Cautionary Tale

[richardmclaughlin]

Having joined Taxi this Saturday I got an e-mail about a video regarding submissions. I watched it; the upshot was about 567 songs that did not come close to the requirements posted by a bank for one of its commercials, and were roundly panned by the viewing audience, along with one that, apparently, did meet the criteria. Was the point of this video that many? most? a lot? of musicians that submit songs are not able to evaluate their songs critically enough to have a decent chance of being selected? Or is it that it's really difficult to get a song selected due to the fact that these commercial requirements are so specific that songs almost have to be purpose-written?

I'm a little disturbed; if the bar is this high than I may have wasted $300.00.

Richard

[admin]

Hi Richard,

Welcome to TAXI! I'm sorry that the show was that upsetting to you. The purpose of the show was to help our members tune their ears. We've had TONS of positive feedback from previous TAXI TV episodes that had live screening. By hearing what was submitted, what didn't make the grade and what DID, the members find that it helps them focus on what the listing has asked for and to do their best to provide it.

As you probably witnessed, many of the submissions had the word MONEY in them, but in one way or another, they missed the boat. We're trying to help our members see those aspects before they submit. We don't make money on submission fees, as they pay for the screeners. We'd MUCH rather get 15 submissions that are on target than get 150 that are off base.

Yes, the industry DOES have specific requirements. That's why they come to us and have us pre-screen the material. They are interested in hearing the best that's out there, but they don't want to spend their time sifting through hundreds that are off target. Maybe the most valuable lesson learned yesterday was that even though a song had the right keyword in it, if it has a negative connotation, feels emotionally wrong for the type of TV spot, or is poorly written or produced, it won't work. By hearing the mistakes made by others, it helps members avoid those mistakes and have a much better shot with their submissions.

Conversely, it seemed obvious why the song that was forwarded DID work. There's also a lesson in that!

I'm glad to see you've joined this Forum. Some of our most successful members hang out here, and they dish out some incredible advice to their fellow members. It's a VERY generous community.

It's not unusual at ALL that new members feel like you do. I hope that others reading this will chime in and let you know that they felt just like you in the beginning, and after realizing that the secret to success is simply giving the industry what it needs, they have become successful.

If a man walks into a shoe store and asks to try on a man's size 10 brown loafer, and the sales person brings him a white, size 7 woman's pump, there would be little chance of the customer buying that shoe. The music industry works in very much they same way. Some folks find that off-putting because they feel it limits creativity, but the REALITY is that the music industry needs what it needs.

Trying to fit those needs doesn't stifle creativity, it just requires that you get creative in different ways. It also doesn't stop you from being creative in ALL other aspects of your music. One doesn't preclude the other.... you can do both.

Forum folks -- I'm SLAMMED today, so please feel free to jump in and relate your experiences as to how you felt in the beginning, and how you've used the info you've gained on this Forum and TAXI TV to help you give the music industry what it needs while still feeling good about your creativity.

I sincerely hope this helps Richard! If you are shocked at how the music industry works, and you are regretful that you've joined, please call me personally at 1-800-458-2111, and I'll happily refund your membership fee today.

Warm regards,
Michael Laskow
Founder/CEO, TAXI

[DaNolman]

Hi Richard,

My advice in regards to submitting music to particular listings would be to carefully read the listing before submitting. When I first joined, I was giving the listing the white size 7 women's pump, hoping the screener would be astounded by this "hit song". That was not the case. I was pretty much trying to throw everything up against the wall to see what stuck.

As I fine tuned my listing reading skills, I began to receive many more "On target for this listing" confirmations. The feedback also started to focus on how to write better melodies, hooks, lyrics, use more contemporary sounds etc. I found that feedback priceless - almost like having a personal trainer for your music muscles.

Another thing I do is to always listen to the "a la" examples. If you aren't sounding like the a la's, you're bringing more white size 7 women's pumps.

Whatever direction you choose, best wishes and good luck in your musical journey. If you're doing what you love, it can only be good right?

aloha!

[sedge]

yep, can say for me that joining this forum answered a lot of doubts, mainly that I didn't know who Taxi were at first, naturally cautious and things, but I liked the sound of what was happening here.
Meeting the folks on the forum, shouting up about things that don't seem right all get responded too with a bunch of cool folks.

Now I'm pretty much dipping in here every break I get, like now

I'd say the bar is high, but good that it is - so it should be

When I first joined I felt the same about the Bar, looking at my modest recording setup, I felt that it was an unattainable high bar.

Posting my tunes in this forum helped me with that, get some proper good advice here, not nicey nicey advice - real honest crit on the tune.

Say like I posted asking if a tune fit a Taxi listing or not , the guys tell me straight , and if not, how I might work it to fit the listing.

That's when the high bar starts to look doable,

Deffo post a tune up in Peer2Peer section, that was my first step here and been having a ball every since, plus you get chance to offer help on other folks tunes too, which is great, rooting for others to land placements too.

Have a look at a listing you think a a might work for, then post that along with the song in the Peer2peer.

Of course it is a public forum, expect honest crit, but i've never seen stupidity here, every reply will generally help, because we are all in the same place, just trying to see if some music will fly somewhere,

Top fun, can't recommend it enough

if you need any help with setting up a taxi forum picture, signatures are anything like that send me a pm

Rob

[Ellwood]

Hi Richard and a warm welcome to you! this you posted "Or is it that it's really difficult to get a song selected due to the fact that these commercial requirements are so specific that songs almost have to be purpose-written?" THIS IS the KEY Richard! These songs are written fast and are specific to the requirements, it takes a lot of concentration and skill to write for a specific need. But these skills can and are developed. It is VERY rare that you will see a listing that FITS a song you have already recorded! if fact I have never been able to match one of my songs to a specific listing and have had to write specifically for a listing. So keep on keepin' on brother... you will be very glad you did!! OH AND do yourself and you career a big favor... attend the Taxi Rally... Lee

[richardmclaughlin]

wellll...thanks for the comments, but I'm not very good at instant songs. Also, my songs tend to be in the "Americana" genre, and my sense of Taxi
so far seems to be the young, edgy, fun-oriented rock/pop genres rule the roost. I'm 66, and it may just be that I won't be able to fit into the fashions of the day. You write what you know, after all.

I've submitted to a couple of the listings that ask for "country" oriented songs, but even those don't really fit my music. There are a bunch of older people in this country, politically minded and with a fair amount of life experience...what do they listen to? Is Taxi attuned to this demographic? Or, to paraphrase Carl Sagan's anecdote, is it "commercials all the way down?"

I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what listings come out in the next few months before I decide that it's all a waste of time. Here's hoping.

Richard

[sedge]

From what I understand , the money back thing is current during all the first year if you came to the conclusion it wasn't for you. (sorry Michael correct me if that's wrong)

Age doesnt mater, that's the cool thing here with the film/TV stuff.

There are songs you can make that a 17 year old can't for one, just won't have your lyrical wisdom no doubt!

Yeah listings are varied.

If you need anything let us know, Im a bit of a geek and know my way around this forum pretty well now

[sedge]

Is Taxi attuned to this demographic?

I think I can have a stab at answering this if Michael is slammed.

No they are not.

Taxi do not 'place' the music to any specific place, or type , or genre, or media.

Taxi list music that they have been asked to look for, from advertising agencies, to film music supervisors, to game soundtrack supervisors, to sit com and network TV series, to internet music, to record labels for many uses, for many audiences.

People list through Taxi because they like/trust Taxi's ear for what might be a fit.
In short Taxi do not control what is listed, they work to share opportunities to us from many sources, aimed at various audiences.

I don't know if I did a good job there, but hope I made sense...

[Casey H]

It is VERY rare that you will see a listing that FITS a song you have already recorded!

I wouldn't say it's *VERY* rare but members who write fast to specific listing requirements generally have a wider range of listings to submit for and, as a result, get more forwards.

It depends on what you write when you are NOT writing for specific listings. For example, do you already write and produce current sounding music with fairly universal lyrics? Maybe you are a singer-songwriter or indie artist band who does that. You would have a leg up. Lots of indie artists get forwards with the material they are already making. Are you writing popular styles of instrumentals such as World genre, for example? Maybe mood pieces.

However, if you are sitting on a lot of already recorded material that doesn't apply well to the current commercial market, it will be difficult to match your work successfully to listings.

For film/TV, no doubt, writing on demand to listing requirements works best. This is especially trye with quick turn-around film/TV Y/N and Dispatch listings. But there are exceptions. Whether there are enough exceptions to make it worth any particular member's while is an individual thing.

Best,

Casey

[sedge]

sorry think I missed read the context of your question Richard,

There are a bunch of older people in this country, politically minded and with a fair amount of life experience...what do they listen to? Is Taxi attuned to this demographic?

yes they are, as in they are not fixed to just one, would have been a better answer.
and/but like I say, Taxi are not the listing party, they list what comes to them, open to all opportunities from music supervisors/labels for any demographic the supervisor is seeking for, at the time

of course, nothing stopping us getting attuned to a demographic ourselves, see a film we like and feels is using our kind of music and look up who did what and try to make contact etc. Lots of emails out there, perhaps never responded to and all that .. so Taxi bring it closer.
Do anything and everything we can I guess

Casey and Lee are dead right, and whilst it can be a mad one trying to write for a listing, learning some stuff about lyrics / keeping things general etc can mean all the time we are writing we have a good chance our song may fit new future listings too as Casey pointed out

and if I may add to that , the key to this seems to be writing about common themes, love, life, loss, hopes, dreams, happiness, etc

They call it 'Universal Lyrics' here, avoiding lyric like "Fido my dog and I went for a walk down by the Thames river" that limit how film/tv directors could use songs in projects

for film/tv listings