listings are misleading or not clear enough!

[Casey H]

Hi allI read the Muzak listing and didn't find THAT one confusing at all. Muzak is known for taking SONGS and creating elevator music instrumentals to their melodies. So, it seems pretty clear to me.Yes, sometimes a listing is confusing and you find yourself off-target. Nothing is perfect. But I have to reiterate what Chuck and others have said about music requests in the industry as a whole. The overwhelming majority of taxi listings are clearer than what might be found on the outside. When there is a situation whereby the listing turns out to be confusing I think it's important not to cast a wide net on taxi listings. Sometimes I read the forum and feel like people are saying that a great many taxi listings are confusing which is definitely not the case. An occasional clunker shouldn't cause the "baby with the bathwater" syndrome. Casey

[brindabella]

Oh yes, it is hard to interpret what clients want when they are not musicians. As a pianist, I have worked with Ballet dancers and at the beginning I had no clue of what they wanted , and with time you learn to interpret. Some of the things they said had no meaning musically, but it is in your best interest to do that, or you dont get the job. That Muzak listing, I submitted a xmas song that is soft, have another that i didnt because I dont see something with timpani and cymbals as elevator music, and I couldnt submit it to the Austrians because it has violins and they specifically said no violins, so whatever "weird" request a client has it is my job and in my interest to try to understand it, but when you want something specific and you dont tell me, how would I know?

[mazz]

Aug 7, 2009, 8:40am, matto wrote: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. This is a collaborative business, and most of the time we are collaborating with non-musicians. It's a fact of life and a skill that must be learned in order to have success. matto has really learned this skill and his success is a testament to that ability. He also knows how to write great music and the combination is a winner.This listing, and the upfront clarification that Laura received, is an anomaly in my experience with TAXI. As has been said one too many times now that I'm repeating it, the requests from TAXI are generally worded much better than the requests that come directly from non-musical clients.This is not an exact science by any stretch of the imagination and not everyone on either side has fantastic communication skills, and not speaking the language of the craft is a definite handicap, but that's the way it is. We'll get over this little bump and back to our regularly scheduled programming soon enough!!Cheers!Mazz

[christig]

My point on the Christmas listing was just an example of how the terms 'songs' and 'instrumentals' are used incorrectly. I was referring to the words "instrumental' and "songs" used in the title: (Muzak Type) "Instrumental Christmas Songs". Seems like an oxymoron to me. As I pointed out it became clear what they were asking for the further I read. Not complaining. Not saying that all Taxi all listings are worded bad. Not saying that Taxi's listings are unique. Just trying to make a point that the words: "instrumental" and "song", "artist" and "composer" do not have the same meaning. And if they were used more carefully it would eliminate some confusion.

[brindabella]

the requests from TAXI are generally worded much better than the requests that come directly from non-musical clients.True, that's why this one baffles me!

[wings]

Laura, have you heard back from Taxi yet?~wings~

[brindabella]

Nope, I assume they rest on weekends, but I should hear something tomorrow, I emailed them on thursday.

[brindabella]

Aug 9, 2009, 7:32am, didger wrote:FYI, the one time I wrote about a return it took about a week for a reply. Wow!

[brindabella]

All I want to know is :Where is the "missing link" here, and how is it going to be corrected in the future. Obviously,( in spite of the piano ) I was not off target.Here are the mini-critiques:1. Ballerina: If this listing was for " classical pianists" I could see forwarding. Since it is "classical composers", you would want to display your compositional skills within the orchestral genre.2. Solitude: Nice piece, though a larger orchestral treatment would've been more on track for this. ( This was again a solo piano, so I dont understand the "larger" comment. It simply had no orchestra at all )3. Revelations: Nice piano performances, though!4. Tenebre: Since this is an artist listing, you would want all three tunes to be more like this one; more classical influence and the violin lead is great. ( Again, what does artist means, and if it was so great why not forward it? Oooooops! Forgot, Piano and violin is not orchestra. Guess a bassoon duet would have been returned too).5. "En Automne" ( Moszkowski) . ( Submitted like that, making clear this is not my composition) Shows off playing (very impressive) more than the writing.Poor Moszkowski How do I tell him he was considered mediocre? Rubinstein loved playing that piece!

[allends]

I also received the same infamous invitation Chuck got for an opportunity outside of Taxi:"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."Michael has often reminded us that the music world is full of cryptic calls for music and that Taxi strives to do better. The above hilarious example proves that Michael is right IMHO, but Brindabella is also right in pointing out that the composer listing in question was not written to the usual high-er standard that Taxi has set in this business. I wonder how difficult it must be for Taxi to swim up stream against the current to provide us with the level of service we have come to expect.Good luck to everyone reading between the lines and winning forwards! Too bad this one was too difficult for intelligent people to decipher. I hope this can be avoided in the future despite how difficult it must be for Taxi to be the trend-setter in this industry.Allen