How May Are Earning $5000+ Per Year @ Taxi?

[bleuciel]

Hi WTA!I think you have a good question there but, for me, it’s not the most relevant question with regards to what TAXI can and does do for you, me, and us.I spent more than 20 years trying to cross the barrier of “Unsolicited Material” that nobody will ever listen to, and then I was lucky enough to learn about TAXI.I was also lucky during my second year of membership with TAXI to get a placement that got me – as long as we’re talking $$ – as an up-front payment, i.e. before royalties, much more than the cost of my membership for those two years.If you think of music as an industry that you want to be a part of, you have to treat it like any other industry: you need to have some talent, and be ready to put in a lot of hard work. Even then, that is not enough. You still need to get a foot in the door somewhere…In my experience, and believe me, it has covered a few decades, not only is TAXI the only place where you can send material and be CERTAIN that it will be listened to, it is also the only place that any “unsolicited material” suddenly becomes welcome. If you’ve spent as much time and money sending stuff all over as I have, you know how good you feel on a Friday evening, opening a bottle of wine with your special one, and figuring that this week has been a good one. (By the way, it was on such a Friday evening, after opening the wine, that I opened an e-mail to learn that a song of mine had been placed in a TV show that airs in the US and all over the world… though what amount of money will come from it is still up in the air, and not really that important anymore.)What it always comes down to is some talent and lots of work. What TAXI does for you is give you a way better chance than average for that talent and hard work to pay off. Five grand or five hundred grand or five bucks: what counts to me is walking with my head up high, proud of what I’ve learned from TAXI and from this forum, and what I did with it. And better yet: what I can do with it tomorrow.No matter how good you are, you’re always alone, whether you live in the heart of LA or NY or Nashville, or in the middle of nowhere in the prairie or the mountains or, like me, just north of the border. You’re alone with your great genius or your better than average work and your hopes unless and until you trust yourself enough to go and measure yourself against the rest of the world. That, I think, is what TAXI is all about: entering a community of people just like yourself, some richer, some more gifted, some more lucky, but just about all of them so generous as to give you all the help and support they can.As I’m over sixty, I certainly wish to be able to make a lot more than five thousand a year soon enough for me to enjoy it. But in all those years, the only place where I’ve always been able to retain all of my dignity was TAXI. I would gladly PAY five a year just for that! Jean Custeau

[jh]

Quote:1) What/how are the screeners trained and what are they thinking, what they want and don't want?Screeners are trained to provide feedback in a supportive way, while consideringif the song fits the listing. It´s not about what the screeners want, but what the recipient wants/needs. The song has to be a perfect fit to get forwarded, it´s not enough if there´s one or two elements that seem to fit the listing. Matto put it aptly:"If you went on Carmax to search for an SUV and their search engine returned no SUV's but a bunch of Sportscars instead, I don't think you'd be back, you know what I mean? Taxi MUST give these companies what they ask for, or the companies will stop listing with Taxi and none of us will have any opportunities anymore."Quote:2) What are the hitmakers doing to earn more than $5000 US a year?They give the companies what they need, and establish relationships withthem. They work hard...Just to name a few things... In a way it is like wholesale, you have to have lots of stuff to sell, and you want to keepthe customer satisfied. HTH- JH

[wta]

JH, So let me see if I got it right... the screeners are trained to screen music and the hitmakers give the companies what they're looking for... I think I got it, thanks for that input. wta

[tedsingingfox]

BTW, considering how many pages of responses there already are, I have NO intention of reading them all to find out...but I'm just curious if ANYONE has bothered to mention how inappropriate asking people about their earnings is. ESPECIALLY on a public, Google-able forum. If not, then I'm VERY glad I brought it up.wta, if you're willing to post your W-2's for the last few years, then MAYBE I won't be as offended by this entire thread as I have been for the past few days...

[flyingtadpole]

Oct 4, 2008, 4:01pm, tedsingingfox wrote:but I'm just curious if ANYONE has bothered to mention how inappropriate asking people about their earnings is. ESPECIALLY on a public, Google-able forum. If not, then I'm VERY glad I brought it up.wta, if you're willing to post your W-2's for the last few years, then MAYBE I won't be as offended by this entire thread as I have been for the past few days...Here ya go, Mr Singing Fox...it was lost way back on page 1! But I was probably too polite about it. Oct 2, 2008, 6:16pm, flyingtadpole wrote:...I can safely say I'm not earning that sort of amount through Taxi, or through music at all, but I wouldn't say what I was earning in other directions either, as that's for me, my accountant, and (dammit!) the tax man. ...(snip)... As an immediate return on investment? Well, what are you worth? What's your music worth? What's your hourly rate? They're not really answerable questions either!Like me and others, you'll have to find your own particular set of answers out of a whole continuum ranging from absolute "NO to Taxi" to an absolute "Taxi beats sex and sliced bread hands down!"

[flood]

Oct 4, 2008, 1:19am, wta wrote: JH, So let me see if I got it right... the screeners are trained to screen music and the hitmakers give the companies what they're looking for... I think I got it, thanks for that input. wtaWilliam, it is statements like these that rub people the wrong way. This person took the time to offer a response. THEIR time. That they could have spent with their family or friends, not some online stranger.I mean you no disrespect, but come on man. If you feel that YOUR time was wasted by reading their response, the least you can do is keep your trap firmly shut.YOU came here asking for input, and many people have offered it. Don't play the GOTCHA GAME by targeting someone who gives what, to you, is a cliche answer. All types pass through here, and at this point no one knows whether you are just another drive-by troll in progress.In the spirit of YOUR original question, and given what I have read, I think it is fair to ask a couple questions back at you.1. How much money are you making with your music right now? If it as much as you imply (I am supporting myself with my music and cd sales), then Taxi membership should be a tiny percentage well worth gambling on. Anyway, there is a guarantee of money back in the first year if not satisfied. We have seen this honored many times, so you have ZERO to lose.2. If you are THAT convinced of your talent (and you appear to be-nothing at all wrong with that), then Taxi should be just one tool of many that you use. Probably not even in the top 5. If you are touring, selling discs, building a fan base, and have brilliant songs, I don't know what else you can gain here.3. If you are as good as #2 would suggest, why would you be trying for placements here at all.My goodness, tour more, sell more discs, sell out more halls. I would suggest that if you are selling out everywhere and building a huge audience, you don't even NEED Taxi.All meant with no disrespect, with honor and curiosity, and genuine interest.And I am on my crappy laptop, so please excuse grammar or typos.Best wishes!

[sgs4u]

Hey Flood, I watched William's original threads grow from almost innocent questions into these strange sarcastic debates. I'm usually one of the first Taxi "moles" to jump all over Noobs when they start posting crap like his quoted post or insinuating their cynicism towards Taxi. I've been trying to become a kinder, gentler version of myself, but when I saw the one, I thought, " I hope SOMEBODY" notices how pointless that particular bit of commentary was. So thank you Flood, for pointing out the OBVIOUSLY FLAWED LOGIC. and William, when you get around to reading this, please realize I was rooting for your line of questioning in the beginning. I'm also a life timer piano player, it's all I've ever done, besides continually writing and recording for 20 years as a hobby. I see no harm in asking if anyone around here is earning $5000 or more thru Taxi placements. If people don't want to answer, and think that should be fine. Flood's 3 points address why you might not get to find out, on this public forum. I don't mind when new people challenge what some of us believe about Taxi, or what they think might be ways of improving Taxi's services. But when someone becomes flippant with our friends, or uncaring that people have taken their precious time to answer somewhat "baiting' questions,a bunch of us are going to circle the wagons and ruthlessly defend Taxi and each others reasons for hanging out here. So I went to your website, listened to a few tunes in the hopes that your music was going to blow me away, because you are really special and your lyrics are deep and meaningful. Unfortunately, all I got to hear was a lot of mediocre & redundant songs that don't seems finished, or all that deep. That's rock & roll pal. You might think you're above bothering to gather opinions from people about your music, recording techniques and writing, but I hear tons of room for improvement. IMO, you have no idea yet how to create music that Taxi can place for you. Then again, Taxi's not a great vehicle for everybody. It is simply one service, and one possible revenue stream that can help you have the career in music that you want to achieve. However, a lot of people join Taxi, in the hopes that they are going to be saved, much like they believe a major label deal could save them. They want to be told that their music is fabulous and that Taxi will be the only thing they'll need to do for the rest of their career. I kinda thought that and got sincerely slapped upside the head. My lessons are not over, at all.So if you're tough enough to handle rejection and learning at the same time, Taxi may indeed be able to help you learn what you need, to be able to give clients what they need. If your approach is to write songs without thinking what the end user is looking for, Taxi will become a frustrating endeavor, pretty quickly I think. And likely, so will we. If you think of Taxi & this forum as musical training grounds, learning about what you DON'T KNOW, and sharing in the growth & accomplishments of a large family this is such an excellent place to hang around. If you choose to see this people in this forum as beneath your skill level, or Taxi as a flawed outfit, we'll run you out of town sooner or later. You'll be bombarded by members who take exception to pretty much everything you talk about. Pitch in, get involved and positive (again), you'll frikkin love it here. This set of lyrics you posted is indicative of how much this place could help you. songs with the same rhyme scheme in both verse and chorus, and that also include some of the same words and phrases in both verse and chorus, are not going to get thru Taxi screeners. I can virtually guarantee this. Apr 17, 2008, 5:03pm, wta wrote: Caught In A Stare - Words & Music by William Thomas AndersonCopyright 2007 Verse 1I, I think that you are thereI, I’m sure that you are thereYou, you seem that you’re unawareThat you, you’re caught in a stareChorusIt seems to me you’re unawareIt’s more for me than I can bearIt seems to me you’re unawareIt’s clear to me you’re caught in a stareI have this habit of reading people's posts to get a feel for their personalities. So I read thru 65 or so of yours again, including the Steppenwolf stuff. You've participated in a bunch of cool things here and you've been polite and helpful. I'm really hoping that you plan to stay, and you can commit to that same style of communication you've been using up until these last couple of threads. I don't mind arguments, usually great new bits of info come out because of them. However, most of us notice when someone is looking down their nose, and so please, just don't do that. Oct 4, 2008, 7:57pm, flood wrote:Oct 4, 2008, 1:19am, wta wrote: JH, So let me see if I got it right... the screeners are trained to screen music and the hitmakers give the companies what they're looking for... I think I got it, thanks for that input. wtaWilliam, it is statements like these that rub people the wrong way. This person took the time to offer a response. THEIR time. That they could have spent with their family or friends, not some online stranger.I mean you no disrespect, but come on man. If you feel that YOUR time was wasted by reading their response, the least you can do is keep your trap firmly shut.YOU came here asking for input, and many people have offered it. Don't play the GOTCHA GAME by targeting someone who gives what, to you, is a cliche answer. All types pass through here, and at this point no one knows whether you are just another drive-by troll in progress.In the spirit of YOUR original question, and given what I have read, I think it is fair to ask a couple questions back at you.1. How much money are you making with your music right now? If it as much as you imply (I am supporting myself with my music and cd sales), then Taxi membership should be a tiny percentage well worth gambling on. Anyway, there is a guarantee of money back in the first year if not satisfied. We have seen this honored many times, so you have ZERO to lose.2. If you are THAT convinced of your talent (and you appear to be-nothing at all wrong with that), then Taxi should be just one tool of many that you use. Probably not even in the top 5. If you are touring, selling discs, building a fan base, and have brilliant songs, I don't know what else you can gain here.3. If you are as good as #2 would suggest, why would you be trying for placements here at all.My goodness, tour more, sell more discs, sell out more halls. I would suggest that if you are selling out everywhere and building a huge audience, you don't even NEED Taxi.All meant with no disrespect, with honor and curiosity, and genuine interest.And I am on my crappy laptop, so please excuse grammar or typos.Best wishes!

[wta]

steve à gilbert, I thinks it’s important for me just to restate what I've already said a few times now. I joined taxi because I think it is the best independent A&R group, period. I have said nothing to contest this from my very first post until now. I haven't looked down on anyone (though I've been irritated by continual reading between the lines and implying things that I've never said nor implied) and yes I agree my last post just put me over the top a bit, it just sounded so condescending less though than flood’s which I will address below and I just couldn't believe it but I put a sign which means I wasn't being mean spirited and I wouldn't have included that if I was as I was giggling in my irritation. I was at the end of a long day and sometimes dealing with irritating things is not easy as I'm sure you will agree. I have at no point ever implied that the songs that I wrote on the album that I submitted for review (because I was asked to) was "taxi" material and it was not written as such, it was organic outflow of what I wanted to say the way I wanted to say it and that’s all it was intended for (does every good song in the world have to be taxi quality?)(Many of the tunes on the album where a result of improvisational episodes and the people that I play for have asked me to record the music and so...). I didn't join taxi to submit those songs per se, though I did get a few critiques which overall I was fine with as I've also said in the later posts so as much as I'm thankful you reviewed the songs I joined taxi to write instrumental music specifically and submit for catalog purposes for which I am a full blown rookie and I've not implied otherwise. I play the Irish whistles and acoustic guitar and thought that using these instruments together for taxi submissions might be an enjoyable way to include them more in my day to day musical happenings (I don't get as many chances to do much with these instruments as I'd like). My last two threads where two issues that I wanted some feedback from other writers on and at no level was I wanting to stick it to taxi, their screeners or anyone. I am allowed to question issues to better understand their bottom lines, I'm sure we'd all agree. I personally found no harm in the questions but some have taken offence, I had no idea that that would have been the outcome. I have conversed with many in pm's who have authentically wanted to help me and they have been a gold mine of help and to them I am very grateful. Many have pm'ed me and have been very concerned that I’ve had to field some of these odd replys and have stated that overall I've handled these well but they took the time to ask me what I meant instead of implying publically what they think I'm saying so those chats have been very successful and are developing into wonderful relationships. I'm not "in the know" when it comes to the "who’s who" of who’s posting so I'm not in the same mindset I guess as those who post thousands of posts here, I would love to have that kind of time to get a feel for things here. I'm not going to quit learning from this forum (I don’t typically come to post as to read) or from the taxi screeners because I don't have to like or agree with them, their ways are just the way it is and that’s all I'm trying to find out, "What not to do, what to do and if there are more than a couple of people actually earning at least a part time income from taxi. If I’ve offended anyone or replied less than gracefully because you've jumped to inappropriate conclusions about me I am sorry and do fully apologize. Just please understand that this is the music business and in that I trust my mom and my wife; I think I can just leave it at that. Ok, flood... I haven't implied any success or failure with my music career so I’m yet again dealing with something that is based on non reality. I'm just not sure why you would say that I'm implying this but I will gladly answer you questions even though I have asked no one specifically to answer anything.1. I have averaged over $5000 US per year for the last five year with my career and have invested thousands to bring my private studio up to broadcast quality equipment.2. What I can gain through taxi which I can't through touring and album sales is establish a residual income. With a developed catalog I can be earning income from it for years into the future from not only new licenses but backend as well. If I have a medical issue I and can't tour anymore then both revenue from gigs and cd sales will disappear.3. For the answer to this third question see answer 2 above. So with that said, a big thank you to all who have agreed and disagreed with me and my methodologies but have taken the time to share their hearts and minds openly I can say that I've learned from all that I've read, some about music and some about people/personalities and some about the taxi forum and those who post here I had NO idea that posting these threads would take so much time to deal with so I would ask everyone’s mercy and if you have any thoughts or concerns about me, my music, my personality and my social skills please just send me a pm as I'd love to resolve any further issue quickly. I have just got home from a gig and I should be sleeping right now but I made the error of logging onto this forum to check my pm’s and read the last couple of posts that I just felt needed to be addressed. It’s 2:41am and me bedtime… wta

[flood]

It can be very addictive, indeed, Will.And you are correct, my post came off as too condescending, on a second read. I won't edit though, not out of disrespect, but because to do so implies a level of moral dishonesty that I don't like much.So, I apologize for the harsh wording and any implication that suggested negative things.We are all in this together (at least through the forum), and it wasn't my intent to rile anyone/I must have missed at least one post (this has been an intense and interesting read all around), so apologies for not understanding exactly your motives.Excellent information provided by so many people, I imagine this thread will be searched, found and bookmarked by newbies for many years to come for its clarity and depth.

[prez]

Oct 2, 2008, 3:08pm, ggalen wrote:matto,No offense taken. But how is it off topic? It directly affects our income from library placements, doesn't it? Or am I missing something.Thanks.I must be missing it too because it deals directly with making income from placements. Some times I get the distinct impression of a social club instead of a forum when posting and that if you're not in the right circle.....I digress.I'm with Dave. It takes time in this industry to build up a steady flow of income so you won't realize the gains for a while to where you could actually gauge the worth from joining TAXI.I think getting the opportunity to submit is well worth the money you invest if you're seriously going to use the service. If you're not submitting a few times every week but once in a blue moon, then you're not going to see that ROI that you wanted. Even once a week would be a good deal.If you want to do this full time, it's a no brainer: you need to diversify. Have several means of marketing yourself and presenting that to various potential clients. TAXI can be used as a major part of your marketing plan. It has finally become that for me. I joined in March but worked a job six days a week, 12-14 hours a day. I made the money but it was clear I joined prematurely because I wasn't able to utilize the service at all. The last four months has seen me able to do that. However, to gauge TAXI's monetary effectiveness will take, I believe, two to three years...minimum. That's if you're getting forwards an placements on a regular basis and are keeping good records. In the meantime between time, I'm doing additional things because, well...a brotha has gotta eat.