Forwards vs. Actual Contact Percent

[djdeweese]

How many bona fide contacts have you gotten from your forwards? I've had 39 forwards and 2 contacts, so 2 divided by 39 = .05, or 5%.This poll only takes into account one variable: Number of contacts divided by number of forwards.-- It does not take into account how many tracks you placed with the contact (e.g. I have placed multiple tracks with each of the libraries as a result of my two Taxi contacts, but it only counts as TWO contacts for this poll.)-- It does not take into account the (significant) variable of time. Forwards often take many months to generate the actual contact, but this poll is a simple ratio of contacts divided by number of forwards. This poll is just for fun/curiosity. I thought it might be interesting to see what others' experiences have been. As I said above, one contact can generate a lot of action if you have the material they are looking for, but my subjective experience has been that it may take a good number of forwards to get a contact. (In other words, you've gotta want it!)If you're willing to share your experience, click and submit your vote!

[reggiesnd1]

This should be good

[squids]

May 14, 2008, 10:29am, reggiesnd1 wrote:This should be good I can't even tell you how many forwards, something like 50 or so now. 1 contact. The rest were made outside of Taxi but via contacts I heard of through forum folks. Does that count?

[djdeweese]

Hey Squids, For the sake of this poll, lets stick to only contacts that result directly from forwards. The contacts you made though the forum folks are the result of your networking efforts, and not a standard forward.Keep those votes coming!

[jazzstan]

Yes, the vote will be interesting, but I bet if I posted a song from when I first joined taxi and my most recent one, and asked which is better ... well, duh. Yeah. So my writing is better, my engineering is better, my playing is better. For me that's the cake. The forward is confirmation. Someday, maybe I'll get the "icing" of something getting placed, but that is not the goal, it will be validation that I met my goal... of getting better at what I do!

[djdeweese]

Hey jazzstan-- I agree. I've become more focused and improved my song production skills since I joined Taxi. Of course, I've also improved by taking audio classes, reading song writing books, watching how-to DVDs, and spending hours at the mixing console.Personally I'm not paying yearly for Taxi subscriptions and $5 per song submission with a primary goal of getting confirmation that a Taxi screener thought my song matched a listing. I want to get songs placed and put those songs to work. I get confirmation from a forward, but I get that from lots of other sources without paying for it. The point of this thread is merely to assess what kind of response Taxi members have gotten from the forwards to provide one more data point in knowing what to expect from various marketing efforts. I've been a member for 19 months so far, and even though only 35% of my submissions have been forwards, and only 5% those have yielded actual contacts, I'm still a happy Taxi member and don't plan on changing that anytime soon. But I do plan to do some marketing of my own outside of Taxi this summer and see what kind of contact ratio I can get for comparison sake. If anyone else wants to share their forward vs. contact ratio, vote away!

[reggiesnd1]

Ive been associated with taxi for less than a year and 21% of my submissions were forwarded but I haven't had a contact as of yet. I'm sure that I share the same frustrations as others. I read on the FAQ section "Q: What's TAXI's "Success Ratio"?A: Our success ratio for members who score deals usually runs about 6% per year. The number is probably a little higher, but not all members who get deals remember to call and let us know. Yep, we're pretty amazed by that too! Oh well... chalk it up to human nature." I think if that statement is true my chances to succeed in this system is slim.

[djdeweese]

Hey Reggie-Feel, Thanks for posting that stat. I don't remember reading that, but it looks like the poll in this thread is supporting that kind of a 6% number. Don't give up on success through Taxi just yet though. I was a member for fifteen months before my first contact. And that company went on to sign fourteen of my songs to their new library, and they are part of my 'network' now, so one good contact can be a valuable thing. Also, as some members (Mazz, if I recall correctly) have said, if you really want to succeed with music as a significant revenue stream, Taxi should be just one part of your strategy.Any more votes out there?

[hummingbird]

May 23, 2008, 2:14pm, reggiesnd1 wrote:Ive been associated with taxi for less than a year and 21% of my submissions were forwarded but I haven't had a contact as of yet. I'm sure that I share the same frustrations as others. I read on the FAQ section "Q: What's TAXI's "Success Ratio"?A: Our success ratio for members who score deals usually runs about 6% per year. The number is probably a little higher, but not all members who get deals remember to call and let us know. Yep, we're pretty amazed by that too! Oh well... chalk it up to human nature." I think if that statement is true my chances to succeed in this system is slim.A lot of the members of this board are in that 6%. The mentors here have helped me get my music to a competitive level. No reason why that can't work for you too. Use Taxi, and this forum, as a resource to get your music into that 6%. If I can do it, you can do it. Whether you are Taxi member or not, the time between "forward" or "solicited listen" and "deal" can be months and years. I signed a deal this March, 2008, from a forward in December, 2006. And that's not uncommon. In addition, I take music that has been forwarded by Taxi and confidently put it in my "commercially viable" catalogue and pitch it to the network I've grown through Taxi forwards, my attendance at the Road Rally & my own efforts.

[reggiesnd1]

hummingbird thanks for shining your positive light im just looking at the numbers