What is the likelihood of getting an audition if you send a tape when it is not required by all applicants?
One estimate I heard was 5% but I have no idea how accurate this is.

Of the letters sent out requesting tapes, what percentage just give up and move on? That is what percentage of people actually send in the tape? I imagine it is low but how low?

Depends on 3 things:

>what's on the tape,

>how much time I have (both in the sense of "how many weeks away is it" and "how busy am I"), and

>whether I'll even be able to go to the live audition if I get accepted.

(Oh -- and how much do I want the job )

I'd say I do not make the tape probably 75% of the time.

In my opinion, make the tape - you have nothing to loose! In addition, the preparation and then having the opportunity to hear your final product is extremely valuable. If you have a minidisc recorder or some other device that doesn't require studio time (and lots of money) there is no reason not to try!
Good luck

I think its probably always worth a try. I think the tape process is also helpful in getting you to really listen to yourself so you can fix mistakes.

The question is really how often to you actually get an audition if you send in a tape knowing that many people won't bother.

If 75% don't bother, and you have a 50% chance of getting invited then its pretty good. On the other hand if your chances are only 5% of the 25% left, your chances overall are only 1.25%!!

I'm not really sure you can find a metric to determine in advance what percentage of tapes get in. That would only seem to matter if you made a so-so tape, right?

Make a really good tape, and you'll probably get invited. If you give yourself enough time, it's not hard to do.

It's funny this thread is here because I just saw this article online about taping yourself and how easy it is...it actually helped convince me to record myself before this audition that I have next week. i'd never recorded myself before- but I just realized its pretty easy if you have a mic on your computer or even a little tape recorder. in the article...and it makes perfect sense they say by listening to yourself rehearse you can hear the mistakes better and learn how to correct them. It may also help ease any nerves you have about performing if you can hear what the audience will hear."

check it out here: http://makingmusicmag.com/forte_dev/show-forte.php?pageid=75

Forget the "tapes".

Prepare a DVD. (or even a YouTube)