Fiverr.com has always seemed to good to be true…
One bad apple spoils the whole bunch. It's sad but its possible. In the past I've seen promotional videos from “experts” using music illegally on Fiverr.com I'd love to have Michael Jackson as my opening music. If there wasn't that little thing called, “THE LAW” in the way.
I'm playing with some tools and investigating the options for those who want to spend next to nothing on a podcast. I went looking at Fiverr for artwork. Man was I surprised when I saw Album artwork from my friend Daniel J. Lewis (the man behind podcastcoverart.com) on Fiverr. I sent him an email and asked, are you designeye? (the offending name on Fiverr).
Not only was Daniel NOT designeye but this person had not only stolen Daniel's work and made it look like they did it, they stole his ADVERTISING COPY. This is taking LAZY to a new level. How did I know this was Daniel's artwork? It was for HIS SHOWS (Are you just Watching, Christian Meets World), On the example above you will see the word MINE where Daniel alerted Fiverr customer service.
The reason you don't want to be a jerk to people (in general) is birds of a feather flock together. When I worked with different club owners, I was amazed at how much these people (being competition to each other) shared notes. The same can be said when I was a waiter (restaurants actually helped each other). In this case, I saw Daniel's artwork and let him know. I also know Daniel charges just a bit more than $5 so I thought it was strange that he had reduced his fee to $5.
To Fiverr.com's credit, their customer service pulled the gig in 10 minutes.
So When Is Safe To User Fiverr.com?
I would avoid them when it comes to something they can copy. Meaning, I would use them for voice work (and that is about it).
If I have them add music, they could use something they don't have the rights to use.
If I use them create artwork, they may use images they don't have the rights to use.
While you can use them for voice over, when I have tried them in the past, I had to pay $10 to get the file as a wav file (the best sounding file). Granted $10 is less than $169 from Music Radio Creative, but you won't get the marketing insights and personalized attention either. I love them.
Is there a spot in the middle? Keep in mind you are going to pay with money or time. You can't escape this.
You could:
Spend $10 on Fiverr.com and get a unique voice over recorded.
Then
Purchase royalty-free music from a service like Audio Jungle where you can get a Music Pack from $7 – $70 (or more).
Then
You then take the voice over and add the music manually using software like Audacity.
You might end up with an intro for around $30/$40 and an hour of your time. What do you have more of time or money? Then use that to make your purchase.
My Point: Buyer Beware
I'm not here saying there are not talented people on Fiverr.com. I'm sure there are, and I've used a few. I'm just hear to say ‘Go in with BOTH eyes WIDE open and avoid using items (music and artwork) that could legally get you in trouble.
How would you like to have to recreate every episode because your music has been obtained illegally? How would you like to repost every show because you had to replace the album artwork in the ID3 tags?
As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for…
Good job thanx
This is proving to be a slow process. Yes, Fiverr responded quickly, but within a few hours, the gig was back and only had its cover image changed. (I now suspect that the cover image was designed by someone else!)
A few days later, the offending images were finally removed, but my text is still being stolen on this gig and two others. Fiver hasn’t responded to any of my inquiries since last week.
Amen Mr. Jackson! $5 seems just to good to be true…and it turns out it is.
I don’t think when being sued over music or artwork you can plead ignorance.
Wayne
Dave, I can’t believe what a coincidence that you mentioned them on your podcast. I am working on launching my new podcast in May – The College Money Maze and went to fiverr for a designer for the cover art. I hired designeye, gave me the info about what I wanted and paid $15. He sent me a note asking for more info from me but I did not get to it for another week. When I did get to it, he had already done it. It was not what I was looking for. He was also asking for me to rate his work and my experience. I gave him 2 stars out of 5 and asked him to revise the design (which he indicate that he would do within 24hrs). His next response to me was that he would redo the design if I remove the negative rating. I did not remove my rating and wished him good luck. DON’T USE DESIGNEYE for any graphic art work on your website!!!! He indicated that he was a college student trying to make some money to pay for school. This is not the way to do it.
Ellen
http://www.caregivingstrategies.com
True, Fiverr is so full of scammers now it’s scary! But, once in a while you find a good talent who is really just there to make a living. I’ve got my list of tips on how to find good writers on Fiverr, hopefully it’s helpful to you https://www.slideshare.net/SwanLin3/7-tips-on-how-to-find-great-writers-on-fiverr-76830625