Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

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IngridElkner
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Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

Post by IngridElkner » Sun May 24, 2015 1:13 am

Hey guys,

Noticed a stone-cold pattern: just about all the success stories, and more than half the listings, are for libraries/TV/film licensing.

What about artist pitches? For A&R? Record labels? Producers?

Does anyone have success on Taxi with tracks for artists, or is Taxi only effective for instrumentals and scene music? Is this indicative of the opportunities, the screeners, or the quality of artist pitches submitted?

Cheers,

-ingrid-

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Re: Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

Post by ochaim » Sun May 24, 2015 6:36 am

In my opinion, it's not due to Taxi being ineffective at all.

it's more likely due to the high bar that these "for artists" pitches have to meet at the screener level and even more stringently when the artist/label gets the forward. The acceptance of a forward by a record label represents an investment of huge amounts of time and money. To me, it only makes sense that you'd see less of the "to artist/record label" pitches than those that result from licensing.

just my thoughts on it.

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Re: Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

Post by greggo » Sun May 24, 2015 8:12 am

It's definitely more rare than film/tv pitches, but it does happen. Scott Free had got an artist pitch through a taxi listing. http://forums.taxi.com/post457518.html? ... ss#p457518

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Re: Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

Post by shoodBworkin » Sun May 24, 2015 8:44 am

Rarely happens

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Re: Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

Post by admin » Sun May 24, 2015 1:21 pm

Hi Ingrid,

The number of available slots for songs and instrumentals on TV shows and films is astronomically higher than the number of slots for songs to get cuts on albums or artists to get signed to rosters on major or good indie labels.

Think about how many channels you have on your TV, multiply that by the number of hours in a day, and multiply that by the number of pieces of music in a TV show, and that alone tells you why so many more TAXI members get TV and film placements.

Think about how many “real” record labels are out there, the number of artists on their rosters, and the number of songs per album, and you’ll quickly see that there is no comparison to the number of opportunities for TV and film placements.

It’s also noteworthy that that a VERY small percentage of our members actually post on this Forum (sadly, most people are lurkers), and only a small percentage of our members who come here take the time to tell us about their successes. So, even with all the success stories that DO show up here, there are so many more that they’re uncountable at this point.

It actually depresses the hell out of me that we have so many killer opportunities to GET cuts and record deals, but a MUCH smaller percentage of our members pitch to them. I think most people think it’s easier to get a film or TV placement, which it is, by FAR!

Combine that with records sales being practically non-existent (only one gold record last year, if memory serves correctly), so most people just don’t try! Trust me, if somebody has a REAL hit song, or is a REAL hit artist, and is what labels and radio are looking for, TAXI has no problem getting it into the right hands.

It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., and I’m heading out the door, but off the top of my head, here are some song and artist deals I remember:

Jenna Drey got signed to a $100,000 Indie label deal (she had a dance hit, but I can’t remember the name of the song).

The Matches got signed to a Major/Indie deal (their record didn’t do so well).

The band, Fisher got signed to Universal (the record stiffed).

Bobgoblin signed to MCA (the record stiffed).

Adam Watts and Andy Dodd got a cut and had an international hit with Jesse McCartney’s Beautiful Soul and they each signed publishing deals with Disney Music Publishing which led to them having cuts on TONS of records that have resulted in their songs and productions on 45 million records and tons of film and TV cuts.

Crossfade signed to a Columbia Records imprint and went Platinum.

Sixpence None the Richer had a placement on Dawson’s Creek, which led to their having a huge hit with their single, Kiss Me, and a Platinum Album hanging on our wall at TAXI.

Elliott Park had a Number One with “I Loved Her First” which resulted from a publishing deal he got through TAXI.

Erik Hickenlooper and Jim Funk had a Number One single with Kenny Rogers’ “Buy Me a Rose” through a publishing deal they got because of TAXI.

Daniel Holter had a song cut on Columbia Records (I Wanna Be) that was released as a first single from actress/singer Emma Roberts.

Jim Funk and Erik Hickenlooper’s “Buy Me a Rose” was cut again by Luther Vandross and went top 10 (pretty sure about that).

Brian Allen got signed to an EMI distributed Indie Label Y2K Record (the record wasn’t released… I think EMI killed its distro deal with the label).

More than a dozen TAXI members have had cuts on compilations with an international label with Universal distribution in foreign countries.

Chuck Henry got signed to a New Age label (Etherian records, if memory serves correctly). The label went out of business, but referred Chuck to another label, and he did really well on that label.

Dean Krippheane
has had at least one, if not more songs cut by Swiss artist Stefanie Hienzmann on Universal, and if I remember correctly. The song is “Do Your Thing,” was a hit, and I’m pretty sure the album went Platinum.

Scott Free had his song Badass cut on Janiva Magness’s last record. She’s considered the modern queen of blues.

There are others, but I’m doing this from memory, and now getting yelled at by my family for working on a Sunday/holiday (again ;-)

I encourage you to pitch to the label/record/producer opps!!!! Those are very real opportunities, and people tend to ignore them.

Best,
Michael

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Re: Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

Post by IngridElkner » Sun May 24, 2015 6:31 pm

Great replies, guys.

I'm not surprised the TV/film placements are more frequent opportunities. They have music needs that MUST be filled and a tonne of professional musicians working closely to the stated specifications. I imagine they often have a luxury of choice.
Whereas if a producer or label doesn't get an artist pitch song via Taxi, they have other options.

Taxi seems to be often split into two types of users - producers who can create broadcast-quality physical recordings, and writers who use their skills and tools as best as possible but are more about idea than execution. I fall into the latter category, so there's no point in me ever looking at listings for cues, instrumentals, etc. Plus I prefer the freedom to work within a listing's specs but throw a disgusting amount of my own personality and tastes into my pitch track, which many don't have the luxury of with things like cues.

I actually feel that the listings should be divided, so a user can choose to search/read both kinds of opportunities, or only the one relevant to them. I keep getting excited by a listing only to see it's film/TV library or supe, and not an artist song pitch. And I'm sure there are many more Taxi-subscribers who don't touch the artist pitches and would rather their listing page uncluttered by them.

I'll keep doing artist pitches, because that's the kind of mammal I am, plus I love the idea of being the outlier. Sure, it's fewer opps and higher standards, but also less competition and more artistic freedom... That's a little more my kinda lottery ticket.

One thing I wonder though, is... Are any of the 'a la's ever the actual artist the listing is calling out for tracks for? I don't expect to be told, but I am curious :)

-ingrid-

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Re: Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

Post by sansharbour » Mon May 25, 2015 3:37 am

Ingrid

You gotta do what you gotta do.
If writing for artists music and lyrics is your thing.......go for it.
Thats what I started out doing as well.

Somewhere along the line I started looking at creating a mood that the instrumental listings need.
Also you didn't have to come up with a lyric, for me the hardest part.

By doing an instrumental you might want to look at it as a chance to continue to get better at engineering and producing. The more you do the more you might discover.
Learning by Doing.
You can then take that experience and apply it to your artist pitches.

I am enjoying the learning curve.

Best
Don

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Re: Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

Post by hummingbird » Mon May 25, 2015 3:55 am

I started out writing songs but when I realized that the chance of me getting a cut on the CD of a significant artist was about as realistic as riding my bike to the moon, I was kinda lost (others might be able to write songs at that level, I couldn't). I often played around making instrumentals with the crappy virtual instruments and sounds I had downloaded for free from the internet. I think it was my first or second road rally, hanging with some folks I knew from the forum and listening to them talk... I realized I was sitting with people who actually made money from making music... and they were all doing film/tv, if they wrote songs, they wrote them for that market. Some had music in major films, some in hit tv shows, some on specialty channels, etc. At that point I had no chops, no audio computer of any note, no producing skills, nada. But I set out to learn and eventually got to the point where I was (after three years of trying) getting the odd forward and getting some tracks signed. Some of those first placements still pay me a few dollars every quarter.

As for the listings, I believe they are better organized now, instrumentals are listed on their own, and song listings are divided by genre.

I guess the question is, do you like instrumental music, and is that something you'd like to try creating. If so, what are your specific skills (what instruments do you play), and what tools do you have? Then it's a matter of working with those two to bring them to the point where you are providing broadcast quality compositions with the right kind of form and with a specific feel or emotion.

And I understand about not wanting to write to listings [or, as sometimes happens to me, writing to a listing but finding the cue takes a different road and wants to be something else lol]. However, I don't think writing in a specific genre is at all limiting. It's a challenge to say 'okay I'll stay in the framework they have provided but be true to my own muse too.' There are some listings that are more 'open' that say 'romantic instrumentals slow to medium any instrumentation but must give a feeling of a warm hug' - in that case you are less limited by needing to 'sound like' this or that artist or composer.

Anywhooooo just some sleepy thoughts from me. Hope they make some sense at this hour of the morning ;)

H
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Re: Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

Post by ottlukk » Thu May 28, 2015 6:21 pm

Ingrid: I think the idea of pitching to artist listings is good, if you think you are close to what the listing asks for. You never know when the roulette wheel is going to stop exactly where you placed your bet. Ott

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Re: Forwards or deals OUTSIDE of library placements?

Post by jdstamper » Sat May 30, 2015 6:58 am

Hi Ingrid,

I agree it's harder to get artist cuts. Taxi has some amazing opportunities if you're writing strong material.

Plus Taxi helps to hone songwriting skills (not just production skills) through critiques, webcasts, the forums, the Road Rally, etc.

Another good way to get artist cuts is by collaborating with artists, so you might seek out Taxi artists who are looking to collaborate.

You can also collaborate with Taxi producers to possibly get stronger productions of your songs to pitch for film / tv.

Good luck! Jim
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