How Long it Takes Before a Deal -- Tell Your Stories Here!

[zeke]

Two months after joining Taxi in 2009 I received my first forward and have received close to 15 forwards since.

After 14 months of being a member of Taxi I just signed my first deal last week, which I am very excited about.

I received an offer earlier this year, but did not agree to the terms and that is fine. Some composers and writers probably signed with this company, which is great! I wish them all the best. I may someday be kicking myself for not signing, but I do what I feel comfortable with.

Taxi's "Custom Critques" and "Returns" have made me a better songwriter and composer.

Taxi works really hard for us.

Thank you, Taxi.

Zeke

[eliotpister1]

I think there are two separate roads here, which would have way different success rates. If you're submitting to listings for music library placements, you're going to have a "deal" on that song much sooner on average, than if you're chasing the artist ones. Those publishing deals are fewer and further between, but much more lucrative. Those are like swinging for the fences, vs. pumping out grounders for singles!

I've been a member for 6 years, and despite a dozen or so forwards, in the first 3 YEARS(!!!) I got nothing. Nada. I stopped submitting for a while (life got in the way). But back then Taxi seemed to run way more artist / song pitches, since the library thing hadn't exploded yet. Once I turned toward the instrumental listings a couple years, it took about 3 months, and now I've got 60-70 songs in libraries (through Taxi mostly, but some through other means), and enough royalties for several - AND I MEAN SEVERAL - lunches at Denny's.

I'd tell members that if they go a year of regular submissions, and haven't had interest from a library they've been forwarded to, it just means they need to improve their music's competitiveness. Don't blame Taxi, and DEFINITELY don't pull the plug... It'll come! Keep your foot on the pedal!

[Ben Stubbs]

It took about 7 months until I had my first deal signing a song to a library. I believe this happened because I listened and read every bit of advice that I could find on Taxi.com and the Taxi Live episodes. It's really important, as Michael says, to pay attention to the music played in TV shows and commercials, (even though I have to admit I do press mute on a lot of commercials because I am really really sick hearing those very quaint tracks featuring a ukulele, xylophone and whistling). Is it me... or is that every commercial now? Anyway, that's besides the point, Taxi is a FANTASTIC service, tool, school and gateway to success for many many of those musicians who chose to work hard. Taxi is a jewel and it's unlike anything, what an opportunity!

[jdstamper]

I had a forward in May 2009 for "Crime Seen". This track continued to get solid interest, and I revised it a couple of times, until 11 months later I was contacted by the library from the very first forward on the original version. He signed the song, and did a remix of sections from the original and later versions.

Then in late August it was released on a new CD distributed by the library. So 16 months after the forward, the track is now happily in circulation just in time for the fall TV and movie season, and I could not be happier about it! If placed anytime soon, the earliest possible royalties would be distributed end of March 2011, about 2 years after the forward.

Thank You Taxi,

Jim

[Ken Eichler]

Almost two years. With that said, my forward percentage has definitely increased since I started writing and recording to target specific listings rather than try to make existing tunes fit into an opp. As such, I hope my deal percentage increases, too.

A piece of advice, take all Taxi critiques to heart and work to improve all aspects of production, recording, musicianship, writing, engineering, mixing, etc. Like anything else, the more you do it, the better you will get.

OK, I admit it. I should have joined Taxi sooner.

[bmete]

Hello,
Man am I late to this party, I kept saying type something and one thing or another would pop up.

Well, here's my story,
I joined on July 14, 2007 ( my birthday and my present to myself).. I went 0-28 the first 5 months, then shortly after the rally I started getting forwards, in the next two months I got 15 forwards or so, then 10 months to the day ( of joining), I got my first deal, it was a direct submit ( from the Rally)... then I got my first deal from a TAXI forward early in 2009, about a year after the forward,(and a year and a half after joining) my second deal came from a Taxi forward about four months later and yes it was about a year after that forward. The best part of getting a deal a year or two after a forward is it breathes hope into all the other forwards that you have out there.... I got my first big placement ( PUREDKNY) two and a half years after joining. I live by Matto's motto--- write, record, submit, forget, .

Being heavy into marketing and trends etc, I noticed a very definite pattern amoung the successful TAXI Forum members..... over the years I've watched my friends post their tunes( on the forum), get incredible advice, heed that advice, then you start seeing the " I got forwarded posts" then you see them posting "I got a Deal", ( after deal, after deal ), then it's I just heard my tune on TV, then they start lining up with music supervisors and libraries looking for more and more of music, then it's I got my first check,,,,, As Billy Crystal said in " Analyze That"---- It's a "PROCESS"

Bob

[T&V Marino]

We joined TAXI and started getting forwards right away but no deals. It was very[/i] discouraging! After a year, we went to lunch one day and seriously talked about quitting. But we decided we just couldn't do it. When we got home, we checked email and there was our first TAXI Deal. So we figured it was a "sign" and we should stick with it. That was five years ago!

Since then, we've had over 150 forwards and about 12 TAXI Deals (we lost count!) and our music has been placed in hundreds of TV shows, commercials, video games, indie films, and even a Disney film.

Last year, we got a TAXI Deal from a company that took TWO YEARS to contact us after the forward! Now we're one of their go-to composers for several TV shows. We can't believe we almost quit!
Patience, patience, patience. Write it and Fagetaboutit!

T&V Marino

[allends]

Dear Taxi Friends,

I've been a TAXI member for almost three years now and I don't even think about when I got my first deal because it was quite a while ago. I joined TAXI in December of 2007 after losing my job and I was wondering what I would rather do with my life than shuffle papers in an office (I'm a former CPA). I became active in the forum and learned a lot, but I wasn't forwarded until quite a few months later when my acoustic guitar work finally got some positive attention. Still, it was my unusual ability to play the Indian Sitar that earned me my first deal in December of 2008: almost exactly one year from the start of my membership.

Today, I'm a composer in a group that includes several TAXI members, plus my collaborative projects with successful friends have placed my work in top libraries. I understand my place in the music business much more clearly than before, my new songs are crafted more carefully to meet the expectations of broadcast media, and I enjoy unlimited demand for my work.

I thank TAXI for making these connections possible! I have only just begun to make this dream come alive, but this is an exciting time for me and I'm as happy as a guy can be!

Cheers,
Allen DeSomer
(middle-age man makin' music)

[h3l3n5]

I joined over 3 years ago and got a forward on my first submission... Then none for a long time.

I then started getting more forwards but nothing came from them, but I could feel I was heading in the right direction and concentrated on honing my style.

2 years in I got a deal with a publisher through a forward from a song I had written especially for a listing. I have now had many placements including my most recent which will be on 'One Tree Hill' next week.... It is so exciting.

this is not a sprint... If it were I would have given up long ago and would be exhausted!

[DaveZ]

I've had 6 forwards going back to 2007.. so far nuttin yet but I was sporadic with my submissions and back then it was purely submitting my band efforts. Now I'm solo and plan on honing my stuff till it is impossible to not get forwards! So far I've had one forward pretty recently so the jury is out if that one converts to a deal.

Dave