A possible Waste of submission Fee?

[boyatheart]

I recently joined an online music publisher/library type website as a result of a Taxi listing, no contracts, simply online register and I was invited to do so by the company after they received my song from Taxi.It seems OK. It's a small operation from what I can tell and I was offered a premium membership for free because of the introduction via Taxi.However, is this a bit of an endless cycle? How many listings are like this? They are not the same as Taxi, but it's still a case of submitting your music in the hope it will be picked up as opposed to actually being used as result of the Taxi listing.The other issue I have is that some listings since I suspect could be for the same company again, which would mean my $5 per song would be a waste, because I can already send my tracks for approval directly to that company, which now has me registered on their system...... but how do I know if I am submitting to a listing for that company or not?Anyone else had this experience before?

[billg]

Someone else mentioned this a while back (as Wade said) & I brought up the same point . A lot of people chimed in with the belief that it's GOOD for someone to receive your song multiple times. That may be true in some instances like a movie super or a label rep etc., but I don't buy it in so far as libraries are concerned. If I were king there wouldn't be any Taxi listings to companies that accepted unsolicited material from everybody but (until then) the only way to avoid it is to not submit to an obvious library listing. A lot of advice that's been given on this is to call Taxi but I really don't think they would appreciated if everybody called everytime they were concerned about this. Maybe it would make more sense to call them AFTER you've been forwarded to someone with whom you already have a relationship & ask for a credit for the $5 submit fee. That way you're not looking for a problem that hasn't happened yet AND if there are enough calls maybe the submissions to those companies would stop (or a "discalimer" of sorts could be added to the listings "this company accepts unsolicited submissions from anyone, be advised . . . you may already have an ongoing relationship with them" . . . kind of like the warnings from the surgeon general on tobacco

[Casey H]

Dec 15, 2008, 4:51am, billg wrote:Someone else mentioned this a while back (as Wade said) & I brought up the same point . A lot of people chimed in with the belief that it's GOOD for someone to receive your song multiple times. That may be true in some instances like a movie super or a label rep etc., but I don't buy it in so far as libraries are concerned. If I were king there wouldn't be any Taxi listings to companies that accepted unsolicited material from everybody but (until then) the only way to avoid it is to not submit to an obvious library listing. A lot of advice that's been given on this is to call Taxi but I really don't think they would appreciated if everybody called everytime they were concerned about this. Maybe it would make more sense to call them AFTER you've been forwarded to someone with whom you already have a relationship & ask for a credit for the $5 submit fee. That way you're not looking for a problem that hasn't happened yet AND if there are enough calls maybe the submissions to those companies would stop (or a "discalimer" of sorts could be added to the listings "this company accepts unsolicited submissions from anyone, be advised . . . you may already have an ongoing relationship with them" . . . kind of like the warnings from the surgeon general on tobacco LOL, BillThey could also include a warning:An anger attack lasting more than 4 hours could be a sign of a serious medical condition and you should seek immediate medical help. But seriously, I think the best you can do is pay close attention to the wording of listings- the same libraries are usually described the same way up front in listings-- East Coast, West Coast, where they've placed, etc. They are supposed to be blind listings so if taxi had to take phone calls and answer as to who the listing party was... well, that would be one helluva seeing eye dog... Casey

[jay10music]

The way the company being discussed here functions is like any other Music Library – they receive requests from Music Supervisors/Producers/Corporate Clients and they provide content from their stock library. They do accept unsolicited submissions and run a type of social networking site to connect artists and producers, but that is not the primary source of the content they supply – unfortunately, this side of the company is the only one that’s really promoted on their website. They reached out to TAXI because they recently formed partnerships with a few corporate clients who are in need of VAST amounts of really high quality material that far exceeded the quantity of music that comes unsolicited from their site. On their site, they charge a membership fee of sorts that will not apply to any TAXI member forwarded to them – the fee is for them to host a site. The listings they’re running with us are to add content directly to their library, given that the TAXI material fits their criteria. They are offering space on their social networking site as well, if the artist/writer so chooses. But that is not the primary focus for them – like a few other libraries we've worked with, they have allowed writers to submit through their site. And virtually all of them have noted to us that they put a heavy priority on TAXI submissions and typically don’t sign much of what comes through to them on the site. One of those companies reported to us that the ratio of what they find and use from the public VS what they find and use from running listings with TAXI is 10:1. Yes, with that company, you're chances of being signed via a TAXI Forward is TEN TIMES better Here are some stats/placements for the company being discussed in this thread:DRAMAFriends (NBC)Dream On (HBO)Coach (ABC)Cheers (ABC)Monday Night Football (ABC)World Championship Wrestling (TBS) -- One of our members made over $15,000 on one cut in our libraryThis Week In Baseball (ABC)Golf on TNT (TNT)Inside the NBA (FOX)Days Of Our Lives (NBC)Best of Beverly Hills 90210 (FOX)All My Children (ABC)General Hospital (ABC)Lois & Clark (ABC)One Life To Live (ABC)The Oprah Winfrey Show (ABC)PROMOSGood Morning, America (NBC)Nightline (ABC)World News Tonight (ABC)20/20 (ABC)Lifestyles Of the Rich and Famous (NBC)The Tonight Show (NBC)As the Internet and the music industry in general continue to change, new ways of doing business pop up nearly every day. We want you to know that we research the companies long and hard before we run listings for them. In nearly 17 years, and more than 900 companies, we've only had two cases where the company turned out to be lame, even AFTER we checked them out.When we encounter companies like the one being questioned on this thread, we often want to turn them away rather than take heat from our members. It's impossible for us to include all this background in every listing we run.We have to decide if it's better to bring these opportunities to our members or pass them up and avoid issues and threads such as this. Your voices have been heard, and we will no longer run listings from any new companies that accept music on their sites. Even though the 10:1 signing ratio for our members is pretty enticing, having our reputation questioned for trying to do the best thing for our members is no longer worth it.Thanks for your opinions!Erin, Michael & Craig

[Casey H]

Dec 17, 2008, 5:32pm, deantaylor wrote:Maybe this is a dumb question. Maybe I am missing something obvious, but ... ............. why not just name the company in the listing? The whole model is based on blind listings to protect the listing parties. If their names were in the leads, they would get inundated with emails and phone calls about submissions. Also, the listings are available to anyone whether they are members or not (they can only submit if a member, of course)... So they'd be publishing the names of these companies to everyone.I do wonder why, in a situation as with this company, they can't simply put a sentence in the listing to the effect, "Although this company does take submissions on-line, they give strong preference to taxi forwards for their bigger clients"... Casey

[windowman]

Dec 16, 2008, 5:26pm, TAXI wrote:The listings they’re running with us are to add content directly to their library, given that the TAXI material fits their criteria. They are offering space on their social networking site as well, if the artist/writer so chooses. Social networking? What's that? It sounds good. I should get in on that. Quote:One of those companies reported to us that the ratio of what they find and use from the public VS what they find and use from running listings with TAXI is 10:1. Yes, with that company, you're chances of being signed via a TAXI Forward is TEN TIMES better Really? Prove it.......Quote:Here are some stats/placements for the company being discussed in this thread:DRAMAFriends (NBC)Dream On (HBO)Coach (ABC)Cheers (ABC)Monday Night Football (ABC)World Championship Wrestling (TBS) -- One of our members made over $15,000 on one cut in our libraryThis Week In Baseball (ABC)Golf on TNT (TNT)Inside the NBA (FOX)Days Of Our Lives (NBC)Best of Beverly Hills 90210 (FOX)All My Children (ABC)General Hospital (ABC)Lois & Clark (ABC)One Life To Live (ABC)The Oprah Winfrey Show (ABC)PROMOSGood Morning, America (NBC)Nightline (ABC)World News Tonight (ABC)20/20 (ABC)Lifestyles Of the Rich and Famous (NBC)The Tonight Show (NBC)I was really, really hoping for a forward to Friends, Coach, Dream On or Cheers. Sorry for assisting in this witch hunt.Quote:As the Internet and the music industry in general continue to change, new ways of doing business pop up nearly every day. We want you to know that we research the companies long and hard before we run listings for them. In nearly 17 years, and more than 900 companies, we've only had two cases where the company turned out to be lame, even AFTER we checked them out.When we encounter companies like the one being questioned on this thread, we often want to turn them away rather than take heat from our members. It's impossible for us to include all this background in every listing we run.We have to decide if it's better to bring these opportunities to our members or pass them up and avoid issues and threads such as this. Your voices have been heard, and we will no longer run listings from any new companies that accept music on their sites. Even though the 10:1 signing ratio for our members is pretty enticing, having our reputation questioned for trying to do the best thing for our members is no longer worth it.Thanks for your opinions!Erin, Michael & CraigNo, thank you. And thanks for patronizing me & the rest of the paying TAXI members. You guys are awesome!Dec 17, 2008, 5:50pm, hurowitz wrote:The whole model is based on blind listings to protect the listing parties. If their names were in the leads, they would get inundated with emails and phone calls about submissions. Also, the listings are available to anyone whether they are members or not (they can only submit if a member, of course)... So they'd be publishing the names of these companies to everyone.I do wonder why, in a situation as with this company, they can't simply put a sentence in the listing to the effect, "Although this company does take submissions on-line, they give strong preference to taxi forwards for their bigger clients"... CaseyCasey- If you have any questions, you should contact TAXI. Don't bring it here, it's bad business.Dec 17, 2008, 7:29pm, mazz wrote:So what that tells me is that, sure, you could join this company and submit to their website along with everyone else with a copy of GarageBand and a CD burner, but an introduction via TAXI (and one company offers a free membership if forwarded via TAXI), puts you ahead of the game because your music is seen to be a cut above that submitted by the unwashed masses.That's how I read TAXI's reply, anyway.MazzMazz- I love what you do & you're a very nice person, but c'mon. Anyone who has a copy of Garageband & a CD burner can join here too. More promises & lots of $$$$, but we both know that there's a ton of people here that should just go the f*ck home. Dec 18, 2008, 4:52am, billg wrote:Well, if the company in question is the one that I was told it is they have screened my songs and not charged me. I see a "button" on the site where you can "upgrade" & I'm not sure what you get with that. I went back & checked my dealings with them because I was a little fuzzy on things (it had been a while since I submitted something to them). I submitted 14 songs about a year ago and 10 were accepted. Two of the four they rejected had been Taxi forwards and seven they accepted had been returned by Taxi. I'm not saying any of this means diddly, I'm just sharing info.There's always more than one way to look at something. The way I see it is this place probably gets a lot of submissions ("everyone else with a copy of GarageBand and a CD burner" as Mazz put it) and if they can get someone else to screen for them and then someone else to pay for it (us!) then whay not! Heck, if I were them I'd give that a shot too, that's a pretty groovy situation.One last thing . . . am I supposed to believe that if they already have one of my songs that fits perfectly for a listing sitting in their catalog that they would ignore it BUT take the same song if it were sent to them by Taxi? I don't buy that. IIt's quite possible that they were glad to have found someone else to do a pre- screen for them for them at someone elses expense.Stop stirring up shit Bill. Why are always the catalyst in these discussions?In my opinion, you're one of the best writers I've heard through this site. Yet, you get a lot of returns, even when you've nailed a specific listing. I don't understand it. You are original in your approach, but wouldn't the listing parties want something that's similar, yet different? Or, are there any listing parties at all? I'm just saying.........TAXI gets very defensive when these type of questions arise & the few that make a meager living from TAXI are always there to show you the f*cking light. (plus the few that have all there hopes & dreams firmly planted in this company & this forum & have never made a dime---- I've learned so much! F* off, go home) You know, because you're an idiot for even thinking that there may be corruption in this company. OK, we're all aware of sleaze in the music business, but it certainly doesn't happen here. Right?ROAD RALLY 09...Here I come!Wade

[aubreyz]

Dec 18, 2008, 8:41am, windowman wrote: ...but we both know that there's a ton of people here that should just go the f*ck home. WadeFunny... I think the same thing when reading your conspiracy laden accusatory posts, but in a slightly different context. Aub

[windowman]

Dec 18, 2008, 10:03am, aubreyz wrote:Dec 18, 2008, 8:41am, windowman wrote: ...but we both know that there's a ton of people here that should just go the f*ck home. WadeFunny... I think the same thing when reading your conspiracy laden accusatory posts, but in a slightly different context. AubKinda like the conspiracy that Jesus actually was real? Here's something even funnier......You probably remember this, I hope.Dec 18, 2007, 7:30pm, aubreyz wrote:Quote:Aub- I don’t know what to say, dude, which could top what you’ve presented here with your last post. Quite remarkable really! I did, however, listen to your music; The Gypsy Van stuff & your solo stuff on myspace. Keep at it!.....Cool man. As far as I'm concerned, let's move on. Thanks for listening to some of my stuff!Welcome to the forum. It's not such a bad, onesided place AubRead the 'keep at it' part a few times over. Eventually, the sarcasm will filter into your brain. Is it there yet? Think about it.It was hard for me not to jump all over that one, but a lot of other folks recognized what I was saying. Incense & peppermints.......Dec 18, 2008, 10:28am, billg wrote:Wade, if we lived closer I'd take you to get drunk.Why not just send me some money for a bottle of scotch, get yerself a bottle, and then call me. We can get drunk on the phone together- It's not as bad as it sounds. Actually, why not just invite me & my GF down to stay with you in VA for a couple of days/weeks. Your place looks like a 'very very nice house'......... I feel a soundalike coming on.Dec 18, 2008, 10:45am, sgs4u wrote:Dec 18, 2008, 10:28am, billg wrote:Thanks Vicky, you summed up what I was going for but it sounds so much nicer coming from you!Wade, if we lived closer I'd take you to get drunk.After you met her, you'd feel even more like that Bill. Cause her real name oughtta be Vicky the Babe Bass Player.And I would love to go drinking with you and Wade, ooh the trouble we'd get into! Especially when Wade takes that mask off. I'm pretty sure that Bill & I would be looking after a very sick B3 player the next day. 'Tis OK because that gospel song you did was wonderful. (Besides the Jeebus part.) The organ was fantastic, Steve. ( I don't know how you miked it, nor do I care, but it was huge.) There's the slight chance that I'm starting to like you.Dec 18, 2008, 10:54am, matto wrote:Dec 18, 2008, 8:41am, windowman wrote:...the few that make a meager living from TAXI are always there to show you the f*cking light. (plus the few that have all there hopes & dreams firmly planted in this company & this forum & have never made a dime---- I've learned so much! F* off, go home) You know, because you're an idiot for even thinking that there may be corruption in this company.So Wade, how exactly would you like us to respond then? Agree with your allegations of "corruption" even though we know they are baseless? Applaud you for personally insulting us? Show up at your doorstep with a side of fava beans and a nice chianti to enjoy with our liver?Just curious...Yeah, again MATTO of the jungle, I wasn't attacking you personally. Sorry if your penile implants caused you to think that. (Yeah, that was personal & now everyone knows, including JIMI). I think you just proved my point by posting. Catch 22? Did you give it any thought or are you just typing away until the next Harold & Kumar movie comes along.Yes, I'm a bitter c*nt. Prove me wrong........WadeYou guys are awesome