August 4, 2025 • 8 mins
This week on The Pro Audio Suite, Robbo and AP pull apart one of the most alarming AI voice contracts we’ve ever seen. An offer of $2,500 USD for perpetual, irrevocable rights to your voice? Sounds tempting… but here’s why this could destroy your career.
We dig into:
-
The fine print that locks your voice away forever
-
How AI voice deals strip away future earnings
-
Why SAG-AFTRA and other bodies are pushing back
-
The long-term cost of a short-term payday
Before you sign anything, listen to this episode. Your career might depend on it.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?
Get started.
Welcome Hi Hi Hi Hello everyone!
To the Pro Audio Suite These guys are
professional, they're motivated.
With Tech the VO Stars George Witton Founder
of Source Elements Robert Marshall International Audio Engineer
Darren Robbo Robertson and Global Voice Andrew Peters
Thanks to Triboo Austrian Audio Making Passion Heard
(00:20):
Source Elements George the Tech Witton and Robbo
and AP's International Demos To find out more
about us check theproaudiosuite.com Line up, man!
Here we go!
And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite Thanks
to Austrian Audio Making Passion Heard and Tribooth
Don't forget the code T-R-I-P
(00:41):
-A-P-200 and that will get you
$200 US off your Tribooth Now, AI Topic
of the year Topic of the Topic of
the decade Topic of the century You know,
century really It's a wild beast that's on
the run Ah, it's crazy More and more
difficult to haul in, unfortunately But you came
(01:02):
across something One of your mates sent you
a request An audition request And the contract
or the brief is a little bit odd
Just wow I mean, go back to last
week, right?
What we were talking about SAG-AFTRA and
their contracts and all that sort of stuff
Here's your reason why No names, no pact
drill But there's a clause in this contract
that says Just quickly The overview of the
(01:25):
contract is basically that you sign up your
voice to this product And that's all that's
restricted to So they can only use it
for this product But this is the line
that made me go, what the It says
By participating, the voice selected will grant the
brand perpetual, irrevocable and unrestricted rights to use,
(01:46):
modify and reproduce the AI voice exclusively for
the two specified products How much are they
paying?
Two and a half grand US for a
voice in perpetuity that you can never get
back Yeah That's just madness You know, the
crazy thing is Someone will do it Yeah,
they will And that's the sad part And
(02:07):
I think to put last week's episode with
SAG-AFTRA about SAG-AFTRA and their contracts
in perspective This is why Yeah This is
why they're putting their foot down and demanding
that stuff Because that's just, that's our line
It really is That's just, in all fairness
That's almost abuse That's them recognizing that there
is someone out there who'll go, what the,
(02:29):
I'll take the two and a half Knowing
that they're doing the wrong thing, surely Yeah,
as George and Robert are not with us
for this episode I will use one of
Robert's lines And that is, it's theft And
it is theft It is, I agree Yeah,
it's playing on the mentality that someone out
there's going I've been trying and trying to
(02:50):
get voiceover work for however long and you
know I'm not getting the amount of work
I am Someone's offering me two and a
half grand I'll just take it, thank you
very much Yeah, the trouble is of course
Once that thing is being used, that's it
It's never, you're never going to get it
back Whatever that product is They're never going
to use you again Because they've already got
you So that's it, two and a half
(03:11):
grand And that could be for decades And
what if that product goes on to like,
you know Be another iPhone or something like
that, you know It's like, you've just signed
your life away Seriously I think there's also
another line in there about being used for
other products Was there something in there?
It says, the intended usage of the files
is to create an external facing AI voice
(03:32):
clone That is limited to two of the
client's product lines As well as any future
products, services or extensions derived from Or related
to these two product lines Yeah, there you
go That's the sketchy bit as well That's
right So I mean, you know So if
they come up with an iPhone and then
they go We're going to make an iPod
You know, or we're going to make some,
(03:54):
you know, eye earbuds or whatever Then all
of a sudden they've got your voice there
as well Unless you want to go to
court and fight it Which you're never going
to have the money to do Or find
them or whatever else to even do that
If you're taking two and a half grand
for an AI voice in perpetuity You certainly
haven't got the funds to take anyone to
court Well, yeah, there you go, exactly So
(04:15):
I mean, do you reckon it's intentional?
I mean, I kind of feel like it
is I kind of feel like these guys
are just praying now They're just going, well,
you know, we've seen in the past that
people will just do this So let's just
chuck it out there and see what we
catch Well, the interesting thing is if you
look at the current rates The way it
works is if you get paid per cut
down So if you do a 30-second
(04:36):
read and they go Look, we're going to
do a 15-second cut down And we're
going to do a 10-second cut down
You'll get three fees That's how it works
Yeah, that's right And that's for the usage
of that product of that commercial Three cuts
wherever it's being used, blah, blah, blah This
one, there is no like if we do
a cut down or we do whatever There's
(04:57):
no extra fee, that's it You're done, you're
cooked All right, well, here you go So
I've just noticed this The recording fee is
two and a half thousand US dollars Which
equates to $250 per finished hour of audio
That's finished hour So obviously you're doing some
editing in there as well So you're probably
getting about 50 bucks an hour Yeah, to
(05:18):
do this, to sign it away forever Yeah,
yeah You're not just eat your voice To
sign your voice away forever Yeah, because they
want it all edited It all done, no
processing But a full edit, deep breath, blah,
blah, blah And of course they say there's
no exclusivity expected But the problem is, you
know Once you're on this product, whatever it
(05:39):
is No one else is going to hire
you for the same product Because you're already
on that Yeah, and usually if it's a
big product, they'll ask Yeah, that's right So
they've got exclusivity built in anyway They don't
need to say it's exclusive Exactly God, seriously
It's unbelievable, isn't it?
It's just out of control It is out
of control And hopefully with Nava and all
(06:03):
the other bodies around the world Who are
combating AI and trying to get us Some
kind of protection against AI Yeah Hopefully they
can stop it But I've got a horrid
feeling Yeah It ain't gonna happen Well, this
was sent to me by this mate of
mine Because he was sort of saying, what's
your thoughts?
And what I said to him was, mate,
(06:23):
you've got no comeback And you've basically sold
yourself out At the beginning of your career,
you've sold something out That you might go,
what the hell did I do that for
in five years from now Or something, you
know Particularly when you're looking at If you're
watching YouTube and you get those ads pop
up That you know it's an AI voice
(06:45):
Really awful ads Oh yeah, God, there's many
of those at the moment That could be
the person who takes this job Yeah, that's
right It's heard globally Yeah, everywhere That really
annoying voice on TikTok That American whatever, it's
everywhere It's on YouTube and TikTok and Instagram
I can't think of it Hopefully it was
(07:06):
like a mash-up One of those ones
where AI mashes it up If that guy
does exist and is trying to get other
work He's screwed royally Yeah, if you're everywhere
Yeah, because he will forever be that voice
You know, it's crazy Please, look, I know
it You know, I understand how tempting it
is I mean, God, especially if you're in
(07:26):
Australia Two and a half grand US is
tempting You know, that's close to five grand
Aussie You know, and for some people that
may be For some people who sort of
do voiceover as a second gig That may
be tempting But just think about what you're
signing away Yeah Really, please do I mean,
I get it I know times are tough
(07:47):
But is five grand really worth the rest
of your career?
I don't think so I don't think so
Short-term fix for long-term pain Absolutely
(08:08):
Got your own audio issues?
Just ask robo.com Don't forget to subscribe
to the show And join in the conversation
on our Facebook group To leave a comment,
suggest a topic, or just say g'day Drop
us a note at our website
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?
Get started.
Welcome Hi Hi Hi Hello everyone!
To the Pro Audio Suite These guys are
professional, they're motivated.
With Tech the VO Stars George Witton Founder
of Source Elements Robert Marshall International Audio Engineer
Darren Robbo Robertson and Global Voice Andrew Peters
Thanks to Triboo Austrian Audio Making Passion Heard
(00:20):
Source Elements George the Tech Witton and Robbo
and AP's International Demos To find out more
about us check theproaudiosuite.com Line up, man!
Here we go!
And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite Thanks
to Austrian Audio Making Passion Heard and Tribooth
Don't forget the code T-R-I-P
(00:41):
-A-P-200 and that will get you
$200 US off your Tribooth Now, AI Topic
of the year Topic of the Topic of
the decade Topic of the century You know,
century really It's a wild beast that's on
the run Ah, it's crazy More and more
difficult to haul in, unfortunately But you came
(01:02):
across something One of your mates sent you
a request An audition request And the contract
or the brief is a little bit odd
Just wow I mean, go back to last
week, right?
What we were talking about SAG-AFTRA and
their contracts and all that sort of stuff
Here's your reason why No names, no pact
drill But there's a clause in this contract
that says Just quickly The overview of the
(01:25):
contract is basically that you sign up your
voice to this product And that's all that's
restricted to So they can only use it
for this product But this is the line
that made me go, what the It says
By participating, the voice selected will grant the
brand perpetual, irrevocable and unrestricted rights to use,
(01:46):
modify and reproduce the AI voice exclusively for
the two specified products How much are they
paying?
Two and a half grand US for a
voice in perpetuity that you can never get
back Yeah That's just madness You know, the
crazy thing is Someone will do it Yeah,
they will And that's the sad part And
(02:07):
I think to put last week's episode with
SAG-AFTRA about SAG-AFTRA and their contracts
in perspective This is why Yeah This is
why they're putting their foot down and demanding
that stuff Because that's just, that's our line
It really is That's just, in all fairness
That's almost abuse That's them recognizing that there
is someone out there who'll go, what the,
(02:29):
I'll take the two and a half Knowing
that they're doing the wrong thing, surely Yeah,
as George and Robert are not with us
for this episode I will use one of
Robert's lines And that is, it's theft And
it is theft It is, I agree Yeah,
it's playing on the mentality that someone out
there's going I've been trying and trying to
(02:50):
get voiceover work for however long and you
know I'm not getting the amount of work
I am Someone's offering me two and a
half grand I'll just take it, thank you
very much Yeah, the trouble is of course
Once that thing is being used, that's it
It's never, you're never going to get it
back Whatever that product is They're never going
to use you again Because they've already got
you So that's it, two and a half
(03:11):
grand And that could be for decades And
what if that product goes on to like,
you know Be another iPhone or something like
that, you know It's like, you've just signed
your life away Seriously I think there's also
another line in there about being used for
other products Was there something in there?
It says, the intended usage of the files
is to create an external facing AI voice
(03:32):
clone That is limited to two of the
client's product lines As well as any future
products, services or extensions derived from Or related
to these two product lines Yeah, there you
go That's the sketchy bit as well That's
right So I mean, you know So if
they come up with an iPhone and then
they go We're going to make an iPod
You know, or we're going to make some,
(03:54):
you know, eye earbuds or whatever Then all
of a sudden they've got your voice there
as well Unless you want to go to
court and fight it Which you're never going
to have the money to do Or find
them or whatever else to even do that
If you're taking two and a half grand
for an AI voice in perpetuity You certainly
haven't got the funds to take anyone to
court Well, yeah, there you go, exactly So
(04:15):
I mean, do you reckon it's intentional?
I mean, I kind of feel like it
is I kind of feel like these guys
are just praying now They're just going, well,
you know, we've seen in the past that
people will just do this So let's just
chuck it out there and see what we
catch Well, the interesting thing is if you
look at the current rates The way it
works is if you get paid per cut
down So if you do a 30-second
(04:36):
read and they go Look, we're going to
do a 15-second cut down And we're
going to do a 10-second cut down
You'll get three fees That's how it works
Yeah, that's right And that's for the usage
of that product of that commercial Three cuts
wherever it's being used, blah, blah, blah This
one, there is no like if we do
a cut down or we do whatever There's
(04:57):
no extra fee, that's it You're done, you're
cooked All right, well, here you go So
I've just noticed this The recording fee is
two and a half thousand US dollars Which
equates to $250 per finished hour of audio
That's finished hour So obviously you're doing some
editing in there as well So you're probably
getting about 50 bucks an hour Yeah, to
(05:18):
do this, to sign it away forever Yeah,
yeah You're not just eat your voice To
sign your voice away forever Yeah, because they
want it all edited It all done, no
processing But a full edit, deep breath, blah,
blah, blah And of course they say there's
no exclusivity expected But the problem is, you
know Once you're on this product, whatever it
(05:39):
is No one else is going to hire
you for the same product Because you're already
on that Yeah, and usually if it's a
big product, they'll ask Yeah, that's right So
they've got exclusivity built in anyway They don't
need to say it's exclusive Exactly God, seriously
It's unbelievable, isn't it?
It's just out of control It is out
of control And hopefully with Nava and all
(06:03):
the other bodies around the world Who are
combating AI and trying to get us Some
kind of protection against AI Yeah Hopefully they
can stop it But I've got a horrid
feeling Yeah It ain't gonna happen Well, this
was sent to me by this mate of
mine Because he was sort of saying, what's
your thoughts?
And what I said to him was, mate,
(06:23):
you've got no comeback And you've basically sold
yourself out At the beginning of your career,
you've sold something out That you might go,
what the hell did I do that for
in five years from now Or something, you
know Particularly when you're looking at If you're
watching YouTube and you get those ads pop
up That you know it's an AI voice
(06:45):
Really awful ads Oh yeah, God, there's many
of those at the moment That could be
the person who takes this job Yeah, that's
right It's heard globally Yeah, everywhere That really
annoying voice on TikTok That American whatever, it's
everywhere It's on YouTube and TikTok and Instagram
I can't think of it Hopefully it was
(07:06):
like a mash-up One of those ones
where AI mashes it up If that guy
does exist and is trying to get other
work He's screwed royally Yeah, if you're everywhere
Yeah, because he will forever be that voice
You know, it's crazy Please, look, I know
it You know, I understand how tempting it
is I mean, God, especially if you're in
(07:26):
Australia Two and a half grand US is
tempting You know, that's close to five grand
Aussie You know, and for some people that
may be For some people who sort of
do voiceover as a second gig That may
be tempting But just think about what you're
signing away Yeah Really, please do I mean,
I get it I know times are tough
(07:47):
But is five grand really worth the rest
of your career?
I don't think so I don't think so
Short-term fix for long-term pain Absolutely
(08:08):
Got your own audio issues?
Just ask robo.com Don't forget to subscribe
to the show And join in the conversation
on our Facebook group To leave a comment,
suggest a topic, or just say g'day Drop
us a note at our website
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