My multi-forwarded song was played at Listening Panel

[realdoyle]

I wanted to share something that happened to me at the very last minute of the Road Rally on Sunday (2011). During the last Listening Panel in the main ballroom my song was played. It was actually one of the last two songs played of the entire Road Rally event. I chose this song because it has had about 7 forwards thru Taxi in the last 6 months. I figured it had a pretty good chance of being liked by the listening panel if it was played.

So when it was played I kind of freaked out a little inside. I never win the lottery. However the reaction was not what I expected. Some of the comments made by the panel were "ehhh... it's an okay song." and another panelist commented "sometimes you write songs that are just throw aways" inferring that my song might be one of them.

The funny thing is that I don't disagree with them. I wrote that particular song for a Taxi listing looking for The Strokes-style songs and I never really thought it was a GREAT song but when it started getting forwarded for almost every listing (asking for that style) I submitted it for I thought it must be great.

I'm still processing the whole thing. I'm not exactly sure what lessons to take away from this but I thought it was important to share the fact that not everyone can be right. The Taxi screeners obviously liked the song well enough to forward but it wasn't what the panelists where looking for. Who knows what they were really looking for???

Actually, that might be an interesting suggestion for next years road rally. Why not ask the panelists who are on the listening panels what they are looking for and post it like any other Taxi listing. That way we can target songs to what a certain producer/music supervisor/a&r/publisher might be looking for. Just a thought.

Feel free to comment and tell me what "moral of the story" you take away from this.

[thesongriders]

Hey realdoyle,

Congrats on the forwards and on getting your song played on the panel! I was at the A&R 2 panel, and the Looking for Hits panel so I think I heard your song. Although I can't remeber it since so many were played, I do seem to recall those comments.

My general takeaway from that panel was that those producers were looking for TALENT or HITS. It's so rare to have a hit...in all those drop boxes there might actually be no hit songs in there...then again maybe there's 15. It's probably a very small percentage though. I think if any of them had heard a truely amazing song that they would make room in their schedule for it.

Beyond that, I think they were also looking to see if any of the songs were appropriate for any of their ongoing artists and projects.

That's my 2-cents. One other quick takeaway from reading your story is to trust your own judgement of your songs. It sounds like you and the producers are on the same page about that one song. It probably fits a niche very well and is a good song for tv / movies I'm guessing. But that has to give you more confidence about the songs you've written that you feel are truely GREAT and better than that one.

[realdoyle]

TheSongRiders,

Thanks for the feedback. You make some good observations. Yeah, the 'trusting your instincts' point is an important one. I think the main reason for me sharing this story was to let others know that.

Funny thing is that if I had gotten that feedback from the Listening Panel BEFORE I had gotten any forwards from it I probably would be questioning my musical abilities right now. But instead I feel empowered. I hope everyone can somehow find a way to take negative feedback and turn into positive empowerment (regardless of whether they've had any forwards or previous successes with that particular piece yet).

Another great example is BC Jean from the "How I Made It" panel. She didn't get any results from submitting her music through Taxi. What would've happened if she took that as a sign and quit music? Believing in yourself is so So SO important.

Thanks again SongRiders!

[Casey H]

Hi Realdoyle
Your experience really underscores (no pun) the difference between writing for radio hit songs and writing for film/TV, especially when writing for specific film/TV listings. The techniques really are different. Robin's class in the main ballroom really drove the point home. (Great job, Robin! Thanks!)

Some of the listening panels are more geared to record labels and publishers seeking songs for their artists. So some great film/TV songs didn't necessarily get listened to with a more film/TV type of ear in that setting. Another one of Taxi's best film/TV songwriters had a song played and got a "just OK song" response. The song was also written for a specific film/TV "a la" listing.

One example of this difference is in lyric writing. A hit country song has to provide a fair amount of story details. A film/TV song needs to be so universal, it lacks detail but drives home a killer, universal hook line over and over. Also, with a film/TV song, having the right "a la" vibe often far outweighs the other typical songwriting elements.

If you are getting forwards and are happy with what your music is targeted for, no need to change a thing!!

Best,
Casey

[mazz]

Congrats on all the forwards and on being played! I know folks that have been going for years that have never been played in a listening panel!

As other responses have pointed out, no music exists in a vacuum. One person's great song is another's "ehh". What makes a song effective in the commercial marketplace of music for media, is it's appropriateness for the usage at hand. The final A&R panel has a completely different agenda from the film/tv panel. If your song was played Sunday morning for the film/tv panel, it may have gotten a completely different response. In fact, that has happened when a lucky person had their song played in two different panels one year.

The only certain thing in this business is that you just never know.

Good luck!

Mazz

[mojobone]

I lucked out as well and had a song from my band's CD played on the A&R panel; ultimately, it was probably a mistake to even submit it, because the feedback was pretty useless. I've decided I didn't do myself or anybody else any favors by wasting the panel's time with a (possibly great) song that had no contemporary hit potential. Chip Hardy's exact words? "I love it, but radio won't play it." Next time, I'll know and do better by more appropriately targeting my submissions. The Film & TV pitch panel might have been more enthused...

[brentmagstadt]

Mojobone - for what it's worth, I loved that track. Also hear ya on the lessons learned.
Nice work!