the same published rate card<\/a>: pick the job, the area and the time, and the price is the price. No haggling, and no surprise invoice when the campaign does well.<\/p>\n From there you can post a free casting<\/a> and hear voice actors read your own script, or browse the voices<\/a> and book one straight from their demos. We hold the payment until you’re happy with the recording.<\/p>\nMost jobs never need the maths<\/h2>\n
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Where it runs changes everything<\/h2>\n
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How long it runs<\/h2>\n
Three real jobs, priced from scratch<\/h2>\n
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The word that causes the most arguments<\/h2>\n
Online is where the confusion lives<\/h2>\n
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Six questions that make every quote honest<\/h2>\n
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For voice actors: say the licence out loud<\/h2>\n
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For clients: let the card do the arguing<\/h2>\n