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

[ggalen]

Leon,And yet The Beatles and their original, energetic sound were turned down by every major label in Britain. Every one. Decca thought "guitar bands were on the way out". Finally, little Parlophone took Lennon and the lads.I understand that the Beatles first record "From Me To You" was released in the States for a year and had no success. The label was VeeJay. The next two flopped as well!From the book "The Beatles in America", By Bruce Spizer: "Their first three U.S. singles, Please Please Me (VJ 498), From Me To You (VJ 522) and She Loves You (Swan 4152), had flopped." See http://www.beatle.net/articles/ahdn.htmlThe music business is hard to figure.

[flyingtadpole]

Sept 28, 2008, 7:06pm, fry112 wrote:...when they say they want a song that sounds like a artist then you find a song you have done that sounds like that artist ! Yesss! In a nutshell! And, that also gets around the originality issue. Write what you want, play what you enjoy, no need to cramp your originality, no need to try to write to a specific wish list. Watch the listings and only submit where you have something that looks a match with all of the genre, subgenre, specifics of the listing and the a las. Still not foolproof: I just had two rejections that I thought would be shoo-ins. C'est la vie. But generally, if I'm pitching to a square hole listing, I know my excitingly curvaceous round peg music aint gonna fit...even though the screener may love it. I had one early pitch where the screener was really enthusiastic about the music, but gave it a marketability score of 3. Or was it 2? Ouch. Why? Didn't fit the genre specifics. And of course a happy "R" rating was awarded! Sept 28, 2008, 9:13am, enigmaduo wrote:We decided to try something different and did the solicitation ourselves. I'm proud to say that we now have 6 songs under contract with a Wisconsin based company. But this is the result of OUR labor with absolutely NO credit going to TAXI. . Outside libraries and non-TAXI? well yes, you should be doing that too, on your own efforts. Hey, I'm having a wonderful time right now, no placements in Taxi (forwards, yes) but a heap of my back catalogue with a couple of libraries in the last 3 months. But the Taxi listings are the high bar Varsity, and the ones I use to judge how I'm going. Why not have both?Quote:I'm considering this an inexpensive lesson. If TAXI is viewed as education, it's indeed inexpensive!

[flyingtadpole]

Sept 28, 2008, 10:55am, ggalen wrote:From what I gather about the Taxi buyer situation, your stuff has to sound pretty identical to the "alas" listed, as that is what the buyers who hired Taxi to screen, are looking for.Glenn, it's us (membership fees) hiring TAXI to get us to the potential buyers, the buyers don't hire TAXI. There's a conflict of interest if TAXI were paid both by us and the buyers. That's the cause for so much dissension over the Sonicbids model. This info is somewhere in TAXI's terms/FAQs etc. Went looking just now and can't find, but I know it's there, I've read it. [shouts] TAXI admin? Need a clearly labelled easy-to-find Who-Pays-Who-And-Why button on the website!!!

[michael11]

Sept 28, 2008, 7:41pm, flood wrote:I am in no position whatsoever to speak to this , and I know it.But I will anyway.I see a common theme running through many of the "disgruntled" posts here.The common thread is this: "Somewhere in the music world exists a cabal of people who decide who will and who will NOT be successful. Those who we deem okay will make millions, have lunch at the nice restaurants and be allowed into the good country clubs."I don't buy it.I am maybe the least equipped on the forum to make such a statement, but there it is.I have a TON of experience in another career that nearly mimics this world of music. And let me tell you, the exact same things and thoughts and ideas are unstoppable there.For those who believe such things, it is probably a very good time to look closer at yourself and you songs and your production and your presentation, including your personality when you have an opportunity.Then look again.I am nowhere near good enough to get even a single forward on Taxi. Yet all my friends and family and acquaintances think my music ROCKS.None of them can write a check for my music that will pay my mortgage.I know what I am talking about from a different field, and I may regret writing this come morning, but it is the simple truth.Those who are either not good enough or refuse to improve themselves will levy all sorts of charges against the supposed perpetrators.Look deeper inside yourself.Taxi would LOVE to find the next brilliant songwriter or band or artist. Can you imagine the advertising they could do if they had the next Lennon in their pocket? They would make many MORE millions.It is in Taxi's interest to find brilliance. They have the connections, and if the next Lennon popped up, chances are he would have a much quicker road to success with Taxi than without.Chances are, though, you (and I) are not that person.Yet.Best wishes!LeonQuote:Taxi would LOVE to find the next brilliant songwriter or band or artist. Can you imagine the advertising they could do if they had the next Lennon in their pocket? They would make many MORE millions.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^I think that about sums it up!

[plaincountry]

I've been considering joining Taxi since it was introduced to me about a year ago. I've been writing country songs for about 10 years now, and I've basically just sat on them. Not because I don't think they're good, it's because I'm not sure the recordings and perhaps the arrangements are good enough. They were all composed on Sonar (used to be Cakewalk) with my old Yamaha CBX-T3 General Midi Synthesizer. I get decent sound from it, but not really demo quality. But now I hear things like "taxi is not amateur hour" and about how good your recordings have to be in order to be forwarded, and I'm having second thoughts, wondering if now is the time. I know my songs, in terms of lyric, melody, and "hook," are great, but what I submit will be a homemade demo. Since country music is and always will be mainly about the story, I think I still have a fighting chance, but will Taxi recognize my "diamonds in the rough"? I don't want to be another cowboy with "bitter words about Taxi," so I'd appreciate a heads up as what your experiences have taught you. What's more important--a great recording of an average song or a great song with an average recording? Thanks in advance for your thoughts, B. Stevens

[flyingtadpole]

As "Taxi is not amateur hour" came from me, I'd better respond. But...bear in mind I'm not in the Country market, I'm chasing film/TV, so everything I submit to on Taxi specifically requires "broadcast quality" (it's about the music and the sound) which is not necessarily the case for you (it's about the story?). So I do know, now, that I've got to have a good recording of a good song for that particular market to get a forward. What I see is...the listings are all for professional standard work. It's not a song contest, talent quest or online networking site. So, if you are going to do professional work, then you have to think professional. It's a mindset. And if some aspects aren't up to professional standard, then you work on them, as a professional must. Taxi and these forums have helped me enormously in that respect. Not earning any money and think therefore you're an amateur? Change the mindset. Think professional. Hey, I discovered the other week, in Australia if the local PRO accepts you as a member, the ATO (=IRS) marks you down as a professional musician/composer. Makes no difference that you're not earning anything right now!My music at heart was/is/will be good. Not necessarily great, but good. That I did know. What I didn't know before joining Taxi was exactly what you're wondering about recordings and arrangements. The only way for me to find out was to join Taxi. To do is to learn. One of the recurring refrains in my screeners' early anguished cries was "sounds too synthetic" and "get better samples". My keyboards and soundcards were, um, industrial. It didn't cost a mountain of money to get (eg) Bandstand and Garritan Personal Orchestra, which cured that problem, Audiophile 2496 cards are now cheap, I slowly picked up recording/monitoring gear (mainly Behringer, not the best but adequate and not very pricey) . So issues with your CBX-T3 and homemade recordings, if there do turn out to be issues, may have a simple solution. Is there a problem? Taxi was the only way I had to find out. Other ways might exist, I didn't find 'em...!Edit because I should have added:Welcome to the boards too...have a browse through the sticky thread in the Hangout, this one.http://taxi.proboards27.com/index.cgi?b ... hread=2141

[fallan]

Sept 28, 2008, 6:04am, fry112 wrote:Just when I though most of my Critiques we near perfect I got my first taxi Asshole , But the thing is I call him a asshole because He was so Off . # 290 "Aaron you might want to invest in a pro engineer to do a final mix on your joints. Sometimes the producer is just to close to do an objective job"."Overall, you might want to focus on the mix aspect of your recordings. Most listing are only interested in Master quality. This has become the standard so pay more attention to this".OK I have 2 problems well this is my problem and most Will agree! I have one of the best engineers who has done some Major projects like Bone thugs in Harmony so I have a great engineer But here is also my problem How can someone say my stuff isn't master Quality when all you can upload on taxi is a dry sounding 192 mp3 File? no one sounds master quality and that is something that needs to be fixed. Now you can say my music sucks all day but don't say the mastering is bad when you can listen to master quality !!!So no I don't think its a scam but some people who work at taxi don't know what there doing ! but truthfully that most people in the buisness

[fallan]

Aaron,Your right that was a pretty useless qritique and it seems when it comes to "mixing" its his personal opinion against yours and the "pro" engineer you work with.Like I said in a previous post taxi aint perfect.

[weslong]

I've created a monster...

[flyingtadpole]

Sept 30, 2008, 5:40am, weslong wrote:I've created a monster... Ah well, that's what sometimes happens when you apply the electrodes... (Signed): Igor(I think I should've stayed in the desert a few more days.... )