Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

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PetePrice
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Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

Post by PetePrice » Tue Jun 28, 2022 11:39 am

Hello fellow members. My name is Pete Price and I'm new to Taxi. The last few weeks have been a great learning experience for me to try to understand this side of the music business.

I'm 69 y/o and although I'm getting to be an old dog, I'm trying to learn some new tricks. I will try my best to be supportive and helpful with my comments in the forum. Certainly, at first, I'll probably have to take more than I give.

I have played guitar in a local cover band for many years but have always wanted to push my original music. All of my songs so far fall into the singer-songwriter style although the genres go from rock to Americana to slightly country.

I've watched Taxi TV the last few weeks and have learned quite a bit so far. It has created more questions than answers though.

My first big question is; Is it at all possible for a guitarist with no keyboard skills and limited DAW skills to become successful through Taxi? I have always written songs with music and lyrics with the intent to create songs to perform. Are these skills transferrable to writing instrumental Cues for movies and TV shows?

I've posted three songs so far if anyone wanted to give a listen and possibly provide some feedback. I promise not to take any critical feedback personally. I really want to figure out if this is just a pipedream for me or if I actually work at this, could I possibly have some modest success?

My music can be found at www.petepricemusic.com or on bandcamp at peteprice1.bandcamp.com

Many thanks!

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Re: Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

Post by kregdurant » Tue Jul 05, 2022 3:36 pm

PetePrice wrote:
Tue Jun 28, 2022 11:39 am
Hello fellow members. My name is Pete Price and I'm new to Taxi. The last few weeks have been a great learning experience for me to try to understand this side of the music business.

I'm 69 y/o and although I'm getting to be an old dog, I'm trying to learn some new tricks. I will try my best to be supportive and helpful with my comments in the forum. Certainly, at first, I'll probably have to take more than I give.

I have played guitar in a local cover band for many years but have always wanted to push my original music. All of my songs so far fall into the singer-songwriter style although the genres go from rock to Americana to slightly country.

I've watched Taxi TV the last few weeks and have learned quite a bit so far. It has created more questions than answers though.

My first big question is; Is it at all possible for a guitarist with no keyboard skills and limited DAW skills to become successful through Taxi? I have always written songs with music and lyrics with the intent to create songs to perform. Are these skills transferrable to writing instrumental Cues for movies and TV shows?

I've posted three songs so far if anyone wanted to give a listen and possibly provide some feedback. I promise not to take any critical feedback personally. I really want to figure out if this is just a pipedream for me or if I actually work at this, could I possibly have some modest success?

My music can be found at www.petepricemusic.com or on bandcamp at peteprice1.bandcamp.com

Many thanks!
Hi Pete
Welcome. Listened to your stuff and i think you can definitely have some success. Of course i'm a newbie myself, but I'm 32, so your music translates down a few generations. Definitely frequent listings that fit your style too! Tracks sound great.

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Re: Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

Post by Telefunkin » Wed Jul 06, 2022 1:53 am

Hi Pete,
I hope you enjoy your Taxi membership, but using Taxi to promote existing songs is a hard path to follow. Perhaps its worth a look at this...
https://bit.ly/3utupM7

The more traditional way as a Taxi member is to write to the listings that they issue so you've got the best chance of offering libraries what they are actually asking for. Of course, you can send your existing material to anyone you like either through Taxi or through other connections, but you're offering what you have instead of what they want. If your songs are absolutely wonderful but don't fit what the libraries are currently looking for to fit the projects they are actively involved in there's a much slimmer chance of a match. Also, there are aspects of songwriting for sync that differ from 'normal' songwriting (eg generic rather than specific lyrics), and on that note perhaps have a look at this..
https://bit.ly/3NPJ3Ei
Lastly, although there is always a demand for all styles of music, a high proportion of the listings are seeking current-sounding music and often say that they do not want anything that sounds dated. Occasional listing still want blues tracks (just for example), but even with those they often provide reference tracks that demonstrate current sounding production.

From listening to some snippets of your existing music its clear that its very accomplished and well produced. The question to ask yourself is do you hear music like that on TV shows that are being made now - this year? If so, then you could target the libraries responsible for providing that music (outside of Taxi) and offer them your music. If not, then submitting those tracks through Taxi might mean waiting for a long time for an ideal listing. I hope it happens, but pressing on with an alternative or additional strategy would be advisable.

I hope all that doesn't come across as too negative, but I think its better to be aware of these things and adapt accordingly, rather than have a frustrated wait and making submissions that don't fit the listings.

On skills, you don't need to be a great keyboard player if your music doesn't call for that, although the more you can do the easier it will be. Polishing your DAW skills is very worthwhile so you can mix, remix, master, and make alternate and cutdown versions of your tracks as libraries request. My suggestion would be to get going right away by jumping into your DAW and having a go at making some tracks for whatever Taxi listing feels closest to your wheelhouse. Also, collaborating with others who have complimentary skills (and maybe even library contacts) can be a great booster, and you can do it remotely with others all over the world simply by using Dropbox or WeTransfer etc to exchange music files. I'm sure you'll soon make some friends here at Taxi, so keep that in mind as an option.

As a final comment, 'success' is whatever you define it to be. It might be hearing just one of your compositions on TV, and that's entirely possible for anybody. If its to get rich quick that's highly unlikely :). It takes time to get some momentum, but the only certainty is that the music in your head won't bring you a thing until you've got it recorded and made it available. The more you make and the better you get at making what it is demand, the more chances you will create, and the more likely you are to achieve your interpretation of 'success'. Might as well start today then :).

Best of luck Pete, however you decide to proceed.
Last edited by Telefunkin on Tue Jul 12, 2022 1:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Graham (UK). Still composing a little faster than decomposing, and 100% HI.

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Re: Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

Post by funsongs » Wed Jul 06, 2022 7:22 am

Greetings - albeit - from a lurker in The Peanut Gallery.
Your bio/Intro reads close to exactly like my own... including your name.
Let's see how you adapt your skills to the mandates of the listings, as others have commented.
Cheers!
Peter
PS: you might help yourself by putting some of your music links in your signature for these forum posts.
PSS: I see your website photo has you playing an Alvarez. I own 2; the better one is an Alvarez-Yairi. :P
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Re: Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

Post by PetePrice » Wed Jul 06, 2022 10:46 am

Kregdurant, Telefunken, and Funsongs-

Thanks for your kind replies. I enjoy a challenge so trying to write and record to satisfy a certain listing will certainly be that. Kregdurant, I appreciate your encouragement. Graham, thanks for the excellent feedback and resources to pursue in the skills to become successful with Taxi. Peter, yes, that's a 1989 Alvarez Yiari which I bought new. It's my main "gigging" guitar and it plays like butter! I wish you all health and success!

I appreciate the time you took to reply to my post!

Pete Price
www.petepricemusic.com
www.peteprice1.bandcamp.com
www.linktr.ee/petepricemusic

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Re: Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

Post by cosmicdolphin » Wed Jul 06, 2022 1:31 pm

I think the issue you're probably going to have is although the songs I've heard so far all sound well performend and produced, the material itself sounds like songs from 30-40 years ago....ie. they aren't contemporary sounding.

The vast majority of listings want stuff that sounds like "now" and music that sounds like it could have been made in a previous era won't fly for sync ( with the odd exception )

So I think the trick is going to be whether you can adapt your writing and production style to the point where it would fit on a current playlist of whichever genre you're writing for. Even trad styles of music sounds different in 2022 than they did 5-10yrs ago.

The best way is to always write to the listings, listen to the refernce tracks on repeat until the style starts to embed itself, play along with them, try covering them and understanding what makes a 2022 song sound different from one in the same genre from previous years.

It's not easy and some can't manage it but plenty have as well, the information is all out there but for most there is a big learning curve to go through first. My main advice would be write new material for Taxi otherwise it can get frustrating when it's constantly rejected.

Mark

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Re: Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

Post by gitanosoy » Wed Jul 06, 2022 4:08 pm

Hi Peter,

Nice tracks! Just an observation on your song "Diamonds in the sky" first hearing I thought the intro was a faster version of Gary Moore's "Still got the blues "

Welcome.

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Re: Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

Post by PetePrice » Wed Jul 06, 2022 6:57 pm

Mark-
I guess I didn’t realize I was 30 to 40 years behind! Yikes! I do like your suggestion about listening to the reference tracks over and over. I’ll give that a try and see if I can get out of the stone age!

And Gitanosoy, I’ll have to check out that Gary Moore track. I promise that the melody line for Diamonds in the Sky came right out of my noggin. Thanks for listening and for the feedback!

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Re: Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

Post by funsongs » Wed Jul 06, 2022 8:23 pm

It's pretty funny, actually - for those of us who got into music at a young age - or as teenagers - trying to learn to play and sound like 'the older, good guys'.
And now, us old guys gotta learn to play and sound like teenagers.
OY & EESSHH!! :? :shock: 8-) :P

The first time I heard someone say, "OH, SNAP!" - I thought something had popped open on my overalls;
and maybe something was hanging out that shouldn't have been visible.
:? :lol:
Last edited by funsongs on Thu Jul 07, 2022 11:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
Peter Rahill - aka "funsongs"
NOW, back on YouTube (2022)
https://www.youtube.com/@peterrahill9263/featured
https://soundcloud.com/funsongs-1
https://peterrahill.bandcamp.com/

“The future aint what it use to be.” - Yogi Berra

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Re: Hi! I'm a new member and I'd like to introduce myself

Post by cosmicdolphin » Thu Jul 07, 2022 3:35 am

PetePrice wrote:
Wed Jul 06, 2022 6:57 pm
Mark-
I guess I didn’t realize I was 30 to 40 years behind!
Well 30 years ago was only 1992. In the UK chart this time 30 years ago was Hazard by Richard Marx which is about the closest song to your wheelhouse I guess.

Good song, but even then I'd say it was it bit retro. You wouldn't hear a song like it in today's chart.

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