Some voiceover artists have called on budding artists to focus more on their crafts to meet up with current trends and demands in the industry.
They made the call at the third edition of a voiceover conference, with theme, “ The Future, Survive or Die“, held on Friday, at the Radisson Hotel Ikeja, Lagos
Emmanuel Afemikhe, the convener of the conference, in his welcome address, said that the voiceover industry had been underappreciated, given the role it plays in advertising and promotion of products and services.
“ We started this journey with a vision to address some of the issues that affects us as voiceover artists and also carve a niche for ourselves and find a way to navigate through our challenges,” he said.
Afemikhe urged participants to take advantage of the wealth of experience of members of the panelist and rebrand themselves to maximise their talents and get paid for it.
“ The wealth of experience we have in this building is magnanimous, as an artist in the creative industry, it is important we network, tap into the wealth of knowledge of those before us,” he said.
Stephanie Ugbeye, a voiceover talent actor, urged voiceover artists to have a focus and engage in collaborations that would help make the workload less overwhelming.
Understand your craft, create something that is satisfying, that will showcase your creativity but at the same time bear in mind that you can’t do all the jobs alone, if you need a graphic designer get one, don’t multitask and overwhelm yoursel
“Also, self-packaging without content is of no value to anyone, put in the work, be prepared. So, when opportunity comes knocking, you’d be prepared,’’ Ugbeye said.
Wale Ekundayo, founder of Cerebre Media Africa, said, “having a great voice is not just enough but understanding how to deliver especially Return of Investment.
“Selling is a science, if you have a very good voice and your clients don’t get value for their money, then the purpose is defeated.
“You should be able to confidently say, if I do these commercial for you, over one million people will buy your products. Once you can do that you will have these clients retainers locked down, the fact that hundreds saw an advert doesn’t translate into money.
“Stay on your lane, understand what works for you and your integrity should be top notch if you want to remain in business for a long time.”
Also, Adebisi Adetayo, a director of animation at 32AD Animation Studios, tasked voiceover artists to be their authentic selves.
“When we created Lady Buckit and the Motley Mopsters, we didn’t know we had this pot of soup, this industry will thrive on originality, telling the African stories.
“We can’t sound more foreign than the Europeans, we need to tell our stories in our mother tongue, Nigerians in the diaspora want things to remind them out their roots, authenticity will keep you in business for a long while,” he said.
There was a solo performance form CJ Kings, he read and acted in short mono drama about domestic violence, his performance was applauded.
Remi Olutimehin, a voiceover director and producer, urged artists to understand the law of the industry in terms of royalties./;
“There’s a beast out there waiting to devour, so as a voiceover artist, you need to prepare yourself by understanding what the law says and applying it.
“A lot of us have been cheated out of royalties that should be have been ours by right. If we did our due diligence, a lot is happening and we need to learn from other’s mistakes, so we don’t toe the same part,” he said.
Chioma Okpala, popularly known as Chioma BBB, advised the body in charge of voiceover artists to get their acts together and protect the right of artists.
“The Association of Voiceover Artist Nigeria should wake up to its responsibilities, if we want to be taken seriously, we need to have a united front.
“There should be a standard price rate and this shouldn’t in anyway underrate the value of the work a voiceover artist puts in.
“We need to attribute value to ourselves, if we get this right, agencies will understand that without us the creatives, there is nothing they can achieve,” she said.
The Secretary General of the Association of Voiceover Artist Nigeria, Joy Ogbekene, noted that the body was undergoing rebranding.
“We as a body are aware of these challenges and we are focused on rebuilding the association.
“I just want to appeal that we all come together and fight this cause as a body, a divided association can’t achieve much,” she said.
Reports have it that there was a solo performance from CJ Kings, he read and acted in a short mono drama about domestic violence.