I need Laskow to respond to this.

[geo]

Hi ho Geo here, I have an issue here. I'm a newbie (relax I'm not bitching about Taxi, I am very clear on what Taxi is, no need to mobilize your inner circle for defense) and I got my first forward to ______ Management for a song, not impressed by the company but OK, I'll develop the contact, see where it goes. It goes nowhere. The company has no web presence Google can find, the only thing I can find is a myspace site for _____ the A&R guy for the company (formed by the members kicked out of _______) and I can't even send an email to him. The screener for the song suggested a rewrite for the 2nd verse of the song which I did but Gee, chances are they will never hear it. I know, I know I have to be patient, etc. But no. We as songwriters at least deserve the courtesy of a contact (email etc.) so we can start to build a dialog with OUR prospective customers. I know well these guys are too busy, blah, blah blah. B.S. Too busy too send one email to the person who may have written the biggest hit their artist ever had? If the songwriter is immature and abuses the privilege how hard is it too put their email address in the spam file and poof, never seen again. At the point of the forward Taxi has made their money and I think the whole "your on your own now" attitude is a cop out. The companies should provide a contact to the songwriters of the songs they receive. I know your allegiance lies with your clients ML but every now and again how about a little help for your writers? Geo

[hummingbird]

Quote:Hi ho Geo here, I have an issue here. I'm a newbie (relax I'm not bitching about Taxi, I am very clear on what Taxi is, no need to mobilize your inner circle for defense) and I got my first forward to C___ L ___ Management for a song, not impressed by the company but OK, I'll develop the contact, see where it goes. It goes nowhere. The company has no web presence Google can find, the only thing I can find is a myspace site for T___ C___ the A&R guy for the company (formed by the members kicked out of E_______) and I can't even send an email to him. The screener for the song suggested a rewrite for the 2nd verse of the song which I did but Gee, chances are they will never hear it. I know, I know I have to be patient, etc. But no. We as songwriters at least deserve the courtesy of a contact (email etc.) so we can start to build a dialog with OUR prospective customers. I know well these guys are too busy, blah, blah blah. B.S. Too busy too send one email to the person who may have written the biggest hit their artist ever had? If the songwriter is immature and abuses the privilege how hard is it too put their email address in the spam file and poof, never seen again. At the point of the forward Taxi has made their money and I think the whole "your on your own now" attitude is a cop out. The companies should provide a contact to the songwriters of the songs they receive. I know your allegiance lies with your clients ML but every now and again how about a little help for your writers? GeoI think the correct form, after a forward, is to wait for the company to contact you. They have your contact information, and if they want to put your song on hold for the artist's album, they will contact you. Let's look at it from THEIR point of view. They've put out feelers through the resources they trust, like Taxi, music publishers, professional songwriters. So maybe they've narrowed it down to 1,000 or so potential songs. [Generally speaking (according to Jason Blume's 'Inside Songwriting' (a great read)) about 1,200 songs are put on hold for one 14-song album.] Each song has to be listened to by the producer, the A&R rep, the managers, and the artist. They do not have the time to write every writer to say thanks for the submission. When they get a short list, they will contact the folks on it. Your forward means you get a shot at the short list. And they don't have to tell you - and they aren't going to - if you don't make it, or why your song didn't get cut this time. Whether you submit through Taxi or not, that's just how it is. And I imagine that one of the reasons listing clients use Taxi is that Taxi IS a buffer between them and disgruntled songwriters.In the meantime, keep submitting that song elsewhere and keep writing new stuff. H

[geo]

"And I imagine that one of the reasons listing clients use Taxi is that Taxi IS a buffer between them and disgruntled songwriters."Hello beautiful Hummingbird and thank you for your response. I am afraid I didn't get across my point. I'm not expecting a "thank you" call (I'm not disgruntled either), the screener suggested a rewrite even though he forwarded the song, now suppose during the selection process for the album my song doesn't make the list because they didn't like the verse I have rewritten? But because I have no way of contacting them to send along the rewrite I have lost the opportunity? So in this way the system doesn't work for us. That was my point... Geo

[Casey H]

Quote: ...Too busy too send one email to the person who may have written the biggest hit their artist ever had? A little presumptuous, don't you think? Trust me, if they thought they heard the best thing since sliced bread, they would call you.Quote: ...If the songwriter is immature and abuses the privilege how hard is it too put their email address in the spam file and poof, never seen again. People who are computer literate often forget that a large percentage of folks out there wouldn't even know how to block an email address if they wanted to! And even so, the time to handle the annoying emails, even this way, really does add up. The "Delete" is still the fastest. Another problem is what sometimes starts out as a mature discussion quickly deteriorates...You don't have to like TAXI or think they are right for you. But I will say that as someone who has made thousands of pitches outside of TAXI, this is just the way it is. It is true that there are a lot of companies out there that appear to be startups with no Internet presence. One should always keep this in mind when offered a contract, especially if it is exclusive. BUT, not all startups are bad and for many folks, the choice is a shot with a startup or a CD collecting dust. I've seen so much heartache posted on here about "high bar" listings and no one being able to get a forward. So TAXI takes on some lower bar listings WHICH HELPS members who might not ever get a high-bar forward and... more bitching...One more thing regarding no-name startups. A few years ago, 2 artists gave my no-name company a shot at pitching some songs for them. One song ended up on HBO (Well over $1000 license fee) and another on Canadian TV ($700 license fee)... The one on Canadian TV may end up shown in over 70 countries... So, don't always look down on the little guys.Oh, and if you think I'm just another rah-rah TAXI guy, I am not even a current member. It turned out for my particular catalog, it wasn't the best option. Casey

[hummingbird]

Quote:"And I imagine that one of the reasons listing clients use Taxi is that Taxi IS a buffer between them and disgruntled songwriters."Hello beautiful Hummingbird and thank you for your response. I am afraid I didn't get across my point. I'm not expecting a "thank you" call (I'm not disgruntled either), the screener suggested a rewrite even though he forwarded the song, now suppose during the selection process for the album my song doesn't make the list because they didn't like the verse I have rewritten? But because I have no way of contacting them to send along the rewrite I have lost the opportunity? So in this way the system doesn't work for us. That was my point... GeoHave you called Taxi to politely ask if it is possible to have them forward the as-per-screener's-advice re-written song to the client on your behalf?

[sgs4u]

If you have a truly great song it'll find a home. You're not wrong to question the screeners suggestions, and you don't have to use them. One forward wil not make or break your music career or life. You'll need a lot of different placements with 100's of different pieces of music if you're trying to make a living from this. If you submit your song often and it gets forwarded to 20 different listings, eventually something will happen with it. Asking Laskow to personally respond is a little egocentric if you ask me. It may not get you the knowledge you're asking for. Earn your stripes, grasshopper. And listen to Casey.

[liamkelly]

On another point: the reaons you can't find this guy on Google is deliberate. He really doesn't want to get bothered by guys following up all the time.The guy is real. Platinum selling real.Please don't allude to the copanies by name or initial on the boards.Thanks, man All good.Liam

[geo]

Hey guys, I'm going to wrap up this thread (from my point of view, I really didn't want to get into a debate over it) I'll post my response and check back to read your responses but to be honest I'd rather go on the Peer to Peer site and give a little feedback rather than continue a debate which wasn't my intention to begin with. Casey my man, are you trying to tell me that you don't think everything you've written is a hit? Just kidding, that actually was just a "making my point" line (in all honesty I only believe 5% of my stuff has hit potential, the rest, solid album cuts ) And I did put "may have written". And by the way why is it every time someone questions something they 're "bitching"? I never said I didn't like Taxi, I am clear on what Taxi can and can not offer me, but I get sent ML's emails every 2 weeks and they say get involved, work your leads, (join the forum) Taxi is only an introduction, you have to follow through, well I did and I was just pointing out that the follow through goes no where.Beautiful Hummingbird, thank you, I will follow your suggestion (note: I'm always polite but also a little cynical )Steveo, I actually had no problem with the screeners comments, in fact I followed thru with them, my issue is I have no way of passing on the changes. And it's not egocentric to say "I need Laskow to respond to this" when the post above it says "Laskow needs you to respond to this member" (which I did) and in the post ML says he has a presence on the forums, or as a new member do I not rate an audience with ML?Liam, sorry about the initials but I just wanted to show that I wasn't just sitting around, I was being proactive (as everyone always says you should be on the boards). Thank you for the info, I had read the band members formed the company a while back but could find no relative info. My bitch is with the industry in general and the fact that as songwriters, the force that drives the industry, we have always been treated like lepers, stay in your rooms and don't make a stink. No, not jealous of performers just realistically looking at the industry.Just an observation, posted an introduction to everyone on the peer to peer forum and a song for review but got no replies, made a comment here which everyone seems to mistake for a bitch and I got 4 responses. to be honest I would have been happier if everyone ignored this and gave me some song feedback... Geo

[horacejesse]

Hi, George,In general I think you are stuck with the version that was forwarded unless you are contacted by the listing party. If they have an interest in the song then they would probably be interested in your revisions too.The idea of contacting the listing party out of the blue to tell them to hold up the show because you have made revisions, seems inappropriate to me. Almost every song is in the process of revision until it is actually cut. They do not want to hear from everyone who has made a revision.On the other hand, if you submit an inferior version to Taxi, they will hold up their show until you can get the improved version to them, as long as the listing has not already expired. I know because they did exactly this for me. David Laidlaw was just as polite and helpful as Taxi advertises its folk are.Don't lose too much sleep over one listing. After all, one of the greatest songs ever written will eventually have a choice of homes, and the attractive listings at Taxi never stop coming.

[avillaronga]

Quote: The company has no web presence Google can find, the only thing I can find is a myspace site for ...This is not necessarily a bad thing nor does a web presence imply quality or validity. Most of my forwards have been to a company that has absolutely no web presence yet if you check the credits for a lot of TV shows (especially NBC), they are credited. I expect that my opportunities with that company will be much more rewarding than what I get from the smaller companies with nice, flashy web sites. As Liam said, most companies that do not have a web site do so deliberatly and with good reason.I know your point was not to imply that no web presence = shady company (in fact, most shady companies have a nice web site) but since lots of people read and search through this forum I thought it may help someone wondering about this topic at some point.Antonio