Tech Profile: VoiceBunny

What is VoiceBunny, and how did you and your team get started in this field?

My wife, Tania, was an aspiring voice artist; she had been taken advantage of by a few talent agents. I hacked together Voice123.com, the first online voice casting service. Without venture capital, it grew to over 100,000 talents and over 3 million auditions. Clients and talent didn't have to deal with agents and casting directors any longer. Now, with VoiceBunny, we’re speeding up the process of getting a great voice recording to mere minutes by getting rid of the auditioning part and providing an API. Our team consists of voiceover talents, tech superstars and incredibly passionate people from all over the world.

How should the marketing/advertising industry utilize VoiceBunny to create better end results for its clients’ content and marketing strategies?

VoiceBunny is about speed. Imagine being able to put a professionally voiced and produced spec ad in the client's hands by the end of your first meeting or phone call, or getting a budget-conscious client an incredible, professional voice for his new campaign. Crowdvoicing (crowdsourcing voiceovers) allows clients to have access to thousands of voice artists in more than 50 languages. They can bring their ads to new markets, get really creative with their campaigns and stay within their budgets. Plus, by utilizing our API, they can create automatic podcasts for a company blog, pull off creative PR stunts and more. VoiceBunny brings real, passionate human voices to projects where it's never been possible before.

What trends and changes in the market led you to realize that VoiceBunny would fill a void?

The Internet changed most industries forever; it's no different with the voiceover industry. Now, clients expect new ads, campaigns, and ideas to be generated at the drop of a hat. The traditional process of acquiring a voiceover can involve a talent agent, a casting director, producers, directors, hundreds of auditions, negotiations, contracts, etc. Getting a voiceover this way can take weeks. VoiceBunny handles all of the hassle for you: We find the perfect talent, handle payment, etc. All audio is delivered ready-to-use, and you own the copyright. The average turnaround time for an English script is about 35 minutes with VoiceBunny.

How does VoiceBunny use crowdsourcing to attract and acquire the best voice talent for each project?

In all seriousness, it's a sophisticated matching algorithm, coupled with actual human ears listening to ensure that each project gets the perfect voice.

Here's our cute, funny answer from our website: “When a project is submitted to VoiceBunny, it is distributed to thousands of rabbit holes with hares in them. Each rabbit hole reproduces voices of talents at rapid speeds. When a relevant voice is heard by a hare, it bites a rubber carrot, which assigns the talent a vote. A vote is counted for each bite. The talents receiving the most votes are deemed to be the best ones for the project.

What advantages does VoiceBunny have over traditional methods of hiring voice talent?

VoiceBunny boasts speed and price! The traditional process of getting a voiceover can involve a lot of people and many negotiations. It takes weeks and lots of money to pay all these people. VoiceBunny makes the process fast, painless and affordable. And, as I mentioned, you own the copyright – you can recycle a great campaign and create a new one using your voiceover.

What are some unique ways brands can add value for their customers by offering audio content?

Let your customers take content with them! By providing audible content, customers can listen in the car, on the subway, while working out, etc. while a professional narrator reads to them in high-quality sound.

How do you see audio content and crowdsourcing evolving in the next three to five years?

We see more companies automating and improving the creation of their content with crowdsourcing tools that not only include voice, but video, music and design. We'll see more news videos, podcasts, audiobooks, radio ads and eBooks created much faster, at a lower cost and with better quality. Of course, with VoiceBunny, they will also be able to easily translate the content they create to dozens of other languages and reach new audiences.

Alex Torrenegra is the CEO of VoiceBunny, an online platform for crowdsourcing voice overs from over 100,000 professionals in minutes.