A sincere thanks for dissuading me from joining Taxi (for now)

[Unstar]

I recently came across Taxi about a week or so ago. I dig what it's about and what if offers. The registration and submission fees ultimately make sense and are clearly explained. The listings are meticulously and often humorously detailed. There is so much helpful and free content at the bottom of the home page. I was initially eager and ready to plunk down $$$ for membership. I even had my credit card information entered

Then, at the absolute last moment before impulsively submitting my payment information, I randomly thought to myself ... "Let's see what's in the forums." The forums are nicely organized. I came across the "Forwards" and "Taxi Review Station" boards and noted it's where everyone posts links to songs that passed initial screening / were reviewed.

I started listening to the forwarded music ... and then my impulsive bubble burst.

There is an abundance of genuine skill, artistry, and talent in those forwards. I started comparing the forwarded songs to my songs and, boy oh boy, it really made my content feel lacking in terms of freshness, production value, and musicality. Many of the songs that weren't forwarded for valid reasons still sounded great and better than mine quite frankly.

I'm currently on a couple of different music licensing websites. I've been fortunate to land a few decent placements on shows like The Voice, WWE Raw, and some well known cable TV shows. I'm wondering if I got lucky with those now.

The bar is exceedingly high here at Taxi. To summarize, everything has to be "broadcast ready", "cutting edge", "current sounding", and quantized for the most part. Essentially you need to sound like a pro in terms of content structure, mix, and production value. This ultimately makes sense because the listings here are pretty top tier. They're not looking for Youtube blogger background music here. They're not looking for corporate presentation background music here that's for sure.

Most of the listings here require music that needs to be fit neatly into a viable (commercial) genre. Even if the listing indicates they are looking for "old school" or "retro" sound, it seems like it pretty much has to have punchy current production value and "ear-candy" yet still somehow evoke the past.

None of the above are bad things. They're actually good things because ya'll are likely competing with cream of the crop producers for cream of the crop listings.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. After reading the listings, listening to the forwards and reading many posts, I've come to the conclusion that I simply am not ready (good enough content) to become a Taxi member yet. I feel like it will take me 1-2 years before I can become a viable Taxi member. It would be a genuine waste of money.

Here's why:
- I have less than 50 viable compositions. I feel like you need at least 50 strong compositions in commercially viable genres to be a viable member.
- My content doesn't fit neatly and convincingly into mainstream commercially viable genres.
- My content has a dated sound / production values. It's not "punchy" or "current sounding". I need to get up to speed on those techniques.
- I am not prolific enough. I've been doing this on a very part-time basis. This needs to essentially become my unpaid full-time job.
- I don't necessarily have "a plan". I need to work on this because I would like to eventually have a passive income from music.
- I probably don't have the best tools. I own a lot of 90s synths and even a keytar :p I need to find out what the better orchestra plugins are. Mine are sounding a bit chintzy.
- I need to get into some serious sound design. I tend to just tweak the presets a bit.
- I'm not really that good at networking. I'm actually a bit of an introvert. Some have said I'm a "recluse". Just the other day I met someone who has a friend that does this for a living. It didn't even dawn on me at the time to put in a word for me as a collaborator or anything. The good thing is that I'll see this guy again and I'll have some business cards made up.

So for the above reasons, and many others I'll probably come up with later, I made the sound decision to not join Taxi at this time.

However, I do plan on being fairly active in the forums so I can eventually become a member in a year. I'm sure a lot of my questions are already answered. My goal is to have enough viable content in a year so I can join in 2019 in time for the road rally.

I look forward to engaging with everyone on the forums. I have a lot of work to do.

... And thanks again. I'm going to use that money for some software upgrades.

-Vic

[mojobone]

Judging by your terrific post, I think you're missing out by not joining; here's why. You've stated some clear goals, scoped out the territory and shown willing to make course corrections. In short, you're an ideal candidate, and in my opinion you should get to a Rally sooner, rather than later. For a motivated individual like yourself, the guidance a Rally can provide will get you readier, faster. As you may know, time is money and it's in limited supply for us mortals. The Taxi forum is a tremendous resource; the Taxi community even more so, and the Rally? Beyond price, and most particularly if you're 'not ready'. Getting you ready is what it's for.

[chrismugs]

totally agree with Mojo. joining Taxi now could get you more immersed in the culture and there's a chance that a few listings might actually lean towards your strengths. Above all, like Mojo mentioned; the Road Rally will certainly jump start your progress on your intended path.

[VanderBoegh]

Vic, as the others have said, you're kinda looking at this backwards....

When you're just getting started making music, it's the PERFECT time to join Taxi. Here, you'll learn the ropes of HOW to create usable music, so that you don't spend the next year making stuff that won't work for TV. Better to learn that stuff now, then have wasted a year doing things the wrong way. As Mojo said, time is a finite resources. Why waste a year or more, when you could pay the money now and jumpstart things?

Also, man, if there's ANY way you could join and make it to the Road Rally in LA next weekend, you'll be leaps and bounds ahead of where you'd be otherwise.

In regards to your bulletpoints as to why you don't feel ready for Taxi, consider this:

I have less than 50 viable compositions. I feel like you need at least 50 strong compositions in commercially viable genres to be a viable member.

I had nothing worthy of submission when I first joined.

My content has a dated sound / production values. It's not "punchy" or "current sounding". I need to get up to speed on those techniques.

My first productions didn't have a bad or dated sound.... they had HORRIBLE sound. I knew nothing about production, and it showed.

I am not prolific enough. I've been doing this on a very part-time basis. This needs to essentially become my unpaid full-time job.

Yes, but without deadlines and opportunities to submit, learn, and grow, you'll struggle to find the motivation to keep pushing yourself.

I probably don't have the best tools. I own a lot of 90s synths and even a keytar :p I need to find out what the better orchestra plugins are. Mine are sounding a bit chintzy.

If you own a key tar, I bow down before you!

~~Matt

[SawtoothPorter]

You should join! As others have said...all of the points you have made are reasons you should join.

If you want, contact me through PM and I will gladly share my progression to even come to one forward. My first electronic works were compared to Juno Reactor, my synths have been called old, flat, my drums have been called boring...my low end has been lacking...in summary, my tracks were sh!t! However, every failure gave me great learnings and one step closer to success.

I will try to be brief here. I joined Taxi thinking I would write a bunch (and get a lot of attention for) Indie/Alt Rock. In short, I have had 0 rock, indie, punk, alt forwards. In April, I decided to make a change to electronic based music (not all EDM, but Pop/EDM/Hip-Hop and drones lol). I have made a lot of progress in the last 6 months. I had 0 tracks produced and no experience in electric when I made the switch BUT I had the accountability of Taxi listings and making sure I got my money's worth.

Taxi gave me the gift of deadlines, pressure, and a whole community that was WAY more knowledgeable than me. Even if I never make a penny through Taxi my membership gave me the gift of a new talent and put songwriting back into my life. In ways that some folks will never know, my membership to Taxi brought me out of a pretty dark time. Once again, music has saved my life and brought me great happiness.

Take the plunge if you can. You may not find what you are looking for...you might find something WAY better.

[ttully]

Hi Vic,

I would say definitely join Taxi.
It gives you a reason to get better....

When I joined (about 15 years ago) I just had 1 CD of rock music...
You already have 40 more tracks than I did......and sometimes they are looking for dated stuff.
I just tweek the presets too.... but most of the time I just use the presets....many sound great.
When I started, I had no orchestral libraries....in fact I had no libraries at all.....just what ever came with Protools.....
and believe me...they sounded bad!!!

You DO NOT need to have 50 strong compositions to be a viable member!!!!
In fact, those 50 tracks will probably never get placed..... you need to write music that FITS the listing!!!!

I didn't have a plan either.....just keep writing the best you can....you WILL get better!
I was not prolific enough either..... it would take weeks to make a terrible sounding track....
I think my first 238 submissions were rejected.....now about 75% are forwarded.

BUT YOU GOTTA GET IN THE GAME!!!! or you will never score!

My 2 cents,
Tim

[Unstar]

Hi All! I just wanted to thank you all for taking the time to respond with very compelling reasons to not wait and join. I really appreciate all your insight. I'll definitely keep it mind to join sooner than later because I also understand the point about getting into a deadline driven / accountable workflow and discipline. Also, I see the point that eventually I will be someone who writes to spec instea of trying to shoe-horn existing compositions into a listing. Some existing ones might work but from what I see in the listings, most of them won't.

I just spent a fair chunk of change on some necessary upgrades in terms of software / plugins / and some online educational materials.I'll need to take a little time to get up to speed on that stuff and maybe I'll bring that timeline down a bit. ..... and the holidays are coming. #RIP my debit card! I think I also need to treat my area a bit for acoustic. My worsktation is in a basement corner with a brick facade. Lol!

As far as the rally goes, I'm really going to push to make next year's rally. It seems like the rally is where things have a likelihood of happening, meeting cool like-minded people, etc.

Cheers and thanks again.

-Vic

[hummingbird]

Hi Unstar sounds like you made a good decision for yourself, I especially like that you will be active on the forums. I was in the same place as you when I began and the people here helped me so much with getting my tools and skills up to par. TAXI TV on Mondays is a real gem as well, you can watch all the previous shows there is copious information on all kinds of things to do with writing and producing for film/tv. I hope you'll spend time on Peer to Peer listening to tracks asking for feedback and reading the feedback provided as well as posting your own - I learned a lot from that as well.

Just one comment about needing more compositions... I'd say work on updating your tools/VSTs, if you can provide any live instrumentation in the mix that's a plus.. and then start writing to listings (you don't need to be a member to get the listings), get feedback on your track in Peer to Peer in the context of the listing. While it might be good to write 50 or 100 tracks as practice for building skills and production; in the end it's better not to have 50 compositions trying to find a listing that 'might' fit... the more effective thing is to write specifically for listings. So work on chops first.

and Welcome

[Kolstad]

While seeming perfectly reasonable, I think you've put too much work into making excuses.
Thing is that you will never be "ready", as if you are working to some imagined standards, they will have changed once you get around to make the call.

If you want this, it is about being a part of it, and put all of those bullit points you list up to the test, for each and every track you work on. In some cases you will make it because you are matching up, and in some cases you will make it despite you are not. Many of us fail on a weekly basis, despite we comply with all of those things on your well crafted list.

So, while your reasons make perfectly sense, serving as an excuse for not doing the work, it sucks as serving as a support for doing the work.

Support yourself, dont exclude yourself. You need at least yourself as a friend in life.

imho, my2c and all that

[ShannonM]

I think you should definitely join as soon as you can financially do so. The Taxi membership is so worth it! I have been a member for about 10 months, have had a few forwards and no deals yet, but have learned so much. Every return you get, even if it is just a "yes or no" response, contains feedback from music industry experts, which will help you improve so much faster than if you did not submit your tracks. I can't believe how many years of my life being a musician, I didn't know about Taxi, and am thankful to have come across it randomly one day on Google! Since you know about it and can see how awesome it is, may as well just join now! All the best to you!