Re: What's the etiquette for contacting a company.

davewalton · Post by **davewalton** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:39 am

Quote:I just thought I would throw a monkey wrench into all this and say that at one of the mentor lunches at the Rally this year I asked one of the industry types who came to our table (can't remember his name) whether or not I should contact a company I was forwarded to and he looked at me in disbelief and said "hell yeah!" Not only should I contact them, but that I should be persistent. I had five pieces forwarded a couple of months ago and tried to contact the company, but their e-mail address didn't work so I just figured I'd wait. I guess that was a good call....or was it?MichaelI think there might have been a miscommunication there. Contacting the company as any one of a vast number of other people contacting the company to submit new music, establish some kind of repoirt... of course. I mean if they do have a website and/or a phone book listing, they do get contacted by lots of people. But to contact the company to relentlessly ask about the "status" of your Taxi forward (or any submission for that matter), well, are you going to talk them into liking your track(s) if they didn't like them? If they haven't gotten to them yet, are going to talk them into getting to them quicker? If they haven't gotten to it yet or they don't like your track, what is a phone call going to do (other than annoy them by wasting their time that they should be spending "getting to it")? Good thing that deals don't come about by "bugging" these people to get a deal... Gitarrero's long distance phone bill from Switzerland would be out of site! He's got, what, ten or so deals this year and no phone calls from him to ask about the "status" of his submissions. As one of many things I do, I've been contacting an "outside Taxi" music library off and on now for several years. I've never asked about the "status" of any previous submission. Each time I contacted them I only asked if they're accepting submissions at this time and if so, are they looking for anything in particular. Just before the Rally I sent a piece of music. They listened to it, they liked it and they called me. I wouldn't have this new relationship if I didn't continue to contact them but it was done professionally and was never about previous submissions, only about the possibility of submitting new music. A very old and very wise forum member once said "Gently push yourself forward". Asking about yesterday's submission is a backwards move.

mewman · Post by **mewman** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 1:43 pm

Dave, I accept your wisdom on this matter, and also look forward to learning from guys like you and Gitarrero, but just so you know, there was no miscommunication. This guy flat out recommended I follow up on forwarded material. Not all the stuff I got from the Rally was the word...I talked with a rep in the instrument section upstairs after being told in one of the workshops that the Voices Of The Apocalypse samples were not licensed for use in music libraries. When I asked what high quality stuff they had and explained that I had used the VOTA on some tunes I had submitted, the rep said "Don't worry about it, they'll never know!" So now there are two pieces of advice I got from the Rally that I will not be following!Michael

davewalton · Post by **davewalton** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:24 pm

Quote:Dave, I accept your wisdom on this matterGee, definitely not my wisdom, just passing along what others have passed along to me. Although, I didn't accept that advice blindly. I honestly tried my best to set up a conversation in my head where submission status checking brought about a good result and I just couldn't come up with one.The fun question for the mentor would have been "So how many deals have you gotten as a direct result of 'status checking' phone calls?". At the 2006 Rally, Guy Something-Or-Another gave a GREAT session about marketing yourself, contacting companies, etc. I don't know if he did it again at the 2007 Rally but I learned a TON from that 2006 experience.I was watching a TV show on one of the cable stations and heard music similar to the type of music I can do. I got the name of the production company and sent them this simple email..."I'm a composer with film and network television credits. I'm interested in submitting music for inclusion in your shows and would like to ask about your submissions policies if submitting directly to you or possibly for contact info if submitting through a music library or publisher. " I haven't heard from them yet but if I don't I might send another similar inquiry in the spring or summer. Nobody will mind that. It's quick, professional, unobtrusive, and to the point. I look good and if it ever comes up that I also submit through Taxi, Taxi looks good because of the professional approach. And they don't have to explain themselves if they're not interested.

gitarrero · Post by **gitarrero** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:16 am

Quote:Dave, I accept your wisdom on this matter, and also look forward to learning from guys like you and Gitarrero, .. woohoo - you mentioning me next of dave, thanks for the compliment serious - we all learned it from other people, so I agree with dave - not "our" wisdom. in fact I think it helps a lot to just think of any other professional industry (what business are you in in your dayjob?): the basic principles are the same, the music industry is not that much diffrent - the diffrence is that lots of people want to be musicians, but not sooo many want to be a plumber or other professions (nothing against plumber, just an example) the result of that is that lots of people try to be in the music industry but don't act professional. there's also a chance in that: you can set yourself easely apart from the rest if you DO act professional.Quote: (...) When I asked what high quality stuff they had and explained that I had used the VOTA on some tunes I had submitted, the rep said "Don't worry about it, they'll never know!" So now there are two pieces of advice I got from the Rally that I will not be following!Michaelwell, if they caught you or not is a question for itself. BUT if they do you've got a serious problem, because you breached the license agreement. and the library has a contract with you that states that you have to full power and all rights to your tracks - so it's YOU that will be prosecuted in case of a law suit.bottom line: why taking this risk? simply read the license agreement before you buy a sample library, and buy the one that allows what you want to do with the sounds.cheers,martin