ACTION/ADVENTURE forward and a question for you

[ckbarlow]

OK, slap, please tell me that all Canadians aren't as cheesy as Steve... LOL!Also, slap, just looked quickly at your TAXI page (I'm at work after all...) and it looks like you are plenty seasoned! I'm truly surprised at no deals yet. But apparently it can take years in some cases.

[jchitty]

Nov 17, 2008, 1:50pm, sgs4u wrote:Nov 17, 2008, 1:16pm, slap wrote:Am I mistaken but I think the best single thing you can do here, way ahead of writing great stuff or not, is to be at the Taxi rallys, it is probably where the real contacts are made , no? And I am sure there are great people to meet. Everyone has a different path. You are posting 1 week after a Taxi Road Rally. Rally excitement and satisfaction are at their highest levels right now. Imagine a group hug for 2300 people. I would say Taxi & the listings, this Taxi Forum and the Taxi Rally are all very important to everyone here, for different reasons. And each of these 3 things has changing levels of importance for everyone as well. The most important personal mantra I have, is to stay open-minded, without assuming I know more than anyone else, or that I don't need to bother learning something."Imagine a group hug for 2300 people."Please don't remind me of the Thanksgiving holiday with all my crazy relatives.

[hummingbird]

Nov 17, 2008, 1:16pm, slap wrote:Am I mistaken but I think the best single thing you can do here, way ahead of writing great stuff or not, is to be at the Taxi rallys, it is probably where the real contacts are made , no? And I am sure there are great people to meet. While I think it's possible to make connections at the Road Rally, I think those connections are more about networking and less about landing a deal. A few lucky souls had their music chosen to play at panels and even fewer got their CD taken by one or more of the panelists. IMO the reason to go to the Rally is to meet other people on the same path, meet potential collaborators, experience 3.5 days of being in the same place with hundreds of other people who love music as much as you do, to listen and learn from classes, panels and experts. In other words, like Steve said, your TAXI membership alone can create those relationships you desire, assuming you are being forwarded & getting deals. And this forum, along with custom critiques, can assist you to get your music to the forward/deal level.Congrats on the forwards. Be proud that your music is at that level - it ain't easy to get an "F" around these parts. No one can say if and when you will get the call.HTH

[jmather]

I'm with H-bird - 30 Fs are a good sign!Just be patient. My Rs have WAY exceeded my Fs, but that's just me. Your stuff sounds really good but you have to keep in mind that there is a major delay in this business, nothing happens overnight, or overyear... What I've learned in my short time with TAXI (1.5 years) is that there's a major "bottleneck" factor in the music business these days - many artists, limited slots - we are inundated with talent. Keep at it and I think we'll all see that persistence and patience will pay off.

[slap]

Thanks to everyone for their great input and kind words But still ...Does anybody know what is the percentage of submissions that are forwarded for a given cue, an average, say. Is it 1%? 10 %? 25% 50% ? I know this can vary, of course, but as a general approximation, surely somebody must have a clue, cos', you see, the problem I have is that once I am forwarded, I am in total limbo, I can't reach or shouldn't try to reach the publisher my forwarded cue is sent to, and most of the time, these companies have zilch Internet presence. Can anyone enlighten this perplexed soul, hehe

[slap]

Btw, Thanks, hummingbird, for your advice In my case, I have been making my living in the music biz for a long time, though, i have produced may many records, played on hundreds of jingles, did TV scoring work, won a lot of producing and songwriting awards here in Quebec, but the French market here is very small . Hence, that is the reason why I am a member of Taxi, to expand my business options. It is not so much to be shown how to do "it", I already am doing "it', I just want to understand the mechanics of Taxi better, so i can make an informed judgment of Taxi's pertinence to my goals.Doesn't anybody have these kind of questions?I want to see the Wizard of Oz up close, hehe ...One thing is for sure, judging from your responses, you are great lovers of music and that is the ultimate reward in itself

[hummingbird]

The forward percentage, according to Taxi's materials, is 6% of submissions.Got questions, feel free to ask

[slap]

On a personal level, Hummingbird, do you know a female singer who lived in Victoria (now in Vancouver) called Teresa Duke?

[slap]

Hummingbird,Thanks for yr invite, hehe So, a few more questions then ...Am I right in assuming that the end game here for instrumental composers is really in fact a supplemental income, as most of these forward deals (libraries, etc..) are tepid moneymakers. Of course, over many years and with 2,567 of 'em sold.. but still...I know that Taxi uses the success story of Matt Hirt quite a lot, but if all he could make out of a lot of cues, hard work, perserverance, talent, etc... ( I have read his story) is 50,000$ so far . as proclaimed in the Taxi ad and I know he has been at it for 4/5 years, that amount of money does not qualify as a legitimate life-supporting job.I am not trying to be negative about it, I just am trying to learn the mechanics of this particular setup as it applies to instrumental composers.Am I in the ballpark here or what?Thanks

[hummingbird]

Nov 17, 2008, 11:13pm, slap wrote:Hummingbird,Thanks for yr invite, hehe So, a few more questions then ...Am I right in assuming that the end game here for instrumental composers is really in fact a supplemental income, as most of these forward deals (libraries, etc..) are tepid moneymakers. Of course, over many years and with 2,567 of 'em sold.. but still...I know that Taxi uses the success story of Matt Hirt quite a lot, but if all he could make out of a lot of cues, hard work, perserverance, talent, etc... ( I have read his story) is 50,000$ so far . as proclaimed in the Taxi ad and I know he has been at it for 4/5 years, that amount of money does not qualify as a legitimate life-supporting job.I am not trying to be negative about it, I just am trying to learn the mechanics of this particular setup as it applies to instrumental composers.Am I in the ballpark here or what?Thanks I believe you'll find that those figures are correct - except Matt has been at this for about 12 years or so, has 500 pieces signed, does this full time, and makes in excess of $50,000 US per year. And he tells you, in the Taxi youtube videos, exactly how he did it.Quality, and then quantity. Obtaining, maintaining connections. Being professional. I've seen his credits, and his BMI statements. What's interesting about his credits is... there's practically nothing on the list for the first 3 or 4 years... and then there's a huge surge of placements.... because the work he did in those first few years started to take off. And he continued to work just as hard and grow his cataloque.I figure my job right now is to produce quality tracks and get forwards with them. Those forwards will grow into deals a year from now. A year after that, I'll start getting more placements from the libraries & publishers I've signed with. Six to 9 months after that, the royalties will flow from those placements. I figure I need at least 200 tracks signed to be making some sort of steady income.... so I'm in the second year of my 4 to 5 (or maybe more) year plan to make that happen (I just signed another deal a few weeks ago).