In defense of TAXI ?.

[TerrellBurt]

Good post and good feedback. TAXI isn't for everyone, but if you do the necessary work, you will see some success if you stick with it. Myself and many others are a living testament to this.

[chaoticfractal]

I debate it myself.

I have made about 130 submissions. 14 forwards. Not bad ... about 11% forward rate. Member for 4 months. I'm not expecting miracles. It is hard work. I don't think I'm magically going to land placements, and actually have a 1-2 year plan. But ...

Placements or buys from forwards? 0

So I've spent about $650 (minus annual fee) and made $0.

Of the 116 rejected, I've had about 30 that were "close" ... thus why in another thread, I mention that I wish Taxi allowed for a "1 revision" possibility. Especially at $5 per submission.

To compare, I joined another sync company like Taxi ... made 3 pitches, 2 accepted AND placed. So I know I can get placements.

Is it all wasted? No, I've learned a LOT. Yes, ANY feedback is great. And this has helped me quite a bit. Some feedback can be incredibly vague though. And occasionally the feedback contradicts the brief it is based on. It would be nice to see more quality control on that (to me, the custom critique should almost be the "basic" critique, whereas the custom critique might be a video or quick 15 min call).

Another positive thing ... I've learned to write faster, and to develop a strategy for writing to a brief.

So I consider nearly $1k spent to be more about education at this point. Like a "sync education".

But at some point, if I can't place songs, I have to debate if the service is doing me any good.

I do have a 1-2 year plan though. After a year here, I will re-evaluate Taxi's purpose. I think I need to get at least one placement to justify moving forward. If I'm already getting some forwards, I don't think that is unreasonable. At at least 2 by the end of year 2. To me, if I can't get 3 placements in 2 years, either I should quit, or Taxi isn't working for me.

To me an annual fee + $5 submissions are WELL worth it if 1) I got more consistent and detailed feedback, 2) I was able to re-submit to the same pitch, and 3) if I got more information about who my song was forwarded to.

It would also be nice if the $5 was per pitch regardless of # sasongs sent.

Or even better, to get feedback before the deadline. Seems silly to send 4 tracks and waste $20 to get feedback where I realize the slant they are looking for. If I could get feedback from the first track, and realize "oh, they are looking for more of a mysterious vibe and not a spooky one" ... then I can adjust my other 3 tracks accordingly. Right now, it feels very risky to submit >1 track to a brief.

Ability to resubmit would be amazing though. When I did a cover song a few months back, I didn't realize they would judge it based on having a British accent. I could have easily re-pitched the song had I known that.

Just my 2 cents.

[AlanHall]

Is it all wasted? No, I've learned a LOT. Yes, ANY feedback is great. And this has helped me quite a bit. Some feedback can be incredibly vague though. And occasionally the feedback contradicts the brief it is based on. It would be nice to see more quality control on that (to me, the custom critique should almost be the "basic" critique, whereas the custom critique might be a video or quick 15 min call).

I don't believe anybody would want less feedback if more were available and I agree, while the feedback process may have changed for the better (I wouldn't know, just past the 1 year point myself) it can still be improved.

It would also be nice if the $5 was per pitch regardless of # sasongs sent.

Defeats the purpose of the fee. Everybody would pitch their entire catalog for every listing.

Or even better, to get feedback before the deadline.

It's called custom critique, if you're fast enough to submit early and revise before the listing ends. I don't know, but I think Taxi would be sensitive to time constraints when the listing is known with the initial custom screen.

[Kolstad]

Taxi is an established direct marketing service, where what you pay for a whole year, about equals what many spend on promotion of one single digital release.

So, you get a lot for the money, but you need to know what you are trying to achieve, and have use for this kind of service. If you try to press squares down a round hole, Taxi can’t help you.

[jessecarrigan]

Don't forget the Road Rally. For my money, worth the price of admission on its own.

[cosmicdolphin]

So I consider nearly $1k spent to be more about education at this point. Like a "sync education".

I don't think it's good value to ' sync educate ' yourself via Taxi - It's not really an educational platform and most of the educational stuff is free like on Taxi TV or via the forums. You'd be better off spending $1k on some good courses and sounds that you need..For example something like Sync Academy for a few hundred for a year has WAY more in terms of hands on 'how to ' tutorials for sync licensing tracks. Then you'd have some left over for plugins or equipment.

Taxi is good for helping you into Libraries and I hear some great stuff getting forwarded but I also hear a lot of music that is nowhere near ready, which ain't Taxi's fault but there's no entrance exam

[KayBur]

So I consider nearly $1k spent to be more about education at this point. Like a "sync education".

I don't think it's good value to ' sync educate ' yourself via Taxi - It's not really an educational platform and most of the educational stuff is free like on Taxi TV or via the forums. You'd be better off spending $1k on some good courses and sounds that you need..For example something like Sync Academy for a few hundred for a year has WAY more in terms of hands on 'how to ' tutorials for sync licensing tracks. Then you'd have some left over for plugins or equipment.

Taxi is good for helping you into Libraries and I hear some great stuff getting forwarded but I also hear a lot of music that is nowhere near ready, which ain't Taxi's fault but there's no entrance exam

For a person who is just starting to study music, free access to some materials that help to understand whether this hobby is suitable for a person or is not an occupation at all for him is useful and very convenient.

[chaoticfractal]

I agree that there are better educational avenues for this.

While I do think there are lots of songs that need improvement and are not forwarded, my bigger concerns is the complete darkness after something is forwarded.

To me ... it would seem if it is forwarded then you have "earned" the right to know who it was sent to and the ability to talk to them directly. I believe they used to do this (way before I joined) and stopped it for some reason (probably people being a nuisance).

I know people get deals after being forwarded ... just seems a lot don't.

To me, even more reason to "earn" the right to talk to who you get forwarded to is BECAUSE of the entry fee.

Again, maybe charge a $1 or $2 fee to be just like now. Charging ANYTHING will deter people. Charge the premium $5 for those who will gain access to contact info of forwards.

The custom critique is an option of getting more feedback before submission. The problem is ... it would be nice to get that review from the ACTUAL reviewer that would review the pitch. You run the risk of getting someone not even on the pitch. Not to mention there is no guarantee you'll get it back before the pitch deadline.

The custom critique to me is honestly what I would expect for every submission at $5. I think the custom critique should offer a video or 15-min video chat for that price.

Anyway ... it is what it is. No use pushing for a change when this is a business.

[Telefunkin]

You might disagree, but here's a few more thoughts to consider.....

my bigger concerns is the complete darkness after something is forwarded.

There can be many reasons for that (e.g. they don't like your track, or the opportunity for that type of music has gone) but none of them are within Taxi's control.

To me ... it would seem if it is forwarded then you have "earned" the right to know who it was sent to and the ability to talk to them directly. I believe they used to do this (way before I joined) and stopped it for some reason (probably people being a nuisance).

Unless the library want all the forwarded tracks somebody will be disappointed, and want to ask why their music wasn't accepted (and could be a nuisance). The trouble is, if libraries replied to every rejected submission (from Taxi or elsewhere) with details about why they rejected it, they would have no time left for any other business. No library would want that, and if taxi allowed it they'd probably never come back.

I know people get deals after being forwarded ... just seems a lot don't.

That's true. If all the same people personally delivered all the same tracks directly to all the same libraries, some would get deals and a lot wouldn't. There is no entitlement though. The best way to attract their attention is to give them what they want.

You can send material direct to many libraries yourself, circumvent the Taxi forwarding procedure and it costs you nothing. However, you've lost the specific knowledge of what they're looking for, and also the recommendation of your music being of an acceptable standard that is on-brief. Either way though, you still haven't "earned" anything.

As for discussion, what do you want to say to them? If they want your music they'll get back to you (and why wouldn't they?), but if they don't then the very best you'll get is a 'no thanks' and its extremely rare that there's any discussion about that. They're running a business and have more important things to do with their time (like working for all their existing writers to get their music placed).

I think the custom critique should offer a video or 15-min video chat for that price.

Isn't that $/hour rate below minimum wage Would you do it for that much?

If you want highly detailed coaching that will walk you through various aspects of making sync music (with video chat) there are courses out there. I saw one recently that was about $1.5k, equivalent to the cost of several years with Taxi. Maybe that route would work better for you.

In the end, making music is what deserves all our efforts and energies. I think that will lead to more desirable outcomes than trying to 'fix' Taxi.

[crashgates]

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