Enlighten me...

[madoubletwhy]

Hi all - struggling to find consensus on this, so would love to hear your thoughts...

Mathematically speaking, the sheer number of new releases on Spotify every day makes getting your songs heard, a crapshoot at best.
Sure you can submit to playlists etc and you might get a few thousand streams if you're lucky.
But to me the high percentage play for getting some traction is to use a service like Taxi.
Surely..?

Let's imagine for a moment that the Weeknd didn't write Blinding Lights (most streamed song ever), and it was actually some unknown bedroom producer called April.
She has no social media presence, hasn't released any songs, and doesn't plan to, despite producing decent quality recordings.
While she sings on her tracks in order to finish them, she's a songwriter/producer, not a singer and has no ambition to be an artist.
No least because if she's ghostwriting, she can't be releasing the songs under her own name.

So, is it at all realistic to think that a Taxi brief was the catalyst for her big break?
If so, would the Weeknd's label have simply tried paying her for the demo or is she guaranteed a co-write and a substanial cut?
Outside of Taxi, what other avenues might she have realistically used to get a foot in? Publicist? etc.
* Side note, if a catalog picks up her song or it's used in film/TV, has that effectively ended any chance of it having chart success?

From where I stand, I actually don't see how Taxi could be the answer here.
Reason being that Taxi briefs are nearly always looking for an Artist to promote, or a radio-ready song to use.
Thereby ruling out anyone writing demos, or anyone aspiring to be a ghostwriter/co-write.

Any insights on any of the above are much appreciated.

Cheers

[cosmicdolphin]

I don’t think Taxi is the answer here. It’s mainly for sync placements or artist pitches, but even then, the artist pitches are looking for radio-ready, pitchable songs—not ghostwriters. Labels and publishers aren’t digging through Taxi for hits, they go to their own networks of writers and producers.

Even if April somehow got a song through, labels will often buy demos outright or tweak them so much she’d barely get a cut. And let’s be honest, The Weeknd and his team are writing and producing their own stuff anyway—outside writers getting in is rare unless you’ve got serious industry connections.

If she really wants to get songs to big artists, she’d be better off:

Getting a publisher—they handle artist pitches properly.
Networking with producers and A&Rs—most placements happen through relationships.
Maybe going the sync route—but once a song gets placed in film/TV, it’s unlikely to have a shot as a hit later.

That said, it can be done, but it’s a different path. My friend’s daughter is building an artist career properly—good producers/co-writers, a manager, does shows, the whole lot. Her most-streamed track is already at 914k streams a couple of months in, which proves it’s possible if you’re putting yourself out there and it's not a crapshoot - the cream tends to rise to the top. It's taken her a couple of years to build up any kind of following.

Taxi is useful for some things, but for breaking in as a writer for big artists? Not the move.

[Casey H]

Reason being that Taxi briefs are nearly always looking for an Artist to promote, or a radio-ready song to use.
Thereby ruling out anyone writing demos, or anyone aspiring to be a ghostwriter/co-write.

Taxi briefs have a high percentage of sync listings (music libraries, music supervisors). That's where most of the opportunities are for unknown songwriters, composers, and artists. However, these do require a high quality recording as in sync, it's your recording that gets used "as is". And even when pitches are to artists, the bar is high as far as the recording, the days of a home cassette tape demo have long been gone with the advent home studios.

So, if you aren't interested in sync and not interested in making broadcast quality recordings, Taxi would not be for you. That being said, if you find collaborators to help take your rough demos and produce them, it could be good for you. Lots of folks met here on this forum or at the annual road rally and formed long term, successful collaborative relationships. One way to seek such partners would be to post links to your songs and ask for possible collaborators. You can also post songs in the peer to peer section for feedback from others.

HTH
Casey

[madoubletwhy]

Thanks guys, your responses were exactly the confirmation I was looking for
You'd be amazed how difficult it is to find these kind of insights - literally every "tutorial" is focussed on getting streams - so your suggestions are pure gold.
Much appreciated!

[DesireInspires]

Dude, forget music. Be a mathematician!