I answered a question about Dispatch on the General Hangout Forum, but thought it would be a good idea to post it here as well. Sorry, it's so long, but I think it's worth the time it takes to read! -- ML
Hi Jfiegen,
Here’s the scoop on Dispatch. This is going to be long read, but I think it’s worth it. Thanks for asking about why Dispatch costs more, and giving me a reason to get off my butt to respond.
When we started TAXI more than 20 years ago, we typically published about 30 listings per month. Over time, that number has risen to 100 “regular” listings a month.
About 10 years ago, we started getting calls from music supervisors who heard about TAXI and needed music much faster than our normal (back then) 30, 60, or sometimes even 90 day turnaround times. To handle the extra listing intake time and expense, “emergency” screening (which is often quite a hard to coordinate), quick turnaround on the outbound music to the supes, and quicker responses to members, we needed to hire an extra staff person who was at higher level than our normal administrative staff.
That person had to be able to essentially run a small company within the company, and to handle the work of what would normally be the jobs of three people, albeit on a smaller scale. We surveyed a group of members, explained what we were doing, and asked them if they liked the idea and if they would be willing to pay extra.
The answer was “yes,” and the members who weren’t interested liked the idea that they didn’t have to pay for it if they didn’t want it. And they REALLY liked the idea that we didn’t raise the price of the overall TAXI membership to pay for that extra person, the office space needed, the extra benefits for that person, computer, etc. You get the idea!
Dispatch was an instant hit, and about 10% of our members signed up for it. They loved it as the people asking for music were often more “desperate.” We found that to be the case with supervisors, and eventually libraries that quickly started to use Dispatch as well.
The libraries often used Dispatch to find music (mostly instrumentals) that they didn’t have on hand when a certain type of request hit their doorstep, and they didn’t have enough (if any) of the right thing to pitch. In the end, Dispatch was loved by the members making mostly Instrumental music and the people who needed it quickly.
In fact, as our more veteran members will tell you, the number of signings and placements resulting from Dispatch listings was higher – we think it’s because of the “desperation factor.”
As time marched forward, the Film and TV side of the industry began to demand quicker turnarounds in general, so about 4 years ago, we began running what we internally call “special listings.” The cost to service all those special listings skyrocketed on our end. Now, at least 3 staffers dedicate much of their time to doing listing intake, clarifying what the end users really need (which is harder than you might think!), writing the listings, re-writing the listings, proofing the listings, getting the screeners assigned to meet the short deadlines, doing fast turnarounds to get the music in the hands of the end users, etc., etc.
I would estimate that we’ve added at least $100,000/yr. in overhead to bring those listings to you, and get the music back to the industry. But in 20 years, we’ve never raised the price of TAXI, even though our members now get about 90 MORE opportunities per month than they used to get for the same $299 per year.
We’ve thought about getting rid of Dispatch and raising the over all price of TAXI, but a survey of a sample group of members told us that most people wanted to the price to stay the same, and the people who wanted Dispatch were happy to pay the pro-rated 43 cents a day to get the Dispatch listings, so we’ve left it as an a la carte service.
Frankly, we don’t market it very heavily because we find that new members who haven’t yet figured out how to hit targets well probably won’t benefit from it as much as more senior members who pitch more effectively due to their experience and learning.
We often tell members to wait until they’re “more in the saddle” before they try Dispatch. We also recommend that maybe they should just try it for the last few months of their membership year so it doesn’t cost them much to give it a test drive (pun intended).
We tend to pick the listings that go out through Dispatch based on what we think are best suited to the TYPE of members who join Dispatch. Those members are typically more Instrumental cue writers/producers who really “get” that side of the business. Some Dispatch listings are in fact for songs, but more often than not, they’re Instrumental-based.
We still see posts like this: http://forums.taxi.com/topic127416.html confirming that Dispatch is effective and loved by the members who choose to upgrade.
So, in the end, I would personally like to raise the price of TAXI to $350/yr. for everybody to help offset the big spike in overhead we’ve seen during the last 4 years of adding about 30 MORE “special” listings per month, on top of the normal batch of 100 per month, which is about 433% more listings than we used to put out for the same $299 per year that our members used to get back in the day.
But feedback from members tells me that’s not a popular idea
![Wink ;-)](https://forums.taxi.com/images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
My advice: If you’ve been a member for at least 6 months, and you’re getting some forwards, and you tend to pitch Instrumentals, consider trying Dispatch. At 43 cents per day, it’s pretty cheap thrill. If you’re still not getting a decent amount of forwards, and you don’t primarily pitch Instrumentals, it’s probably not a good investment.
Thanks again for asking the question, and for taking the time to read this “book” I just wrote
![Wink ;-)](https://forums.taxi.com/images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
One last thought: We’ve recently seen a much more steady flow of great Dispatch listings. And really good ones to boot! As a result of that, one of our members called to thank me the other day, and suggested that we move the additional 30 quick turnaround listings over to Dispatch and charge more for the upgrade, while giving Dispatch members a TON of value for their extra investment.
His logic was that the members who are most productive and prolific benefit most from the fast turnaround listings, and he felt those members would pay more for a larger batch that only they could submit to.
I’m curious to see how other members reading this feel about that.
Thanks again for reading this far!
Michael