"Girly" telecoms ad (Y111225SS) forward

[rickpaul]

I just got a bit of post-Christmas good news that "Just Gotta Smile" was forwarded to "A Major Ad Agency" for listing #Y111225SS.

I originally wrote that piece for another "happy" ad listing (might have been for a women's clothing chain) that was also looking for something quirky. I'd used a blend of synthesized female voices that had a feel of scatting, and it got rejected with at "too synthy" note (I'd been hoping that very aspect might fit the "quirky" request). A bit later, I also did a guitar-oriented version for another listing I thought the piece might fit. In between then and last week, I'd also started on a version featuring saxophone, but it kept being put on the back burner between other projects and life in general.

When the "girly" ad listing came around last week, I thought this piece might be a good fit on the general vibe, but I figured the original version would be "too synthy" for this one, as well. The whistling references in the listing gave me the idea to replace the main melody and the backing parts with whistling. I was initially hoping I could find some good whistling patches or samples that I could play with my wind controller, but no such luck. "Plan B", which, in hindsight should probably have been "Plan A" anyway, except that I'd already been running late on a bunch of things I'd needed or wanted to get done before Christmas, was to set up my mic and try and summon up whatever whistling skills I might have. The tracking ended up being a lot of fun. Not so much the comping and tuning, but I guess it ended up being worth it.

Now I'm really hoping this tune will make the ad agency and their client "smile".

Rick

[Casey H]

Congrats Rick!

Best of luck!
Casey

[Kelil]

Nice one Nick. I had a return on this as lyrics were not right for the particular ad campaign. Yours are spot on. Lets hope the deal comes soon for you.

Stephen

[secondsoul]

Well done ! I also got a return for lyrics not being quite on target - fingers crossed for you!

[rickpaul]

Thanks, guys. I guess not having any lyrics really helps avoid having lyric issues. I was actually more concerned about my voice's not being "girly" enough, which is the biggest reason I just went with a whistling thing (and that I don't, at last yet, have usable lyrics for this paticular song).

Rick

[crs7string]

Rick,

Congrats on the forward.

Thanks for sharing the journey this track went on that ended with a favorable outcome.

When one can take the input from TAXI ( and our peers on the Forum) good things can happen.

There are many choices one can make when reacting to critical input. Your reaction was the healthy response.

I doubt we'll see you on the Forum insisting that you should receive a refund from TAXI because of a return you perceive to not be in your favor.

Thank you for your professionism. Hope you get a call on this forward.

Chuck

[rickpaul]

Thanks, Chuck. I may be a newbie to TAXI, having joined in early April of this year after having considered it numerous times over the past 5-10 years, but I'm an old pro at taking criticism on my songs and recordings, starting at least as far back as the mid-80's when I first learned of songwriter organizations and joined what was then called the South Bay Songwriters Association (it was later renamed to the Northern California Songwriters Association and later still to the West Coast Songwriters Association) up in Silicon Valley, where I was living and working at the time. I had some publisher pickups of my songs back then, though nothing ever came of those, but got a lot more critical feedback. (I've also had some single song publishing deals and a handful of independent cuts of my songs in the years since then, but still nothing that has added up to making even a poverty-level income.)

I have to admit I've had some TAXI feedback that has had me scratching my head, some that's had me disagreeing violently, and some that made me go, "I'm not sure if I agree, artistically/creatively, but I see what they're getting at commercially." Sometimes all three at the same time. I've also had pretty much all my best songs rejected multiple times, with only one of those getting one forward, and that on a live opportunity. The three other forwards I have had from TAXI were totally experimental. The first two (other than this one and the live thing I mentioned) were for a listing looking for relaxation music, which I'd never attempted to write or record before. I was also trying out a relatively new wind controller (I'm mainly a keyboard player, but had played woodwinds in the past) for the first time on the songs that ended up getting forwarded. One of those was written directly for the opportunity, and one was a solo piano piece I'd written back in the early 80's, but hadn't yet recorded in a truly presentable way. Then there's this whistling thing... My bottom line has to been to try and localize on something I can do that someone's willing to pay me for doing -- I'm flexible on the "what", at least unless it's that really screamy metal stuff that would give me a headache mixing my own songs.

Independent of whether I end up renewing my TAXI membership next year or not (that'll come down to my financial situation and whether what now seems like an inevitable return to a day job leaves me enough time and energy for the business side of music), I have at least enjoyed my experiences with TAXI overall (despite occasional massive frustration on return responses). I've particularly enjoyed the challenge of the short leash writing/recording listings for ads, because entertaining them (in large part out of desperation to try to get some significant income through the door soon to forestall running out of money or the day job thing) forces focus and quick decision making, and the parameters for the listings often get the creative wheels rolling quickly enough. Whether I end up getting any deals from this or not, I've at least come up with a number of brand new songs and other compositions that would not likely exist otherwise, and some of those already are feeling like they'll be among my best songs going forward. Heck, my next album might just include a whistling song.

Rick

[gklosner]

congrats - I got a fwd to that one too - funny, all the fwds to the "girly" thing have been guys! haha.

[crs7string]

Rick,

I agree that trying on different genres is a fun and challenging aspect of writing to the listings. I have gone down many paths and have discovered that I can write genres that I probably would have never considered.

I hope you can hang in there and continue to grow your catalog. One year is not a lot of time to get the "critical mass" of tracks, relationships and publishing deals that result in placements. And, even then the income is deferred in many cases for another 6 to 9 months.

I wrote a bunch of tracks over the summer that will be on a new show on SyFy in March. I may see revenue by the last quarter of 2012!!!

Also, many people on the Forum jungle the day job and the composer/songwriter roles. In can be done. One does have to be a good manager of their time. There again, the listing deadlines are a great motivator. Duke Ellington said "Don't give me time, give me a deadline".

Chuck

[rickpaul]

Gene, congratulations on your forward. Your ukulele/whistling song sounds right on the money for the listing.

Chuck, thanks for the encouragement and thoughts. At this point, the notion of writing for production library cues is fairly foreign to me as I've mostly written songs, and those mostly in lyrics-first fashion and with more of the radio and/or live performance focus in mind. I do understand the delays on the production library cycles, which is one reason I've been throwing my priorities mostly behind the ad listings given I expect they will mostly have "tomorrow" (exaggerated only slightly) deadlines, and mostly ones that look for songs. Of course, I also understand that the competition there is probably way more intense, but, thus far, it also feels like the most natural fit on the process front. It's felt a bit strange to have three of my four forwards be for instrumental pieces when, prior to this year, I think I might have written a total of two instrumentals out of a song catalog that is somewhere north of 300 songs (though probably only 100-150 that I'd play for anyone at this stage). I'll probably write more instrumentals in the coming year, though, as several people have suggested I do a full album of relaxation music after hearing my first few attempts, and it really is a lot of fun messing around with my wind controller. Congratulations on the SyFy placements.

Rick