Nothing New, gripes on not getting a forward, Listing S11021

[sroreilly]

Hi, this is my first year using the TAXI in quite a while, I had a subscription a few years ago, but either way I suppose I am new to this site. I've gotten a few forwards, but I am quite disappointed at not getting a forward for this listing, and noticed that it seems to be the same reviewer that keeps me from getting forwards.

The listing reads:
CONTEMPORARY SINGER-SONGWRITERS a la the wide, wide range of John Mayer to Jack Johnson to Christina Perri to Rufus Wainwright to Alanis Morrisette and everything in between, needed by a successful manager who is very TAXI friendly and whose last band was signed to a major label and went platinum. He wants to hear artists who have a unique, marketable vocal style and radio-ready songs with a modern 2011 sound. He is looking for active artists that are out there doing shows locally and regionally, as well as working the social network sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. Demo presentation must be top-notch! Please submit two to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics, photo and bio. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than Friday, February 11, 2011. TAXI #S110211SS

The reviewer says the main causes for not getting a forward has to do with not having Broadcast Quality, ,which is not asked for in this listing, and this is quoting, "I don't feel that the lead vocal content is competitive with listing's litmus test of "John Mayer to Jack Johnson to Christina Perri to Rufus Wainwright to Alanis Morrisette." "
Which i take serious issue with based first on the fact that there is no standard shared by any of these artists, and I realize that this may come off as gloating, but I am quite certain that the first two quoted artists arent even capable technically of singing the submitted material.

I realize that personal tastes play a great role in this system. SO I was wondering if there was any way of getting second opinions or perhaps even better avoiding reviewers that simply aren't into what you are doing.

For Reference here's my page:
http://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.p ... eanoreilly

The songs submitted were
Living On Borrowed Time
What's Your Problem Now
This Club Sucks

I apologize if this comes off terribly but I really would have liked a forward here and I believe had it been some of the different reviewers I'd had, it would have been one.

[greggo]

Well....they seemed "broadcast quality" to me, and I thought very well written. But the returns for this listing doesn't surprise me in the least because none of those three songs sound like even one of the "alas" mentioned. I think most, if not all of the artists listed are a little more "organic" sounding, and your tracks were too "electronic" sounding for this particular listing (mainly with the synth and compressed drums). They sounded to me to be in the Killers, White Stripes (maybe Fray) realm, more so than the John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Rufus Wainwright ballpark. Just wasn't the right listing IMO. I definately liked what I heard tho. Good luck!

[sroreilly]

Hmm you could be right, but the reviewer did say my submission was on target. I was under the impression that since the listed artists had very little in common it when the listed also asked for "everything in between" it was basically saying anything stylistically goes.

As a little egg in my face I will admit that I was quite surprised when the same reviewer forwarded one of my songs to another listing just today:

S110204SS

CONTEMPORARY SINGER-SONGWRITERS - Acoustic to Electric - ala John Mayer, Brandi Carlile, Ray LaMontagne, Ingrid Michaelson, Eric Hutchinson, Meiko, Rob Thomas, Regina Spektor, James Morrison, etc. sought by well connected artist manager to shop to the TV/Film community, as well as select Major and Indie Labels. He's open to a wide range of output within this genre, yet vocals and instrumentation need to be top-notch! ÊLyrical dialogue should have a visual and universal story line, and the melodic content must be highly memorable. ÊAll tempos are welcome. Broadcast quality needed (excellent home recordings are fine.) Please submit one to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics, photo and bio. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than Friday, February 4, 2011. TAXI #S110204SS .

The song was Too Bored to Be Blue, which I had recently gotten self conscious about submitting on account of reviewers claiming the track wasnt tight enough to be broadcast quality, and I haven't gotten around to looking into the problem. Either way, just goes to show you never know what can happen on here...

[greggo]

If they said that you were on target, then there's a very good chance that I'm completely wrong. Congrats on the forward tho. Good stuff!

[Casey H]

Hi, this is my first year using the TAXI in quite a while, I had a subscription a few years ago, but either way I suppose I am new to this site. I've gotten a few forwards, but I am quite disappointed at not getting a forward for this listing, and noticed that it seems to be the same reviewer that keeps me from getting forwards.

The listing reads:
CONTEMPORARY SINGER-SONGWRITERS a la the wide, wide range of John Mayer to Jack Johnson to Christina Perri to Rufus Wainwright to Alanis Morrisette and everything in between, needed by a successful manager who is very TAXI friendly and whose last band was signed to a major label and went platinum. He wants to hear artists who have a unique, marketable vocal style and radio-ready songs with a modern 2011 sound. He is looking for active artists that are out there doing shows locally and regionally, as well as working the social network sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. Demo presentation must be top-notch! Please submit two to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics, photo and bio. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than Friday, February 11, 2011. TAXI #S110211SS

The reviewer says the main causes for not getting a forward has to do with not having Broadcast Quality, ,which is not asked for in this listing, and this is quoting, "I don't feel that the lead vocal content is competitive with listing's litmus test of "John Mayer to Jack Johnson to Christina Perri to Rufus Wainwright to Alanis Morrisette." "
Which i take serious issue with based first on the fact that there is no standard shared by any of these artists, and I realize that this may come off as gloating, but I am quite certain that the first two quoted artists arent even capable technically of singing the submitted material.

I realize that personal tastes play a great role in this system. SO I was wondering if there was any way of getting second opinions or perhaps even better avoiding reviewers that simply aren't into what you are doing.

For Reference here's my page:
http://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.p ... eanoreilly

The songs submitted were
Living On Borrowed Time
What's Your Problem Now
This Club Sucks

I apologize if this comes off terribly but I really would have liked a forward here and I believe had it been some of the different reviewers I'd had, it would have been one.

The listing was for artists not for songs, so the quality of the vocal is certainly critical.

The listing read: …He wants to hear artists who have a unique, marketable vocal style and radio-ready songs with a modern 2011 sound… which absolutely means broadcast quality is required--- “radio ready” is the key there.

To market yourself as an artist requires that you pitch “A” material all the way.

Congrats on getting that other forward!

Suggestion: Submit one of the returned songs for a custom critique. Request that it not be given to the screener who returned it here. Include a list of questions for the custom review screener. This way you’ll get additional pro feedback (a bargain at $20!) and that other opinion.

Best,
Casey

[sroreilly]

You see, you could be correct in that was the intention in the term radio-ready songs, but I still believe if that was the intention it is poorly worded English. A radio ready song I interpreted as a song that is fit to be on the radio. A radio ready recording would be a better term for what you are suggesting, which is something that typically takes hundred of thousands of dollars to produce. And so if a listing does not explicitly say "broadcast quality is needed" which is a term that TAXI uses frequently enough that it really should be in any listing where a reviewer might seek to critique work based on such criteria.

I might get a custom critique, but I think all of the songs submitted have seen enough reviews that I have an understanding of what a good deal of the TAXI reviews see in said recordings already, which is why I got some frustration from this critique. To be honest, I believe the vocal quality is very good, and in the very least "technically" quite superior to a great deal of the listed artists, and the majority of comments from TAXI reviewers confirms this, so I was really just venting about not meeting the particulars of this reviewers tastes, which are different than mine, and that I believe most of the other taxi reviewers that have seen my work would have forwarded here where this reviewer did not, and that I particularly wanted a forward here, which I didn't get. Anyhow, thanks for the suggestions and wishes.