Broad or vague listings

[hwoodum]

I sent this in an email to the nice folks at Taxi but never heard back. Maybe someone who knows how things work can shed some light on this. I have seen some listings and have even submitted to some of them where they reference particular artists. There was one for Rock instrumentals mentioning Jeff Beck and others. There was one for Ambient/New Age instrumentals referencing Brian Eno, and Patrick O'Hearn. That is definitely helpful, however I'm wondering if the request is really that broad and the reason I say that is because all of these guys have careers that cover decades and their styles have evolved. To give credit, the Ambient listing mentioned a particular album by Robert Rich. That makes it really clear. So my issue is, which album do we choose to focus on, or which phase in the artist's career? What Jeff Beck is doing now is quite different from what he was doing in the 70's. The same for Patrick O'Hearn from the 80's to now. The other thing I am wondering about is whether or not the Taxi staff can get the industry folks to be more specific or at least let the members know that any of the material by the artists referenced is fair game as a guideline. It could really help us to narrow our focus and target better and might even make the screeners' job go a little smoother. It's a pretty wide spectrum. I did manage a couple of forwards out of the Ambient listing.

Thanks for any input.

[slideboardouts]

Generally, its best to reference the artists best known work. If an artist has a career that spans decades with a style that varies throughout, but he/she had that one REALLY HUGE hit album in the 80's, use that really huge hit album from the 80's. If the listing gives you a couple of artists to choose from, look at what all of the artists have in common. Again, using their best known works to draw inspiration from unless specifically stated otherwise.

The other thing I am wondering about is whether or not the Taxi staff can get the industry folks to be more specific or at least let the members know that any of the material by the artists referenced is fair game as a guideline. It could really help us to narrow our focus and target better and might even make the screeners' job go a little smoother. It's a pretty wide spectrum. I did manage a couple of forwards out of the Ambient listing.

Probably next to impossible unfortunately. TAXI can only give as good of a description as the listing party gives them. The listings are actually pretty specific compared to what you get when working directly with companies. The thing is, a lot of times when companies are looking for music, the best they can do is give a couple of artists and a vibe. Like "Upbeat, Fun, hip hop tracks a la B.E.P, B.o.B., Chiddy Bang, etc." Sometimes they won't even give you examples.

I've also found that the more specific a client starts getting, the worse the descriptions are. Thats when they start making up words, inventing genres, telling you to take out the "flute" when the track consists of nothing but guitar, bass, and drums... all kinds of stuff. And then there are the times when they tell you that they want electronica music but in reality want something totally different like Latin. That last one is an extreme example and doesn't happen often, but it certainly happens.

As you do this more and more, you get better at figuring out the listings. Its another skill in and of itself, and its a very important one because you will certainly have to decipher requests outside of TAXI.

-Steve

[mazz]

I would second everything Steve said. We both write for a few daytime TV shows and the production company sometimes is very vague and sometimes when they are specific, they use the wrong terminology. It's frustrating but very common. If the clients were musicians, they might just write it themselves, which would put us out of a job, so we need to learn to speak their (the layman's) language. As musicians, we should have highly developed listening skills and have developed sensitivities to non-verbal communication like when the bass player makes a left turn in the middle of a song and we respond to it musically. We can apply those same skills to interpreting listings, basically "listening" for what's between the lines.

In the Jeff Beck example, I'd pay attention to the other a la's listed because that would give you a clue as to the era of Jeff Beck they have in mind. Often it's better to take a high level overview of the artists listed rather than focus in on any one specific era of the artist's career, particularly if they've had a long one. Often the folks will be referring to the "classic" era of an artist (Blow by Blow, Wired?) because that's what's in their ear, but not always and it's certainly not a rule.

I've seen many different types of descriptions. I asked a library person what they were looking for specifically and they said "great music". On the other hand, a film director I worked with wrote me a one page description complete with "back story" on his vision for the music for the opening of the film, all for a full 45 seconds of music!

It's not an exact science, as much as we'd like it to be sometimes, and sometimes we don't want it to be! So hang in there and learn to surf between the lines!!

Mazz

[hwoodum]

Thanks for the excellent feedback. I have been getting this sense that it is something you get a feel for after you have been doing this for awhile. I think communication is the hardest thing we have to do on the planet, so trying to intuit and get to what people are really saying is a necessary thing. It can even be a fun challenge--as long as it's not in the middle of a heated argument. When I think back to some past forwards I had, I remember having a really good "feel" for what they were looking for in relation to what I had to offer. It turned out to be accurate targeting as a result. Following an artist's most popular or well known material is good advice and I realize that there is no guarantee. I don't feel so lost now about how listings are worded. Just gotta keep workin' at it.

Thanks again.
HW

[t4mh]

A lot of things are harder when you try to work in a genre that your not really used to or trying to sound like an artist that you're not super familiar with. You may well have a concept in your mind but the execution of that music can get to be a struggle as things that you are used to, sort of bleed in... Focus is really important.

HTH
Keith