Now, 6 months in to my membership, last week I received 3 contract offers via TAXI opportunities. I’m delighted, of course, but I had to change a few behaviours before my ‘Returns’ rate flipped in favour of ‘Forwards’ and therefore increasing my chances of a deal.
This will be well trodden ground for the experienced users of the TAXI service but I’m pitching this article to newcomers who are not getting past the dreaded ‘Return’ email notification. This is not a suggestion to anyone but merely what I’ve learned.
Here’s my plan…
The Brief
The Brief is CRITICAL. Initially, I only ever skimmed the brief and thought, oh they want a Rock instrumental? Here’s one. I’d pay my $5 and send it over. It didn’t matter to me that they didn’t want a guitar solo, that the song should be 3 minutes and not 5. I stupidly thought, well…it’s in the right ballpark, maybe they’ll like it and I’ll have this playing relentlessly on some Nascar show for years on end. I couldn’t be more wrong. I now Follow this plan:
If you tick everything off, you’ll know you’ve done a pretty good job and you’ve actively listened to the brief. Use the TAXI forum if you’re not 100% and get a second opinion.
Be Productive
Be Organised
As I slowly became more productive, my song roster was increasing week on week. I started losing focus on what song was submitted where, what terms, what company, what date….in fact I write so many songs now that I don’t recall what the song I wrote two weeks ago sounds like. Stupid I know! I’d naively pitched at song to a TAXI brief that had already been signed elsewhere and at this point I knew I’d lost track.
Keep Learning
When not writing, or taking a lunch break, dedicate yourself to learning about production techniques, in-depth knowledge of the tools you already own, listen to music and understand what you’re hearing.
Subscribe to loads of music production based youtube channels (including TAXI TV) and use this as a dedicated TV channel of your own. I love doing this….it’s better than most TV!
Oh, and always take on the feedback from TAXI for any return you get. It helps enormously and let’s face it, you’ll never stop learning.
Conclusion
Whilst I’m certainly not a ‘success story’, I do hope to be one and I’m working hard towards making that a reality. Using the formula above has helped me flip my returns rate on its head.
It should be noted repeatedly that a ‘forward’ doesn’t get you a deal, but it does increase your chances.
Roughly speaking, I write an average of 4 instrumentals per week. At around 4 months in, I’m presently looking at around 80% forwards and 20% Returns. This is in stark contrast to when I first signed up. Of those returns, I learn from the feedback and ensure that composition can live another day. Nothing is wasted.
TAXI provides me with focus. It provides me a structured week. The TAXI community is also very supportive and you should tap into ALL of the resources available. It really does help. Thank You TAXI !
I hope this helps other budding writers looking to get that first Forward.
Cheers
Rob
