Bitter Words about TAXI, So I've Heard...

[allends]

Sept 12, 2008, 10:37am, ggalen wrote:...But overall, the music business is just plain hyper-competitive, and you have to be very talented at creating what they are buying at the moment.'Cause it's not about art, it's business.Sure, there's some art to it. But this is about what sells. Hence the name "business." Hi Glenn,Something about how you worded your thought caught my eye (I highlighted it above). Your insightful comment would be more complete for me if we were to add that "selling" music requires a lot of sensitivity to what the current batch of listeners wants hear. Sure, it is perfectly fair for you to point out that it's a business matter. But the other side of the coin is: do we as artists offer these listeners what they want to hear at the moment? If not, then it doesn't sound quite right to label this a business matter. You can see why I would jump in with this extra point, can't you buddy? Just Poking In,Allen

[ggalen]

Allen,I guess I just mean that sales comes first. It's about the buyer, not the artist.I agree that it does take a sensitivity to what people are buying at the moment. In this case, the listings and essence of the listed 'Ala' s.If you have two tracks, one that is wonderful art, but nothing like what the buyer is asking for, and another that is OK art, but is exactly the style the buyer gets excited about...then the forward and the deal goes to #2, every single time.Because it's business.Now, if you play for free, it's all about your art. And that's another thing entirely.I think it gets blurry because what we are selling is aesthetic in the first place. So it's easy to think that art trumps matching the listing.

[waltergrund]

Hey,I've been a member for only 10 months now and have made contacts to 3 libraries now that I'm working for outside of TAXI. I had most of the skills, some I developed during this time but I had never gotten the music out to the right people I do now. So, it all comes together I guess. Skills, taste, music AND connections to the right people. TAXI helped me on all of them and I never wrote and produced that much music all my life. I love it...Walter

[suzdoyle]

Perhaps when one gets to a point in their musical career where they're doing only what they truly want (rather than trying to satisfy someone else's market or need), then music is no longer a business, but what a person loves doing and happens to get paid for.To me, getting paid to do music (in its many manifestations) is like getting paid to breathe . . . I'm going to do it regardless, so the pay is merely icing on the cake. Suz

[kouly]

Great comments. I know that I was one of the skeptics for years. I had seen the ads but I was skeptical because of my ignorance. Finally at just the right time a friend asked me if I was a member, I said no and what is this "Taxi"? He then explained it correctly and the light went on. I joined but discovered too soon that I was not ready for Taxi. So I am now rejoining after a year off to get better prepared for sonic construction. Taxi kind of reminds me of a bakery. The customer comes in and places an order. If the bakery wants to stay in business it will do its best to give the customer EXACTLY what they ordered. If it is not exact it must be so close that the customer does not mind. This is something I have had to come to terms with: the fact that I can produce MY MUSIC but if I want to sell to a customer, I will need to produce THIER MUSIC. With all the resources (and many talented and friendly members) Taxi has, this is now one of a small handful of websites that I can't live without. So I have been converted even though I have not had a forward yet, I am in this for the long haul and I know I am in the right place.

[ggalen]

Kouly,You said it better than I did.Yup, making commercial songs for people to enjoy is like baking cookies for people to buy. If you want to sell them, then you have to bake what people want!You can try asking them to buy something new, innovative, and quite different. But they may not want those at first. Or ever.

[stansongman]

We all hate it when someone tells us that our baby is ugly. Those of us who can step back and see it for what it is have a chance to succeed. People who have the "they just don't get me" attitude don't get it themselves. It's not about the industry getting you, it's about you getting the industry. And, it's about striving to be excellent. I hear from folks here in Nashville that you can't get a country cut via TAXI. Well, I also have a plugger representing my catalog in town, and she hasn't gotten me any cuts either, and she's a great plugger. The competition is incredibly high, and so is the songwriting bar. Ultimately, the music does the heavy lifting.

[claire]

and I have a friend who is a major Taxi player who claims that no plugger has ever gotten an A list cut for an unsigned writer in Nashville. maybe so, I don't know. I have a pretty objective view of Taxi and I don't think it's a scam. It's a tool, just like RowFax and Broadjam and Song Link and pluggers and publishers. I think it all comes down to the music and if it's not there, the cuts and the contracts and the tv placements aren't there. If it is there, it's a matter of timing and taking care of business and patience (which, I've heard, is a virtue).and Stan - Rivers Rutherford has already done "Heavy Lifting"... Claire

[matthoggard]

I do have one negative Taxi story that comes via an actual meeting between an artist manager and a well known producer for a major label.Ill not go into detail here. Its a scary story BUT my view is that this is one bad story among the hundreds of good stories I see here. I wont let it jade my views or squelch my belief that Taxi is what I need to help me.M~

[mojobone]

Matt Hoggard's tale doesn't surprise me, in fact I'd be surprised if I didn't hear a few such tales, considering that there are quite a number of unsavory characters in the business and artist managers and producers tend to be manipulative people with large egos, especially in the upper echelons of major media. As Hunter S. Thompson reminds us, there is a negative side.