I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this post, but it didn't seem to fit anywhere else.
I've just completed my first year of Taxi, and I thought it was a good point for reflection. I also hope this is useful for anyone thinking of joining Taxi. I am just a guy living in a valley in the Austrian Alps who loves to make music. I am in no way paid by Taxi to say anything.
So here's the stats.
Submissions: 148
Forwards: 15 (forward rate 10%, could rise to 17% with open submissions)
Awaiting response: 11
Returns: 122
Deals: 0
Money spend: $740 (submissions) + $299 (membership)= $1,039
Money earned: $0.
These stats might look a little grim, but I started this year with ZERO knowledge of what tv cues were. I started to learn music production about six months before I joined Taxi. I remember my first submission - I just muted the vocal on one of my rock songs and sent it in!! Since then I have learnt vast amounts about tv cues and song-crafting in general. I do not see the $1,039 as money lost, but money invested. My production skills have improved MASSIVELY over the last year, to a point when I can now say with reasonable confidence that I produce at broadcast quality.
Getting personal feedback on each of my productions from an industry professional is unbelievably valuable, however, it is up to us to decide how it is used. A lot of the time with feedback I think, 'Wow, yeah, I really see what they mean' and look to correct that error so it is not made again. This moves me one step closer to my goal every time. Yes, sometimes I do not agree with their feedback, sometimes it even contradicts feedback from another submission. My advice here is to just accept that the cue/song wasn't generally good enough and look to improve.
With regards to the costs, I suppose this hasn't been cheap, but try to get a critique from an 'industry professional' on the internet (where your not really sure who is providing the critique), it will cost you a lot more than $5! Also, this is my hobby, the thing I love to do! I have friends who will go and spend $5,000 on a bike, or a camera - because it is what they love to do. I classify the Taxi costs of this year as I would guitar or piano lessons. Money well invested.
Then there are the forums. Probably the thing that has helped me the most. If you are not already at the top of your game you HAVE to be posting your tracks here. People who are at the top of their game are taking the time to give back, and provide feedback for fellow members and it has improved my production skills quicker than anything else. But this is give and take. I try to provide my feedback (for what it is worth) as much as I take it from others.
$1,039 is a decent chunk of change, but this could be easily regained with just one good placement. The thing that keeps me going is knowing the only thing that stands between me and my goal of becoming a full time producer, is time. Whether this happens in 1, 5, 10 or 20 years, it will be worth it. Taxi isn't a guarantee of success. Alongside it being an awesome community, it is a way of gaining access to listings and rubbing shoulders with industry professionals. What we do with that access is up to us.
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YEAR 2 - A Review
I thought I'd keep this post going so people can see how a member can progress over the years.
I've just finished year 2 and I'm heading full speed into year 3. I didn't even have to think about renewing my membership, it was a no-brainer.
I've got approx 35 instrumental cues signed to 7 libraries (Ex. and Non-Ex.) and have had a placement on MTV's Catfish (still waiting for that first BMI statement).
The plan is to spend year three supplying these libraries and maybe taking on some others, and hopefully those placements will snowball.
Cheers!
Steve
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Year 3 - A Review
So here's year 3 - WOW it came rounds really quickly!
I'm now at 172 cues and songs signed to 8 libraries.
I've just received my first royalty statement from BMI. It included the placements I knew about (Tunesat) on Catfish and The Challenge, but also some nice surprises with regular radio plays in the US and abroad. These can add up quickly!
I'm really happy about these uses, but equally happy about how much I have learned along the way and how much better my tracks sound.
Here's to year 4!
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Year 4 - A Review
Sorry I'm a bit late with this one (in year six as I write this
). Thanks to Cosmic Dolphin for the reminder 
By the end of this year, I had approx. 250 cues signed. Mainly Hip Hop, EDM and Pop. The quality of my cues got a lot better in this year. It really does take a lot to learn about what a cue is and what it should do, or how it should sound.
It was probably around this point that I really learned that you don't have to make the cue as 'good' as you possibly can, but make it as 'usable' as you possible can. You are trying to get as many placements as you can, not win a Grammy.
But still, quality will also get you more placements.
By this point I had received 3 royalty statements, and probably earned $500. Well on the way to covering costs.
I think my first year and a bit of Taxi was really just me trying to make my songs a hit, and didn't really have much to do with production music, so in terms of the '5 year plan' I would say that this was really 'year 3'.
I can see on my spreadsheet that the first cue I got signed was in March 17, and I think I started making cues at the very end of 2016, so lets call 2019 'year 3 of the 5 year plan'.
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Year 5 - A Review
This is also written after the fact, as I'm in year six as I write this.
Cues signed: 366. Had a great year, and got well over 100 cues signed. The placements keep coming, albeit not as fast a I would like, but it is constant progress.
Three more royalty statements received in this year, and any Taxi costs are probably completely covered by this point onwards.
In terms of the '5 year plan', I would say that this was really 'year 4'.
I learned something very crucial at around this time thanks to Matt vander Beogh and his yearly update that he posts on this forum. He was explaining that he had his best year ever, and I think quit his day job by that point, but the crazy thing for him was that his royalty statements didn't really include anything he made within the last two years. So I thought, that's strange, why is that? Then I thought about it, and it's kind of obvious. If I sign an album to a publisher today, they are very busy (successful), and are going to take several weeks, or even months, to process it and get it up on their website and out to their clients. Lets say the music supe of the Kardashians comes across it and likes it. They've probably already got enough cues for the current season, but might save it to their computer for NEXT season. Then they finally cut in a few cues to a few scenes, then it will be a few weeks until it airs, and then you can wait 9 months for the royalty statement. So nowadays, I really don't expect any cue to make money hit my bank account until two years after I have signed it (although it can of course happen a lot quicker).
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Year 6 - A Review
This was a tough year. Corona hits, the world stops. Not much TV is getting made.
My sixth year of Taxi was probably year 5 in terms of the '5 year plan', because I started making production music later in my membership.
The placements are still coming (according to Tunesat), but definitely not at the pace that I really hoped for by now. Corona had a lot to do with this, and in terms of the five year plan, it might be just as well to not count this year.
The beginning of this year really hit my confidence in my ability to make it. I was looking for big leaps forward, and it kind of moved sideways. By the end of 2020 I decided I needed time off from writing TV cues, and spent the first six months of 2021 just making music for fun to release on Spotify under my artist name Audioshine, and got two albums finished!
As soon as I started to take a break from it all, the world started back up again, and the placements started coming in thick and fast (Tunesat and TRQK).
I'm now up to 450 cues signed and several thousands of $$$$ received in royalty payments. This little business of mine is making a nice profit
My upcoming royalty payment in November will be the first payment for a quarter where I can see in Tunesat and TRQK that my placements really ramped up, so really excited for that one!
In terms of the '5 year plan', I would say that this was 'year 5' (although, if you deducted a year of corona, year 4).
I would say, if you want to go from zero to making a living within 5 years, study to be a doctor instead, it's probably less work
But hey, we are doing what we love, I'm getting nice royalty payments coming through that cover several bills, and, depending on how good these next royalty statements are (which will include the ramp up in placements), I would guess that I can probably make a living from my royalty statements in year 7-8 of the five year plan. But there is still a lot of work ahead!
I can really see this year how its possible to make a living as a TV composer, and I'm back to being as hungry as ever!!!
