Listing Y06062980 results

[timejunkie]

So Taxi is picking up folks to reveiw music that have been let go for one reason or another by a label, publishers etc....dosn't instill much confidence in their abilty does it.The bottom line is that there are millions of aspiring and very vulnerable artists out there that will throw money at anyone to get their song on an A & R guy’s desk....me included to some degree. Taxi is another vehicle to attempt to do that and it initially looked very appealing.However, any way you slice it Taxi is a middle man not unlike a song “jobber”. To my knowledge (and correct me if I am wrong)...Taxi has absolutely no say as to whether a song is used or not. In fact, they admit themselves they do not guarantee that a “forwarded” song will ever be listened to by the actual A & R individual that requested it. The way I see it the service Taxi “sells” you is: a review of your material by a mysterious reviewer, a monthly motivational e-mail (to keep you hooked and the lights on) and if you are lucky they will send the song off in an envelope that may never be opened by the requester. No follow up calls, no push to get the song used! Yes, the Taxi name may get your song past the front desk but that (to my knowledge) is the extent of it.They even frown on you following up (when you get a forward) to try to push your own material so you don’t piss off their customer. Trust me if you don't push and market your own material nobody else will unless paid. Still sound as attractive as the marketing?Let me ask you this...Taxi says that submissions are reviewed by experts in the genre of the listing...what about the listing that asked for Foo Fighters Green Day Gwen Stefani Kelly Clarkson...is an expert in “modern” hard rock reviewing the submissions that are similar to Kelly Clarkson? My point is made....Taxi is a brilliant business model and my hat is off to Michael and I am certain his heart is in the right place. The music business is hard nut to crack in whatever format one decides to try to “make it”. However, I’m not convinced adding another layer “experts” that won't allow you to push your own material is conducive to attaining that goal. But it sure lines the pocket book!

[davewalton]

Quote:So Taxi is picking up folks to reveiw music that have been let go for one reason or another by a label, publishers etc....dosn't instill much confidence in their abilty does it.Taxi's clients, some of the top names in the business, have repeatedly used Taxi to professionally screen and forward music for over a decade and still continue to do so. Apparently the executives at Capitol Records, Disney, Miramax, Warner Bros, etc disagree with you. Otherwise they would have abandoned Taxi long ago. Quote:However, any way you slice it Taxi is a middle man not unlike a song “jobber”. To my knowledge (and correct me if I am wrong)...Taxi has absolutely no say as to whether a song is used or not. In fact, they admit themselves they do not guarantee that a “forwarded” song will ever be listened to by the actual A & R individual that requested it. Taxi screens music for their clients. Period. Info on their website and here on the forum spells that out in no uncertain terms. What the client does with the music (listen/not listen/make a deal) is solely at the descretion of the client. Send your music directly to Capitol Records and demand that they listen if you think that would work.Quote:and if you are lucky they will send the song off in an envelope that may never be opened by the requester. It has nothing to do with "luck". Most forum regulars here get forwarded (but it's not easy). A few, including me, have gotten deals, some are very good deals. To say that we're only "lucky" is condenscending and comes off like "sour grapes". Besides, Taxi's clients are specifically asking for material. Capitol Records doesn't waste their valuable time going through the listing process and then not open the music that Taxi sends. But they could toss the envelope if they wanted to, same as if you sent your music directly.Quote:They even frown on you following up (when you get a forward) to try to push your own materialThat's a basic rule and a universal truth, not something Taxi made up. Any A&R person, publisher, music library owner, etc will tell you this: Bugging the people you send music to will NEVER result in a deal. That doesn't mean you can never submit material again to a music library that didn't do a deal on previous submissions. It only means that bugging them about what you sent will never work. That's not "marketing". When they want your material you'll hear from them. They never sit at their desks saying "I wish Chip would call so I could offer him a deal". They definitely won't say "Hey Chip, thanks for calling. I wasn't interested in your music but now that you've called I've changed my mind". But... I encourage you again to send your music directly to Capitol Records and a half-dozen other places. Then try "followup calls" to push the material you sent. Let us know how that works out.Quote:Let me ask you this...Taxi says that submissions are reviewed by experts in the genre of the listing...what about the listing that asked for Foo Fighters Green Day Gwen Stefani Kelly Clarkson...is an expert in “modern” hard rock reviewing the submissions that are similar to Kelly Clarkson? My point is made....After only a few months you got returns on your first submissions and because of that the screeners are amateurs, Taxi isn't smart enough to know this, the A&R execs using Taxi don't know enough to descern the difference, and their bosses run billion dollar companies all on this foundation of ineptitude - and you're the only one that has picked up on this. Yeah... you've made your point.I always have to ask. Are you going to go through this everytime you're rejected outside of Taxi? As far as the music business... this IS the music business. It's no different "out there". I'm convinced that you can get forwarded. One of those listings that you missed (a "high-bar" listing) you couldn't have missed by much. Like Jimi said in a recent post, use some of this energy to write more music. Good luck with your journey, Dave

[timejunkie]

Thanks for your reply Dave, I actually enjoy the debate and I think it is a very worthy topic of discussion. Honestly... Dave I'm just questioning a few things about Taxi that I think are a little odd or insufficient to call themselves an A&R company. They are really a "screening" company are they not? True A&R is a somewhat different animal.You make some very good points. Do you know who the current screeners are? Do you know who is holding your musical future in their hands?Why can we not know who is screening our music? You also didn't really answer the question as to who would screen the listing asking for Green Day and Kelly Clarkson style music on the same listing? A screener that specializes in Rock or Pop music? If you wrote Green Day type material would you be comfortable not knowing who was screening on that listing?I am aware of how difficult it is to shop songs on your own in fact it is impossible without an "in". and I am not naive enough to believe I could demand Capitol Records listen to my music. That is just silly... However, I would ponder the question...am I better off hiring Taxi who will not follow up at all or an independent song jobber who will follow up in a professional manner? I would rather here an "it's not what we're looking for" than hear nothing at all and wonder what is going on with my music.Maybe you are correct in hoping that Taxi's track record will get our songs signed or even listened to... but is that enough? I guess that is a personal decision and in some cases deals are being made...This is not sour grapes just questioning the process....I actually have received some very high marks on my submissions and the critiques are very useful. I honestly believe that if I keep throwing five dollar bills at Taxi I will eventually get a forward.LOL...well maybe not after Michael reads this thread...I'll be on the black list. Cheers,Chip

[matto]

Quote:They are really a "screening" company are they not? True A&R is a somewhat different animal.This is getting down to semantics, as I already pointed out in my previous post. Honestly this might be an actual issue if Taxi didn't say in their info kit and on their website exactly what it is they do. If you really didn't know Taxi doesn't have a say in whether you get signed or not, it's because you didn't do your most basic homework before joining...Quote:Do you know who the current screeners are? Do you know who is holding your musical future in their hands?Why can we not know who is screening our music?I know some who some of them are, I've even met some of them in person at various Road Rallys. I've amassed a pretty extensive knowledge of particularly film/tv music over the last 15 years, yet I happily entrust my music to Taxi's screeners (doesn't mean I always agree with them...). However the whole idea that one screener "is holding your musical future in their hands" is so utterly naive it's just stunning to hear from somebody who claims to have any kind of previous experience in the music business. Taxi is just one outlet for your music and there are many different screeners for a given genre of music. The reason they use numbers instead of actual names is because when they did use names some nutjob members who got all worked up about not getting forwarded actually called and threatened said screeners....Quote:You also didn't really answer the question as to who would screen the listing asking for Green Day and Kelly Clarkson style music on the same listing? A screener that specializes in Rock or Pop music? If you wrote Green Day type material would you be comfortable not knowing who was screening on that listing? Okay haven't we been thru this BEFORE? The screener who would screen a listing like this is somebody who's an expert on modern top 40 music. Which encompasses all the artists mentioned in the listing (and then some...). Most well rounded A&R people would easily qualify. In fact you seem to be the only person who doesn't (want to?) see that obvious connection.Quote:However, I would ponder the question...am I better off hiring Taxi who will not follow up at all or an independent song jobber who will follow up in a professional manner? I would rather here an "it's not what we're looking for" than hear nothing at all and wonder what is going on with my music. Again it's just stunning to me that anybody with any previous experience in the music business wouldn't have realized by now that "hearing nothing at all" EQUALS "it's not what we're looking for". Every A&R person you'll ever meet will tell you exactly that.They will also tell you that follow-up is never gonna help your chances. It will just annoy them or put them in the difficult position of either trying to remember why they didn't like your music or telling you in a non-offensive manner why "it's not what we're looking for"...Quote:Maybe you are correct in hoping that Taxi's track record will get our songs signed or even listened to... but is that enough? Actually I personally KNOW Dave's correct because of the many deals I've signed thru Taxi and the quarterly royalty checks that are coming in as a result of those Taxi deals. Whether or not "it's enough": Taxi does exactly what they say they will do. Everybody can make a decision on Taxi's way of doing business before they ever join.matto

[timejunkie]

Matto...do you have a web site I can go to and listen to samples of your music? At least that way I can hear how high the Taxi bar is actually set from someone who appears to be having great success with Taxi...I'm sure I can learn more by listening than wasting time debating issues here.BTW... I'm not going to comment on your comment about my "claim" to have music business experience. Some things are better left alone. Cheers,Chip

[davewalton]

Quote:Matto...do you have a web site I can go to and listen to samples of your music? At least that way I can hear how high the Taxi bar is actually set from someone who appears to be having great success with Taxi... I'm sure I can learn more by listening than wasting time debating issues here.Matto can give you the links but I think that just doing that would be misleading. Matto, currently at the top of his game (and getting better all the time), isn't the "bar". We'd all be in big trouble if that was the case. In the opposite direction, it would also be misleading to listen to the Vonage "Woo-Hoo" song and conclude that that particular level of musicianship is all that's necessary for big success. The reality is that there's a WIDE area inbetween and it all depends on the project, or in Taxi's case, the listing.To listen to some examples of forwarded music, you could scroll through the "Forwards" section of the forum. You'll get a wide variety of music and styles and they all depend on the listing. A recent forward of Nomi's comes to mind where one of her forwarded tracks was sparsely produced, mostly drums and vocals with just a little keyboard sprinkled in. It was a cool track targeted to the listing. That worked great for that listing but wouldn't be successful in another listing. And I couldn't get forwarded for a listing like Nomi's if my life depended on it. It's just all different, we're all different.This whole Taxi thing isn't beyond your abilities. I notice mostly that you have trouble with or sometimes fuss about the listings. Since targeting the listing is the key to getting forwarded, that to me is the main issue, not your music. Having said that, being a little older and a little out of date is probably the most common thing on this forum. If you're submitting to modern top 40 pop/rock listings you have to be current sounding. Hope that helps,Dave

[davewalton]

Quote:At least that way I can hear how high the Taxi bar is actually set I don't know if you'll run into this style of music much but I just recieved an email that I had been forwarded for this listing:Quote:Authentic-sounding PAKISTANI SONGS & INSTRUMENTALS are needed by the Music Supervisor of an indie film about a group of "employees of a low-end electronic store who find creative ways to stave of boredom and their impending adulthood, but when one of them gets married they all must face the realities of growing up.” The supervisor needs has a couple of needs to fill: 1] a Pakistani wedding scene, hence he needs traditional Pakistani wedding music, and 2] one or two other scenes where he's open to Modern/Contemporary Pakistani music, from Rock to Hip Hop. It's a "Bash In Bombay"... LET'S DANCE!! www.DaveWaltonMusic.com/MyMusic/BashInBombay.mp3Try and figure out anything from this. I can't!

[timejunkie]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I really do appreciate your input and I'm not trying to be difficult in any way.After re-reading the posts I think I should in the least clarify my "credentials" for lack of a better term. Since I am unfairly being portayed as an amateaur.I have had a deal with A&M records in Canada, Sony records in Japan and Redlight records in the US with a great deal of airplay in Canada. I have also had videos on Much Music (man they are funny to watch now...LOL) and have toured and played thousands of live shows across Canada and the US. I continue to play live shows in Canada and I am looking forward to shopping my new CD and touring on that project. That being said...In the process of obtaining those deals I have had an extensive amount of interaction with various A&R reps from many major labels. This is why I ask the questions I ask...particularily regarding the screeners. I'm not saying they are not who Taxi says they are but tell me in the least their current credentials. I mean no offense to anyone including Taxi. Is there a reason why the current screeners could not have an annonymous profile listing their credentials and what listings they are assigned to critique and what genre of music they specialize in? I honestly don't feel this is unreasonable to ask. Particularily on vague listings like the one I mention previously (Green Day/Kelly Clarkson). If I knew the screener had a history in rock more so than pop I may have submiited something for the listing.Anyway, this thread has veered rediculously off track. I truly believe there is no such thing as a stupid question. Taxi may just improve their service by users questioning the status quoe.Available annonymous screener profiles may be a good start. Lets make the system tranparent...it would only benifit everyone.Cheers,Chip

[timejunkie]

Quote:Quote:At least that way I can hear how high the Taxi bar is actually set I don't know if you'll run into this style of music much but I just recieved an email that I had been forwarded for this listing:Quote:Authentic-sounding PAKISTANI SONGS & INSTRUMENTALS are needed by the Music Supervisor of an indie film about a group of "employees of a low-end electronic store who find creative ways to stave of boredom and their impending adulthood, but when one of them gets married they all must face the realities of growing up.” The supervisor needs has a couple of needs to fill: 1] a Pakistani wedding scene, hence he needs traditional Pakistani wedding music, and 2] one or two other scenes where he's open to Modern/Contemporary Pakistani music, from Rock to Hip Hop. It's a "Bash In Bombay"... LET'S DANCE!! www.DaveWaltonMusic.com/MyMusic/BashInBombay.mp3Try and figure out anything from this. I can't! Dave I completely understand why you were forwarded with this tune. Congrats....now call them and bug the crap out of them....Just kidding. Cool song by the way! Cheers,Chip

[edteja]

Hey Dave, the guy who books bands for Pakistani bands wants to know if you are available for a date on Nov 1--and can you change the name to bash in karachi?