Screeners paid NOT to forward music?

[Casey H]

Oct 2, 2008, 11:18am, matto wrote:Oct 2, 2008, 10:53am, wta wrote:I asked a specific question in my first post that I noticed hasn't been addressed...""Don't forward if the music has ..." I'd like that list so I can at least know what not to submit. Is there such a list?"No, there is no such list.Quote:Where is the criteria for song submissions and genre types? I've looked all through this site and the taxi website and there is no guideline or breakdown. The genres are the standard genres commonly used in the music industry. Often "a la" artists are used to clarify those genres for people who are not familiar with them. Each set of listing includes, at the very top, a link to samples of the referenced artists. Pretty handy actually...http://www.taxi.com/industry-artists.html I think this link should be publicized more by us here on the forum and by taxi. It can be a HUGE help. Many people (like me) assumed you had to do your own search on sites like amazon.com or iTunes to hear samples. I see the link on top of the listings but it might be easy to miss. Has this been covered in a newsletter?http://www.taxi.com/industry-artists.html Casey

[wta]

I personally don't need to know what individual artists sound like so Casey your listing I hope will be good for someone here I'm talking about comments like "too classic rock" not "modern" sounding enough, for example or "the words in you verse is to close to the ones in your chorus" and so on. Who comes up with this stuff? Who says I can't use a line in my verse and use it again in my chorus? Really? I'm totally fine with "you song stinks and you should try a different direction cause its boring or lifeless or whatever, I perfer to that over "theres not enough words in your verses"?. Let's face it folks this is the music industry and things are seldom how they seem so if I sound a bit leery about the system do you really blame me? I'm not down on anybody just give me the rules so I can know inadvace if a particular tune isn't fit for the screeners and I'd gladly save the song for a different direction... So where's the screeners list of "don't forward music that has..."? wta

[matto]

Oct 2, 2008, 12:58pm, wta wrote: I personally don't need to know what individual artists sound like so Casey your listing I hope will be good for someone here Well how else are you gonna figure out if your music fits a particular listing or not?

[Casey H]

Oct 2, 2008, 12:58pm, wta wrote: I'm talking about comments like "too classic rock" not "modern" sounding enough, for example or "the words in you verse is to close to the ones in your chorus" and so on. Who comes up with this stuff? Who says I can't use a line in my verse and use it again in my chorus? Really? I'm totally fine with "you song stinks and you should try a different direction cause its boring or lifeless or whatever, I perfer to that over "theres not enough words in your verses"?. Well if you don't think solid songwriting advice like your verse and chorus lyrics should have more differentiation, then you won't be helped by taxi or anyone here. C'mon... if all they said was your song stinks, you'd be screaming and yelling that they are not offering any help as to how to make your songs better. How can they win?Seriously, why don't you post a link to one song and lyrics as well as the full taxi review here for discussion? Without this, the whole discussion really is meaningless anyway.I know you realize this... the people responding are genuinely trying to see if they can help you. Casey

[mazz]

wta,If you don't listen to the a las, then you can't possibly know whether your song is right for the listing.I suggest you tack this statement on the end of any comments by the screeners: "in relationship to the listing requirements".This way, when they write a statement like "not modern enough", when you tack on "in relationship to the listing requirements", the statement might make more sense.Another way to look at it is this: What if a listing party, a potential client, contacted you directly. They said: "wta, we'll pay you $5,000 to write us a song for our film that sounds like "song xxx by artist xyz" because artist xyz wants $50,000 for their song and we can't afford it but we need something just like it because it's perfect for the scene. Would you do your research or would you blow off the request and send them something that's your style instead in hopes that they'll take it, even though their request was ultra specific?TAXI gets a lot of listings for Film/TV placements and fewer listings for artists, either for songs for artists or artists in general. I don't know how many film makers you've worked with but a lot of them aren't real musically hip and also have very specific tastes and when they get attached to a song, they don't want to let it go until the last minute and they realize that the artist wants more than the entire budget of their film for the song. Even broadcast TV might not pay that much upfront but a placement in a good show can reap nice rewards on the back end. If you can write to listings, you're more likely to land these types of gigs. That's just the reality of the business and the majority of clients TAXI seems to attract and work with.The boundaries are narrow, which is unfortunate but you've been in the business long enough to know how it works. TAXI is, in my experience, a conduit to a certain segment of the music business which is looking for Film/TV placements which is really a much different segment of the music business than the record side.Hope this helps,Mazz

[matto]

Good points John, although saying Taxi is only running listings looking for film/tv placements is a tad misleading.The current set of listings has 44 listings looking for artists/bands, 39 looking for music/songs for film/tv opportunities, 18 looking for songs to be recorded by other artists, and 4 "assorted" listings...(if I counted correctly)So I think it's a pretty wide spectrum...But even those submitting to artist listings would target their submissions much more successfully if they listened to the a la artists to see what a given listing is all about...

[mazz]

Thanks matto, I stand corrected!

[wta]

LOL! I didn't mean that I don't need to listen to the a las. I ment that I know how to google and artist and find out what they sound like and that the advice given wasn't going to help me as I already new that elementary concept... wow... I don't need further critique on my tunes here either, that is not what is going to help, I need a list things that screeners are looking for that will discount a song from submission, now come on this is not complicated and its least the 3 time I've typed this out! I'm happy and not needing a vent really, but somebody who's in the know please step up to the plate surely I can't be the first person to look for this list! wta

[mazz]

wta,I apologize if I came off too heavy handed there, I realize I was being a bit presumptuous. But I hear what you are saying and maybe this will help, it's a list that the screeners use for custom critiques. It's posted at the top of the peer to peer thread:http://taxi.proboards27.com/index.cgi?b ... read=2Hope this helps!!MazzPS: I've used Amazon.com and iTunes to look up a las before. If it's not on one, it's usually on the other.

[Casey H]

Oct 2, 2008, 3:17pm, wta wrote: LOL! I didn't mean that I don't need to listen to the a las. I ment that I know how to google and artist and find out what they sound like and that the advice given wasn't going to help me as I already new that elementary concept... wow... I don't need further critique on my tunes here either, that is not what is going to help, I need a list things that screeners are looking for that will discount a song from submission, now come on this is not complicated and its least the 3 time I've typed this out! I'm happy and not needing a vent really, but somebody who's in the know please step up to the plate surely I can't be the first person to look for this list! wtaI don't get why you need to see this in the negative sense of "things that screeners are looking for that will discount a song from submission" as opposed to things to do to GET forwards. The list of what NOT to do is miles long and could include "don't cough and spit into the mic". There is a much shorter list of things that if you learn and master you have a good chance of forwards. You already discounted advice to not repeat as much lyric from verse to chorus. Wasn't that a "not to do"? Read books on songwriting. There are tons that will tell you what to do and not do from the perspective of someone new tying to break in pitching songs. So maybe taxi should say "Don't use bad songwriting practices". Will that help you? Casey