Instrumental Solos in a Vocal

[MLConstantino]

Hi Everyone. After doing some homework there are a few conclusions I've come to as to where my wheelhouse is with Taxi. Feedback appreciated.
1 I'm a Singer/Songwriter. Synch is probably not why I'm here (yes I know.....I get that the opportunities become limited).... at least I get it). I look for non-exclusive listings for people representing artists looking for new original work. I'm new to Taxi so I don't know how often something like that comes up. Any info on that appreciated.

2 My tunes have instrumental solos. Quite often a non-exclusive listing comes up for placement in film and TV and my tunes are a good match but the samples are all vocal. Does this basically disqualify my song for TV/Film placement? I'm not in a position to edit tracks and cut out solos.

Thanks All. Much appreciated.

[Casey H]

Hi Everyone. After doing some homework there are a few conclusions I've come to as to where my wheelhouse is with Taxi. Feedback appreciated.
1 I'm a Singer/Songwriter. Synch is probably not why I'm here (yes I know.....I get that the opportunities become limited).... at least I get it). I look for non-exclusive listings for people representing artists looking for new original work. I'm new to Taxi so I don't know how often something like that comes up. Any info on that appreciated.

2 My tunes have instrumental solos. Quite often a non-exclusive listing comes up for placement in film and TV and my tunes are a good match but the samples are all vocal. Does this basically disqualify my song for TV/Film placement? I'm not in a position to edit tracks and cut out solos.

Thanks All. Much appreciated.

Short solos in Film/TV vocal songs are fine. Keep the intro short (4-8 bars) as well as the solo. Make sure your lead instrument is not overly loud like a screaming lead guitar. It has to work under dialog. Play it at very low volume and see if it stands out and would be distraction behind dialog.

Also keep in mind that there is a difference between lyrics for a country hit song (*) and one for Film/TV. Lyrics for Film/TV have to be universal-- not a story song, no specific names, places, etc. Standard themes like new love, breakup, happiness, sadness, success, etc. are fine but the focus on the emotion. It's possible that your artist songs won't be a good pitch for Film/TV. That's hard to say without hearing them.

(*) You said singer-songwriter, not country. Country songs (and some pop maybe) have the best chance for getting an artist cut. (And that chance is still very, very small). With singer-songwriter, rock and most other genres, the artists write their own material.

Best,
Casey

[MLConstantino]

Hi Casey! I've run into your experience and advice in a lot of the forum reading I've been doing and you are always helpful and clear. We all, I'm sure, appreciate that! The solos pretty much stick to form. Here's some samples. I'm considered contemporary jazz and some of my stuff is blues oriented. Some (like Distance Man) I could hear done by a country artist.
https://www.taxi.com/members/5beOpeN8QX ... -innocence
https://www.taxi.com/members/5beOpeN8QX ... stance-man
https://www.taxi.com/members/5beOpeN8QX ... t-accompli
https://www.taxi.com/members/5beOpeN8QX ... lted-woman

Here's a smattering. Thanks Casey.