Inevitable Shortcomings of the Taxi System

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sgs4u
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Re: Inevitable Shortcomings of the Taxi System

Post by sgs4u » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:33 am

Yous guys, are wasting your breath. If you think something shoulda been forwarded, call the office. You will be treated with respect, and your tune will likely get a little more attention. I've seen it happen, where that phone call, got a song a forward, when it was initially returned.But an appeal process... blahhYou win at this Taxi game, by placing a lot of music, in a lot of places. I think you're imagining that one song, and one listing is gonna make you rich. If you really believe in your song, you will have plenty of opportunities to submit it to other listings. And you always have to keep in mind that the screeners know way more about what the listing party is actually looking for, especially compared to our fertile imaginations.Why waste your time on the fish that got away? Re-bait and cast.

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Re: Inevitable Shortcomings of the Taxi System

Post by clonsberry » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:51 am

Quote:Yous guys, are wasting your breath.I know.. but if wasting my breath stopped me from saying anything, there wouldn't be much left to say.

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Re: Inevitable Shortcomings of the Taxi System

Post by sgs4u » Thu Oct 11, 2007 7:11 am

Quote:Quote:Yous guys, are wasting your breath.I know.. but if wasting my breath stopped me from saying anything, there wouldn't be much left to say. OK, wasting your energy on a moot point. Keep breathing. and check your PM's

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Re: the Taxi System

Post by hummingbird » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:18 am

Quote:Perhaps an 'appeal' button next to the big REJECTED! letters.Heh... you could make it real interesting and tack on another $5 for an appeal. How much do you believe in your song? The thing is, you can already appeal a return, simply by turning around and submitting it to the next appropriate listing for another $5. I mean, do we forget that there are tons of listings over the year that have similar parameters? And if screener A returned songA and screener B returned song A and perhaps even screener C returns song A and some of those returns had critiques perhaps we can look at the collective opinion of those 3 expert gatekeepers and say perhaps they are saying something that needs to be heard. If however, screener A returns it and screener B forwards it, it doesn't mean screener A is off their rocker. It just means, the parameters of the listing they are screening for and their perception of the submission didn't agree.As far as I'm concerned, our general experience with Taxi screening exactly reflects what our general experience with any gatekeepers would be. And - I hope that every Taxi member who gets a return doesn't start calling the office, because that will make it really bad for the rest of us. I've never called the office except to renew, or to register for the Rally, or once to ask for help with taxi.com. I take my lumps like a woman & maybe cry about it a little on the boards & get some help, or send in for a custom critique, or put it aside until I can come back with some objectivity.
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Re: Inevitable Shortcomings of the Taxi System

Post by hummingbird » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:26 am

You win at this Taxi game, by placing a lot of music, in a lot of places. I think you're imagining that one song, and one listing is gonna make you rich. If you really believe in your song, you will have plenty of opportunities to submit it to other listings. Why waste your time on the fish that got away? Re-bait and cast.Exactly.
"As we are creative beings, our lives become our works of art." (Julia Cameron)

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Re: Inevitable Shortcomings of the Taxi System

Post by clonsberry » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:31 am

Quote:The thing is, you can already appeal a return, simply by turning around and submitting it to the next appropriate listing for another $5.True, true. Like I said, I'm not complaining.. just tossing it out there. Ideas are like songs.. you've gotta hear a bunch of stupid ones before you stumble across a keeper.(And I'm finding I tend to ramble when I start typing and don't have to worry about meter and rhyme.)

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Re: Inevitable Shortcomings of the Taxi System

Post by squidlips » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:32 am

Quote:I take my lumps like a woman & maybe cry about it a little on the boards & get some help, or send in for a custom critique, or put it aside until I can come back with some objectivity. I've been watching this thread for a while. Interesting discussion. The thing is, this isn't our father's music business anymore. There is no more pounding the pavement, making appointments or getting face time with publishers who aren't taking unsolicited material any longer. There isn't money or time to provide multiple screeners for one song. The industry is flooded with wannabes from every walk and for every type of music, including songwriting. It's a choked field. Taxi provides us with one way of reaching them; there're others.I allow for this and acknowledge that my energy is probably best spent on writing more songs and learning from critiques and educating myself about the industry. I'm a woman too, used to criticism and to working hard just to be considered in the same room with men. Perhaps that's old school thinking but the hard work hasn't hurt me at all and it hasn't hurt Vikki either.That's just my two cents.

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Re: Inevitable Shortcomings of the Taxi System

Post by bigdrisk » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:53 am

Quote:If you think something shoulda been forwarded, call the office. You will be treated with respect, and your tune will likely get a little more attention. I've seen it happen, where that phone call, got a song a forward, when it was initially returned.I didn't even know you COULD call and talk to anyone about a rejection. Who is Sabastian anyway?Okay, give me some advice: I've got a song that has been forwarded for listing S070907CO (to see the listing go to http://www.driskellsongs.com/S070907CO.pdf) (to see the critique go to http://www.driskellsongs.com/tnoil_critique.pdf)A couple days later the same song was rejected for listing S070914CO (to see that listing go to http://www.driskellsongs.com/S070914CO.pdf) (to see the critique, go to http://www.driskellsongs.com/tnoil_critique2.pdf)To listen to the song, go to http://www.driskellmusic.com/demo/the_n ... line.htmIt seems to me that the listing it was forwarded for is more of a long shot than the one it was rejected for. To my biased ear, the song has a definate Eagles flair to it, which is what the second listing wanted. I mean . . . I personally think the song has a better chance for meeting the criteria of the 2nd listing than the 1st one. Is this something worth making a phone call about?

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Re: Inevitable Shortcomings of the Taxi System

Post by bigdrisk » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:55 am

Quote:The thing is, this isn't our father's music business anymore. There is no more pounding the pavement, making appointments or getting face time with publishers who aren't taking unsolicited material any longer. There isn't money or time to provide multiple screeners for one song. The industry is flooded with wannabes from every walk and for every type of music, including songwriting. It's a choked field. Taxi provides us with one way of reaching them; there're others.You've definately got that right! And honestly, the songwriters AND the industry are probably better for it. Not so much "who you know" and whether you can afford a good demo or not. In today's world I think the real talent has the better chance of rising to the top than 20 years ago.

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Re: Inevitable Shortcomings of the Taxi System

Post by matto » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:02 am

Quote:As many people as it takes to listen to all the submittals (apparently at least 260) makes it impossible for them all to be such gifted/courageous people.You are jumping to conclusions there. Just because there is a screener #260 doesn't mean that there are 260 active screeners.Remember that every client who decides to screen the sumbissions themselves ("will be screened and critiqued by the publisher/music supervisor/ director him(her)self") is assigned a screener number too.Quote:However, adding a line to your lyric or anything else, that says your song has been already been forwarded by screener "X" to listing ***, may also backfire. What I have noticed, is that any kind of expectation (that your great song should be forwarded) or written statement to that effect (which this would be), is summarily dismissed. I honestly think attaching any kind of quality identification could easliy have a detrimental effect on a screener. I have to agree with Steve here, I would never add such a note to my submissions, it makes you look desperate and like you're trying to influence the screener. If I was a screener I would find that pretty insulting, actually.I think it's only natural for somebody who has been writing professionally for a number of years and paid their dues, so to speak, to feel they deserve a leg up on the competition. But I just don't think that's really compatible with the Taxi philosophy of providing a level playing field, giving everybody the same access regardless of their background, where they live, what they've done etc etc. The idea that "as long as your music kicks butt, you'll have the same chance at getting forwarded as any other member" seems to me to be at the very core of Taxi's business philosophy, and compromising that philosphy doesn't seem a particularly smart idea to me (from Taxi's point of view I mean).When you think about it...as professionals we already *have* a huge leg up on the competition. We don't have a day job to weigh us down and we can write whenever and as much as we like...we have credits to help us open doors that would be closed to the average Joe...we've built relationships in the business that give us credibility and can be parlayed into more relationships etc etcSo maybe we shouldn't ask for special treatment from Taxi ...or am I wrong on this?Btw...this thread really doesn't belong in the "Forwards" section which was established for people to "brag about their forwards" and post links to those forwarded songs. Hopefully next time Jimi stops by she can move it.mattoP.S. Sebastian is the head screener at Taxi who overseas all the screeners.

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