For the country writers:

[djdale]

Keep writing for enjoyment and those that seem Great to you may only be Good to others but you gotta try. Without trying you are destined to fail.Amen, Brother Amen!Keep on keepin' on and you'll get there.Dale

[squids]

Uh huh.

[squids]

I thought Toby got away with that because he was fairly well known. I don't think Taxi would necessarily forward someone who was unknown just because he's a good singer and he writes his own songs (same fo females, no discrimination here! ). I think we've heard that a lot; that the unknown writers/performers here absolutely must be exceptional to make it past the Taxi bar in order to compete with the bigger machine out there. I agree, the verses are a bit messy. Good song though. Got your newsletter, Jimi. Congrats incoming!

[claire]

Well, I've said a few times that you could submit a current song out of the country top 40 and the chances are it would not get forwarded, because songs get cut for a number of reasons, not the least of which is politics. That's true. The song George Strait sang on the CMA awards, "Rolling On The River Of Love" (or some title similar) would not have been forwarded by Taxi if I had written it and submitted it, and I say that with absolute certainty. The Sugarland song "All I Want To Do" would not have been forwarded. I'd bet that even the Brad Paisley/Keith Urban song about starting a band wouldn't have been forwarded because we would have been told that we are not supposed to write songs about being musicians because not enough people can relate. I agree with Cam that you could pick a top 40 country song at random, submit it, and it would not be forwarded.And off topic - has anyone else noticed the remarkable rhythmic and melodic similarity in the first few lines of Sugarland's "Already Gone" to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A'Changin'"? I'm thinking about ripping off a classic, not note for note but pretty darned close, and then putting my own lyrics on it. Sure would be easier than coming up with a melody of my own Claire

[adrienne]

I've enjoyed reading everyone's views on this. I tend to agree with Cam and Claire. I think a lot of the top 40 country songs out today wouldn't get forwarded by TAXI. A lot of them are on radio because of who the writers know, not necessarily because they're great songs.That doesn't mean there aren't some great top 40 hits out there and that some songs that don't get forwarded couldn't be hits. How many times have we heard of a song getting turned down tons of times before it becomes a hit? While there's some formula to writing a hit song, if you get that right, it still is subjective on whether people like it. I've had songs with great critiques and forwards from TAXI, and then other screeners returned those same songs. While I'm a music lover I find that when I listen to songs, I listen as a songwriter. I listen to how the song is crafted, the lyrics, the melody etc. I know the general public as a whole doesn't do this, they're listening for how the song made them feel. Hopefully what I think is a great song from the perspective of songwriting is the same as what a non-songwriter thinks is a great song. Sometimes, it doesn't always work that way though. There are some songs on the radio today that make me change the station! Yet they're #1! Perhaps I should look at writing some songs I don't like...maybe they'll be hits

[rivercitymusic]

First of all i'm only talking about songs. Lyrics, melody, voice. Nothing else.My original intent was to bring to the surface that great songs, or good songs, songs that are worth their salt are played. That's the industry. IMHO Nothing else gets played for the most part and never will.An A&R, Record Label and Artist are the pros. Not us wannabees, although some of the wannabees will hopefully one day break through and we'll be talking about how we knew them when they were one of us. That is the majic of writing lyrics. If the hook is good enough the pros will know it. Sure it'll have to be modified a lot of times by the pros; but the basic lyrics they hear move them or don't. If they get moved, it'll get forwarded in time if it's a really good or great set of lyrics. How i support this is take any of the top 100 CW songs today and i can put at least 25 great artists behind the mic with a great band and it'll still be great. That's what i call a great song. A song that stands on its own and does not rely on a name brand, a label, etc. to be great. It's great on it's own. That's what i was trying to say. Sorry i was so poor at it. This group of professionals i noted above, if they were to have heard one of TK's past 20 hits played by a "musician" on an accoustic guitar and sung by someone with a quality voice but neither of these two individuals were currently a performing artist; Taxi would have forwarded them to ??? someone within time. Simply because they are great songs.TK's songs are good/great to the general listening audience, which is the final determining factor in any songs success. He's not God. He's just on a 15 year roll and will be forever since he now has amassed a fortune and can continue without nashville forever. He'd have to be found out to be a terrorist before his fans would leave his side.I'm not saying that he's the benchmark. maybe i should have suggested someone not so controversial, i don't know.I'm just saying that you can read over lots of lyrics, not songs with a 5 piece back up and a pro singer, just the lyrics and these pros can readily tell if they have any promise. That's why they are the pros and not us. We'd be producing our own music good or bad and lying to ourselves all the time about how good they were.Lyrics are the root of a song in my opinion that require a matched voice to nurture it off of the paper and into a great song. A melody won't make it great but it will make it flow.My hat's off to studio musicians but you can take any one of the top 1000 in each instrument and get nearly the same quality of music out of a studio. It's the lyrics that people hear and remember, not the music, although the music is very important. So, IMHO, the lyrics are the most important segment to the song, then the voice, and lastly the music, which makes it flow smoothly. We'd all tire of accapella (spelling?)they are all important but if you'll think about it, with out music you still have a great song. withouth the lyrics all you have is an instrumental, not a song. kinda speaks for it's self.Doc

[squids]

Oookay.....talk about splitting hairs, lol! Interesting posts. But if we're talkin' about Taxi, the axiom here referred to again and again by the screeners themselves is that they absolutely must screen for whatever the listing is asking for, NOT for whateva they think is a top 10 song.That said, it doesn't stop them from passing that amazing song around the water cooler, at which point it'll definitely garner some interest. But certainly it's a roundabout way to get someone's attention. As fo what makes top 10 music and what doesn't.......I'm not even sure it's up to the fans as much anymore if we're discussing radio........they're getting pounded with whatever Clear Channel's music directors say is to be played this week (and that's gotta involve all sorts of variables). So if the public didn't like the song to begin with, they'll definitely at least tolerate it by the time they've heard it rotated 10 times in 8 hours. I think fans have much more power online. Those bands who're able to score massive hits on their sites as well as earnin' some decent income via downloads (although everyone's gettin' pirated now........Arrrgh matey!! hahahahah) will eventually be found by some A/R, label suit type.

[squids]

Well, I've got two friends, one's a DJ, the other's a music supe at 2 different radio stations both owned by ClearChannel. Both say it doesn't matta what the heck the public calls them, they play what they're told to play. In the old days, it was different, but these are the days of corporate radio and suits rule music. Advertising dollars talk but honestly, the public's gonna listen to a station that mostly caters to what they want and most of the public doesn't bother to call in and complain. They surf instead. And keep hittin' that same station again and again while they do it, enough to keep the ad men comin' around.Can you keep a good song down? For heaven's sake, yes you can. There're maybe what? 2% max of the entire country's population that are musicians. Of those, I'll be generous and say maybe .5% are extremely good at what they do. We can include songwriters in here as well. Of those, how many do you think have access to big name artists who can cut their songs? How many have the drive to keep pounding away at the glass door day after day, year after year? How many artists do you think can afford to tell their label to get f*$ked (paraphrasing you) and run off with enough fans to keep their heads above water?What it takes is enough power at the beginning to have enough at the end. Toby had enough to do what he wanted. There're enough examples of that all over music: Mariah Carey, Radiohead, shall I go on? Enough money = freedom to do what you want.It takes perserverance, drive, focus, talent, a huge capacity to learn and to compromise and still stay humble enough to learn some more, a ton of other things to make it in this field. If you're missing enough of those things, it's gonna be very difficult to get your stuff out there. That doesn't even include social skills that will help you find the contacts you need and keep them. Absolutely you can keep a good song down.Enough hair splittin'. Now my head's splittin. I respect your opinion but I think it might be a bit optimistic.

[mojobone]

Nov 21, 2008, 8:16pm, squids wrote:Well, I've got two friends, one's a DJ, the other's a music supe at 2 different radio stations both owned by ClearChannel. Both say it doesn't matta what the heck the public calls them, they play what they're told to play. In the old days, it was different, but these are the days of corporate radio and suits rule music. Advertising dollars talk but honestly, the public's gonna listen to a station that mostly caters to what they want and most of the public doesn't bother to call in and complain. They surf instead. And keep hittin' that same station again and again while they do it, enough to keep the ad men comin' around.Can you keep a good song down? For heaven's sake, yes you can. There're maybe what? 2% max of the entire country's population that are musicians. Of those, I'll be generous and say maybe .5% are extremely good at what they do. We can include songwriters in here as well. Of those, how many do you think have access to big name artists who can cut their songs? How many have the drive to keep pounding away at the glass door day after day, year after year? How many artists do you think can afford to tell their label to get f*$ked (paraphrasing you) and run off with enough fans to keep their heads above water?What it takes is enough power at the beginning to have enough at the end. Toby had enough to do what he wanted. There're enough examples of that all over music: Mariah Carey, Radiohead, shall I go on? Enough money = freedom to do what you want.It takes perserverance, drive, focus, talent, a huge capacity to learn and to compromise and still stay humble enough to learn some more, a ton of other things to make it in this field. If you're missing enough of those things, it's gonna be very difficult to get your stuff out there. That doesn't even include social skills that will help you find the contacts you need and keep them. Absolutely you can keep a good song down.Enough hair splittin'. Now my head's splittin. I respect your opinion but I think it might be a bit optimistic. I believe squiddy knows whereof she speaks, but also that Clear Channel's days are numbered; the technology for a radio station to know with absolute certainty how many listeners are tuned in, for how long and where they are on the planet has already arrived, and the voice of those listeners will be heard. It's a new day. Carpe diem.

[squids]

Achy breaky heart. Oh, boy. There're days ya jes gotta wonder, ya know? It's foot tappin' happiness alright. I can't help but wince when I hear the lyrics.