Been in Biz for 30 years. Dissapointed in Taxi.

[Mark Crozer]

I do relate to what you're saying Neal. Here's a story that illustrates your point.

My first experience of getting a song placed in a TV show was in 2003 when a friend of mine was working as a composer on a very popular Canadian TV drama. The producers of the show were absolutely dead set on using Radiohead's 'Fake Plastic Trees' for the opening scene of the Season Two premiere but they couldn't afford the sync fee that their publisher asked for. So my friend wrote a piece of music in a similar vein which the producers didn't like. I hadn't seen my friend in a couple of years and we bumped into each other in a supermarket one day. He mentioned his dilemma about trying to write a Radiohead-esque song for this scene and asked me if by any chance I had anything that might work. I said I did so a few days later we went to his studio and recorded it. I thought it was great but he said not to get my hopes up as the guys in charge were notoriously disorganized. Anyway, in this case they did end up using my song in its entirety which was exciting for me.

A couple of weeks after the show had aired I ran into my friend again and he said he was working on some music for another episode. He said he'd decided to present them with the same piece of music he'd written as the Radiohead replacement and their exact words were "Why didn't you let us hear this for the Season Premiere, it would have been perfect!"

So... one thing we all need to remember is that we're dealing with human beings. Flawed human beings who don't necessarily have a clue what they're doing despite their job titles.

On another slightly different note... my experience of playing in a band professionally has been exactly the same. Nobody knows what they're doing! You're surrounded by chaos at all times. It's exactly the same experience as playing your local pub gigs but on a much larger scale. It is both exciting and terrifying trying to figure out your set list an hour before going on stage at a festival in front of 50,000 people.

The music business is a very different kind of business from others out there. As soon as you are dealing with anything creative, any degree of objectivity goes out the window. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you're going to do this then you need to be prepared to accept that a lot of the time you're going to submit music that you think (or even KNOW) is perfect but it's going to get returned and you won't know why.

[NealF]

Very true.

I've had this happen to me and my partners over and over. That's the reason I suggest a little loosening of the critiques. NBC was notorious for this. And there were vice presidents on top of vice presidents. One told us he wants more drums. The other said he hates drums. But nobody gave us the rule book to know which one was the one we should listen to.

[Ellwood]

Hi Neal,

We feel your pain!!! For many years, we too were led astray by the critiques of some of the film/TV TAXI screeners giving us bum advice. (In fact, one of them returned two of our songs just yesterday for one of the the craziest reasons we've EVER gotten -- especially after learning what we've learned recently! ) Sometimes the screeners don't get it right.

But we digress...

In February 2009, we decided to go on a mission [CUE: Lalo Schifrin's "Mission Impossible" theme]. It ended up being a really cool mission because we accomplished our mission AND we learned how to network -- which was never one of our strong suits.

What was this mission? To go to the two main sources for production library music to get an explanation of what THEY look for in a GREAT production music library track. And, seriously -- it can be quite different than what the screeners look for.

In the past two years, we met with, talked to, attended dozens of workshops and panels, participated in LinkedIn chats, and even had lunch with several of our two main targets to find out what they really need -- and can use -- in a library track.

These were our targets:

1) The president and/or the A&R person of the top production music companies; and,

2) The music editors (members of the MPEG) who use production library tracks.

What we learned was absolutely eye-opening because it had very little to do with how TAXI reviews the music. We found out that being a "musicologist" (as some of the TAXI screeners were reported to be) was not necessary and in fact got in the way at times. It had nothing to do with how you "develop the theme/motif, etc.," that we were CONSTANTLY being told to do by the screeners. It had nothing to do with how "authentic" our ethnic instruments were.

So, what's the secret? Well, we estimated that it cost us about $12,000 to learn this information in two years. Maybe someday we'll write a book about it. But it should be obvious when you REALLY think about what we just said. And you'll save yourself $12,000.

Good luck, and don't give up!

~ Tracey & Vance Marino

And so, T&V, we are back to square one, fragmented information, flawed direction and a rudderless ship rules the day once again! ....that is until your new book is available, no?

[mazz]

Neal,

For me, I'm glad Taxi is so picky, because it helps me up my game constantly. When computers became more powerful and apps like Garageband became so popular, and with easy distribution on the internet, all of a sudden anyone that could manipulate a mouse was now a "composer". This led to a huge flood of, shall be be polite and say, garbage music into the production music world. Some folks saw an opportunity and created these massive websites to "publish" this crapola and hordes of starry eyed "composers" signed up.

Well, the tide is starting to turn and clients that want high quality, great and targeted music need a place to go for it. If Taxi "loosens" up it's criteria, then they are perpetuating adding to the flooding of the huge cesspool of mediocrity that already exists out there. Even if they suck at articulating what they want, and are sometimes fickle in their handling of music, the clients do want (and can recognize it when they hear it) a higher quality of music than is often readily available to them, so they turn to trusted sources that will be very picky, so they don't have to be.

We've all had clients that can't make up their mind, are vague or downright rude and often seem clueless, but if they could do what we do, then they would, so they need us as much as we need them. We can't control them, the only thing we can control is delivering the absolute best we can on time and with a smile.

Taxi screeners are human too, but they also have Taxi's reputation with their clients in their hands every time they screen a piece of music. I appreciate that attention to detail and maybe a bit of conservatism in their screening, because their mandate is to find great music. If one is not shooting for great in their composing career, then maybe Taxi isn't for that person (I'm not saying that's the case with you, Neal).

I had a meeting with a fellow composer here in SF the other night, he also does some music supervision, and he said that he sees that the demand for music is outstripping the supply, because, in his experience, it's hard to find really good music. He said there's a lot of crap out there to wade through. So there you have it from someone in both sides of the business. Taxi serves as an effective "crap filter" for a good number of well connected clients who trust Taxi to do some of the filtering for them so they don't have to.

Is Taxi the only path to the business? Of course not, as Tracey and Vance can attest. Is it effective? Not for everyone, but if someone lives a long way from the entertainment centers and writes great music, Taxi gives them a shot that they wouldn't necessarily be able to get on their own. Many composers use Taxi as one of the arrows in their quiver. As you know from your experience in the business, 99% of the gig is showing up. After that, who they pick is out of your hands.

Just my $0.22.

Mazz

[NealF]

Mazz.

Just want to clarify. When I say "loosen up" I'm not talking about the quality. Quality should always be top notch.

[mazz]

Mazz.

Just want to clarify. When I say "loosen up" I'm not talking about the quality. Quality should always be top notch.

You mean I wrote all that for nothing!! just kidding!

So tell me a little more about what your definition of "loosen up" would be. Would it be, for instance, if the genre wasn't dead on or something like that?

Someone mentioned Taxi 2.0 before and it's been mentioned off and on by Michael L as possibly having some nice behind the scenes features for the clients.

I know there have been some technical challenges, according to Michael, that have impeded the progress of this upgrade, but if you don't already know, Michael is pretty dedicated to keeping his clients on both sides of the equation happy. He can't always do it, of course, who can (you can't please all the people.......), but one of the reasons Taxi works at all in this extremely flawed business is because of the integrity of the man at the top.

I would like to know more about how you are defining your term,

Cheers!

Mazz

[NealF]

I don't remember the exact descriptions, but I'm not talking about quality. Just how nit-picky some of the critiques get with following instructions. It seems like the order of importance is wrong. A good song is a good song no matter what the structure is. I had one comment that I used a word that was too poetic and not what regular people would say.

But it's hard to give you examples since it's so subjective that my examples wouldn't really prove anything. My last turn down was for a Moby type instrumental. They gave 2 Moby cuts and another group's as examples. I thought I nailed that one for sure. Turned down as not following the client's info. But it had all the elements of the examples and followed the same mood.

Well, at least I got some good tracks to sell on my own.

[crs7string]

Well, at least I got some good tracks to sell on my own.

Neal,

This revelation alone makes this thread worthwhile.

I think everyone eventually realizes that, if not writing for a listing with a clearly defined deadline, the work that did not get forwarded may not have even existed without the listing.

This is also true about work that is forwarded but you are never contacted by the listing party. (which may equate to a return)


I have two tracks being used by a production company on a new show coming out on the Syfy network. One was a forward in 2007, the other a forward in 2008. I never heard from either listing company. I was subsequently able to put them with a non-exclusive library that offers a lot of flexibilty.

Would these tracks have even been created in 2007 and 2008 without the listings? Probably not.

The need to meet a deadline continues to be an important aspect of TAXI listings, even with the emotional aspect of submissions and returns.


As Duke Ellington said: "Don't give me time, give me a deadline"

Chuck

[NealF]

Good point.

[Casey H]

My last turn down was for a Moby type instrumental. They gave 2 Moby cuts and another group's as examples. I thought I nailed that one for sure. Turned down as not following the client's info. But it had all the elements of the examples and followed the same mood.

Hi Neal
We read that type of thing a lot- "It had all the elements of the examples", etc. Obviously, without hearing your track and comparing it to the examples, it's hard to comment. But I will say that in film/TV music, (like it or not), immitation of another band's sound- from top to bottom-- compostion, production style, arrangement, etc is often needed. So, if your track doesn't sound almost like it could have been another track on that band's CD, it probably won't get the forward.

Good discussion.

Casey