Newbie shout out and a question

[marty6strings]

I've been performing for the last 12 years with a local band (Santa Cruz, CA) and I've been involved in recording a set of songs for the other guitar player in our band - two very satisfying experiences. I've also been writing for about 30 years - mostly for myself but I'm getting a stronger sense that my stuff could sell and that's why I'm posting on this forum.My question is this - the postings on the Taxi site request songs "in the style of ..." etc. - does Taxi (would Taxi?) provide a service for a fee whereby a songwriter, or an artist or band could submit material and have Taxi screeners listen to it so that they could critique the song (say, 1 - 5 in quality) and what style the song would lend itself to?I know that there are a ton of resources out there to be able to determine what "style" the posting agencies are looking for - I was just wondering if the process could be streamlined.O/W - nice site! I've recently opened an account on the electronic Copywrite website (http://www.copyright.gov/eco/index.html) and I'm ready to jump into the fray.Thanks all for this site - Marty

[mojobone]

There's a fee service for Taxi members, (believe it's twenty-five dollars) to have a song critiqued by their staff; forum members can do this for each other in the Peer To Peer section, in a you scratch mine, I'll scratch yours fashion. Welcome to the boards.

[devin]

Welcome aboard!As Mojo said, the peer-to-peer section is a great spot to post your song and the potential listing, and have forum folk chime in. This type of feedback is very fast...usually someone has a few ideas posted within a few hours. It's free, and you'll get lots of feedback as long as you're consistently helping other folks too. (on rare occasion, someone will just keep asking for help without giving anything in return...those folks usually get ignored by 95% of the forum...the other 5% of the forum members will make them feel like they should be wearing asbestos clothing )Taxi includes a critique about 50% of the time when you submit a song to a specific listing....and this submission costs you $5 per tune. If you submit 3 tunes to a listing that lists "...looking for uptempo songs a la Johnny Cash...", and there is a critique included, you will get feedback from the screener if your lyric/vox/music had enough of the listed influence in it. You'll pay $15 for the chance to submit (the small fee keeps folks from sending every song they ever wrote). 50% of the time there will not be a critique included, this is typically due to the end client (music supervisor, agent for the artist, etc) directly listening to your tune...they aren't required to tell you more than a "yes" or "no". This feedback can take 6 weeks...normally closer to 3 weeks. The screeners have to dig through all the submissions before letting everyone know.There is a custom critique, performed by Taxi screeners, for $20 (last time I checked ). This feedback comes back in about a week (the three times I've done it this year).HTH! I can post an example of each critique, if you don't find any current examples in the other places of the forum.

[matthoggard]

Wait a minute Mojo, What exactly are we scratching?? Welcome aboard Marty.It may take a couple posts but as you start reviewing other members songs then they will return the favor.I tell you its way cool. Be prepared. These people are honest and will tell you like it is. But that's what we should all expect.Nice to see you!M~

[anne]

Welcome Marty!