listings are misleading or not clear enough!

[crs7string]

I do think Laura will get to the bottom of this issue.The topic of listings not being clear and the result is a return is showing up in several threads, and I know this doesn't feel good.Unfortunately, this is part of the deal. In my opinion, a forward to develop a relationship is worth "wasting money" on the occasional bad judgement call or percieved bad judgement call of a screener that results in a return. Also, the returns do eventually find a home somewhere and may not have existed without a TAXI deadline. At least this is true in my case.If Dave Walton was here he would probably chime in and say something like:"The screeners are geniuses when they forward my track AND a complete idiot when they don't"(I am paraphrasing something Dave has said on the Forum)Listing wording is never ( most likely) going to be perfect.I recently had this opportunity presented to me, see how you would come up with a track for this:"Acoustic or acoustic electric guitar based sound design cues, keeping the "sound design" (and percussion) as almost a trailer aspect to give impact and personality to more melodic guitar tracks. We are looking to throw out the idea to talented guitarists who also do sound design to come up with some original ideas that are also percussive - good for promos. Or - hoping to find some completed works that a composer would want to sell to us to include in our library."This makes some of the TAXI listings look like a very clear recipe for a track.Chuck

[k o star]

Can't deny the occasional burst of frustration but I definitely have to agree with this:Aug 6, 2009, 6:33pm, crs7string wrote:Unfortunately, this is part of the deal. In my opinion, a forward to develop a relationship is worth "wasting money" on the occasional bad judgement call or percieved bad judgement call of a screener that results in a return. Also, the returns do eventually find a home somewhere and may not have existed without a TAXI deadline. At least this is true in my case.Calming down... ... inhale deep breath... ... exhale...

[brindabella]

Yes Chuck, I dont mind being returned for a right reason. My return ratio is still bigger than my forwards, and is usually due to sound , EQ, etc. I have yet to be returned for not being on target, and i think the reason is because English is not my first language, I read carefully about what they want, and if I dont understand something, I ask what it means, so when they tell me they returned my pieces because they wanted an orchestra, and I dont see that word in the listing, I get angry, not because of the return, or for wasting my time, because it all amounts to work that I have done and if not for this one it will be for another listing. What makes me angry is that, by not making this clear ( and by the screeners critique, at least they knew it was a listing for orchestra) Taxi is not helping me to reach this client, and also is not helping the client, because I dont think anyone got forwarded to this. Heck, I dont even understand what they told Mazz! And also, this gives me doubts for the future. Next time they ask for classical composers, do they mean a specific period? If I submit Baroque and the client wanted Romantic, but Taxi never told me? I feel like Alice in Wonderland having a Happy Unbirthday!

[kavode]

Yeah, it feels like a game of telephone, where 1) The client asks for something and uses words that may not best describe it,2) The TAXI screener interprets the client's request to the best of their ability (but something certainly gets lost in translation)3) Us TAXI members interpret the listing to the best of our ability, and write, record and submit accordingly, based on an interpretation 2 times removed from the source!It's a little bit funny (as well as frustrating as hell!), but I'm not frustrated with any client or TAXI for the telephone game, because we're all human and interpretaion is part of communicating with people.The only thing that bugs me is if the TAXI screener has some inkling as to an important componant to the client's project and the listing doesn't mention it, then that doesn't help the TAXI members improve as providers of content, and it doesn't allow TAXI to provide the content the client wants.

[christig]

I remember reading this when it came out. Very confusing. I'm not sure why terms are so loose in the listings. Artist: Can be but not always a composer.Composer: Creates music. Can be but not always a performer/artist.Song: something you sing. Uses lyrics. Can use instruments for accompaniment but is not an instrumental.Instrumental: something you play. Uses instruments for melody, etc. No lyrics.Much confusion would be avoided if a little attention was given to the proper use of terms.Here is a typical example:MUZAK-TYPE INSTRUMENTAL CHRISTMAS SONGS are needed by an established and successful Music Publisher in L.A. who has secured tons of great Film/TV placements for many TAXI members. They are looking for "muzak-type" (meaning unobtrusive, elevator type sounding music) arrangements of traditional Christmas songs that are in the public domain. Please do not send a cover version of a Christmas song unless it is Public Domain. Your performances must be outstanding - instrumental presentation should be top-notch! Recordings need to be Broadcast Quality (great home recordings should be fine). They offer a non-exclusive, 50/50 split deal - you keep your original copyrights. Please submit one to three instrumentals online or per CD.The title is confusing in that it uses both "instrumental' and "song" to describe the listing. The use of the word "Music" instead of "song" would get the point across without having to reread. Of course it finally becomes clear that they want instrumentals only. But in MHO this is the type of wording that confuses the issue unnecessarily.Christi

[brindabella]

Yes, that one and others too can be improved by a different wording, however, like you said, after you read it again you get the point. Who knows, maybe the client phrased it like that. Kind of as when you place an ad in the newspaper. In the case of this listing, the trouble is omission. I think it was Matto once that set the example of being on target like the listing called for a red car and you submitted a blue one. Well, in this case they let out what color they wanted, and that makes impossible for me to give them what they want.

[christig]

Yes, I clearly see the omission and I agree. This is bad for everyone because someone might have the perfect music but not submit. (Not saying this about myself). The composer, client, and Taxi all loose. I think you clearly have a point worth at very the least, a phone call.

[stevebarden]

Aug 7, 2009, 7:20am, brindabella wrote:Yes, that one and others too can be improved by a different wording, however, like you said, after you read it again you get the point. Who knows, maybe the client phrased it like that. Kind of as when you place an ad in the newspaper. In the case of this listing, the trouble is omission. I think it was Matto once that set the example of being on target like the listing called for a red car and you submitted a blue one. Well, in this case they let out what color they wanted, and that makes impossible for me to give them what they want.Yeah, but in this case they left out that they wanted a car at all!

[brindabella]

Yeah! So I sent them a Bike. Me bad!

[matto]

Aug 7, 2009, 7:02am, christig wrote:MUZAK-TYPE INSTRUMENTAL CHRISTMAS SONGS are needed by an established and successful Music Publisher in L.A. who has secured tons of great Film/TV placements for many TAXI members. They are looking for "muzak-type" (meaning unobtrusive, elevator type sounding music) arrangements of traditional Christmas songs that are in the public domain. Please do not send a cover version of a Christmas song unless it is Public Domain. Your performances must be outstanding - instrumental presentation should be top-notch! Recordings need to be Broadcast Quality (great home recordings should be fine). They offer a non-exclusive, 50/50 split deal - you keep your original copyrights. Please submit one to three instrumentals online or per CD.Sorry I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this, IMHO this wording is 100% correct as they want instrumental versions of existing PD xmas songs. They don't want other xmas oriented instrumental music, which the use of the word "music" would suggest. Also the word "muzak" further indicates they are looking for instrumentals as at least 95% of muzak is instrumental.Laura has a legit complaint: she read the listing, found it difficult to understand, asked Taxi for clarification but apparently got clarification that led her down the wrong path, judging from the screener's comments. That is a problem which needs to be addressed.For the rest, I'll have to agree with Chuck. In fact I would say that for anybody who hopes to work professionally in this industry, reading and interpreting Taxi listings would be great learning experience. In the real world you will constantly be getting these types of requests, except they typically will be a lot more cryptic, confusing, and/or contradictory than your average Taxi listing. You simply have to develop the ability to interpret these types of requests, by reading them very carefully and by reading between the lines. And you also have to accept the fact that occasionally, you will interpret them wrongly and as a result your submission will be way off target.It's all a part of the job most people here seem to aspire to.Those who want to learn will find something to learn from, and those who want to complain will find something to complain about.