Should I submit this?

[jude3]

All the regulars said this cut was not Romantic but more erotic, SO, should I submit it to this listing?The Owner of a Music Production Library needs great "PASSIONATE/EROTIC" INSTRUMENTALS (no vocals) for use in film/TV/commercials, etc. He's not seeking "romantic" tracks here (that's listing S080107RO). Rather, think sexy...think intense...think more physical love than emotional love. He's not looking for anything over-the-top or raunchy, though. Think stylish, but with a healthy dose of "sensual and seductive," much like the music in Cirque du Soleil's "Zumanity." All instrumentation is OK. This production music veteran signed dozens of TAXI writers to his previous company, and wants to repeat that same type of success with this venture as well. He needs tracks with button endings - no fade-outs. This company offers a standard exclusive deal. Great performances are essential. Broadcast quality needed [excellent home recordings are OK]. Please submit one to three songs online or per CD. For ground submissions, please enclose a S.A.S.E. if you would like a response. Submissions must be received no later than Jan. 29, 2008. TAXI # S080129INHere is the cut again:http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... eam=trueOr what about these:http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... am=trueThe thing that gets me is that I listened to the album for Cirque du Soleil and hardly any of it sounds erotic.maybe my ears are broken. so i'll use yours.

[jude3]

Looking through my library, I have a ton of this crap:What about this?http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... tream=true

[mazz]

Jude,I just mentioned this listing in the other thread but I see you've seen it too!At first I didn't think the Zumanity music sounded erotic too, but I decided to try to broaden my definition and try to hear it through the requester's ears. That's the trick, right? I like your cuts although I couldn't get the last one you posted separately to download. I think the tunes are very suited to this listing, even if they don't sound that much like the "a la".The soprano sax is a pretty sexy sound thanks to Kenny G. Love him or hate him, he gave the soprano sax a starring role in pop music. You've used it well here and those pieces are probably going to have some usages for a while.Happy New Year!Mazz

[davewalton]

Quote:At first I didn't think the Zumanity music sounded erotic too, but I decided to try to broaden my definition and try to hear it through the requester's ears. That's the trick, right? Yes and here's my take. When they list an "ala", I don't even pay attention very much to the rest of the description because that can be misleading. Not intentionally but most of the listings are made by non-musicians. To these guys/gals doing the listing, Zumanity sounds "erotic". So if it isn't and you give them something that's truly erotic but not Zumanity, you might get the forward but probably not the deal. If you give them something that, when sandwiched between two real Zumanity tracks can't be distinguished as being "different", then your chances are VERY good even if it doesn't sound erotic to you.If they say "Children's songs ala Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails", I'll send a MM or NIN track and won't worry about the Children's Song reference. If THEY think those are Children's Songs then that's what they want and that's what I'll send. A listing a while back asked for "New Age" but referenced shows like "America's Top Model". That's not New Age but the listing people thought it was. So if you ignored the "New Age" thing and went with the "ala", "America's Top Model" music you probably did pretty good. I've never heard the Zumanity track and I wasn't planning on submitting but I might. I don't know if the forum can take another "porno" music submission and forward from yours truly. If I do, I'll buy the Zumanity track and do a song that fits the Zumanity sound, "erotic" or not.Jude3, I'm wanting to listen to your tracks but my cable internet is currently experiencing extreme slowness due to problems with the St Louis gateway. Each page takes a minute or more to load so an MP3 is impossible right now. I'll just come back later when things are working again.

[hummingbird]

there's some good samples on the videos here. http://zumanity.com/en/voyeur/voyeur.aspI think your #2 & #3 would be close to target - altho I note the 'a la' has a little more electronica-flavour & if I were submitting I would make sure to have that in my piece. The last link doesn't work.cheersHummin'bird PS - I would submit these to the "Romantic Instrumental' listing deadline Jan 7 anyway... but that's just me...

[jude3]

Quote: Yes and here's my take. When they list an "ala", I don't even pay attention very much to the rest of the description because that can be misleading. Not intentionally but most of the listings are made by non-musicians. To these guys/gals doing the listing, Zumanity sounds "erotic". So if it isn't and you give them something that's truly erotic but not Zumanity, you might get the forward but probably not the deal. If you give them something that, when sandwiched between two real Zumanity tracks can't be distinguished as being "different", then your chances are VERY good even if it doesn't sound erotic to you.If they say "Children's songs ala Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails", I'll send a MM or NIN track and won't worry about the Children's Song reference. If THEY think those are Children's Songs then that's what they want and that's what I'll send. A listing a while back asked for "New Age" but referenced shows like "America's Top Model". That's not New Age but the listing people thought it was. So if you ignored the "New Age" thing and went with the "ala", "America's Top Model" music you probably did pretty good. My freind, don't take this personally.Are you giving us true insight on how to REALLY read a listing, or is this your personal guess?If it is your guess then I think Taxi needs to fix this some how, if it is your true knowledge on how Taxi really works then many more need this education.I hate gambling! I like to know what I have to do for sure.

[mazz]

Jude,Not sure if you know that Dave actually made a field trip to TAXI last fall to see how things work at the invitation of Michael Laskow. He got to see firsthand the process behind the listings and screening, etc. I think he knows what he's talking about and his guesses are pretty educated. He wrote extensively about his trip on the forum here.Again, if the listing party gives "a la's", that's way more valuable than some vague definition like "erotic". I think writing to the "a la" is probably a better idea than a guess at what they mean by erotic. At least, that's what I'm planning on doing.Cheers,Mazz

[jude3]

Quote:Jude,Not sure if you know that Dave actually made a field trip to TAXI last fall to see how things work at the invitation of Michael Laskow. He got to see firsthand the process behind the listings and screening, etc. I think he knows what he's talking about and his guesses are pretty educated. He wrote extensively about his trip on the forum here.Again, if the listing party gives "a la's", that's way more valuable than some vague definition like "erotic". I think writing to the "a la" is probably a better idea than a guess at what they mean by erotic. At least, that's what I'm planning on doing.Cheers,MazzYes. I spoke to him about that.I also spoke to some Taxi screeners about "ala" too. The screeners were running around all over the place. They were easily accessableIt just made me more confused. The over all answer was "it depends". But what it depends on I'm still not sure.The thing I did understand though is when a listing says they need a song for a particular artist that is "ala" some one, then that person is who they need the song for.The thing I took away from what Dave experienced is that 90% of the subbmissions just plain suck.It is the remaining 10% that I speak about all the time.Taxi is only an hour from me. I should go and do what Dave did some time.

[davewalton]

Quote:Are you giving us true insight on how to REALLY read a listing, or is this your personal guess?I know this doesn't exactly clear things up but it's neither and yet both. I try not to write about things that I haven't experienced personally so they are observations, my philosophy, guesses to some extend but maybe more along the lines of educated guesses. Definitely not "wild-ass guesses" though. But definitely not concrete fact either. Bottom line: I always go first with the item that has a more tangible definition and then the items in the less tangible definition. In this case, I'd take the Zumanity song that I thought was the most erotic and use that as a basic template. I wouldn't take just any Zumanity song and I definitely wouldn't submt an "erotic" song without listening to Zumanity.The way I look at it, the "ala" is THEIR tangible reference point so using YOUR reference point (even though you might be right) seems like inviting a disappointing result. If it says "erotic" and then says "ala early Beatles", give them early Beatles because that's what THEY think is erotic. Does that make sense? Hopefully more sense than trying to convince them that they're wrong. But for my Taxi visit, I can say that the majority of Taxi's time, effort, resources, and seriousness are put into the screening process. If they don't get it right, it's not about Jude3 being upset. It's about the head of A&R at Warner being upset. The only way that Taxi gets repeat business from the top names in the industry is either that Taxi knows what they're doing and they deliver what the listing party is looking for time after time, or both Taxi and the listing party are clueless as well as the clients and customers up the ladder and the only ones who really know what's going on are the submitters who didn't get a forward. But since everyone thinks they're just "complainers" Taxi and everyone else is off the hook. It's probably not the latter. So, if the listing specifically says "Zumanity", why would you not want to do a Zumanity "ala"? Or if you don't want to do a Zumanity "ala" then why submit? There's tons of listings I don't want to submit for. No biggie. HTH,DavePS - Internet is back up to speed. Now, before I listen to your tracks, it's over to iTunes to buy Zumanity. You've got me all interested in this now. I blame you for the $10-$15 I'm going to spend that I hadn't planned on. Of course if I get a deal, I'll kiss you instead.

[mazz]

In film there's a thing called a temp score. It's a bunch of music that the director and editors put in while editing to give them a feel of the flow of film. For better or worse, it's one big "a la" and a composer ignores the temp score at their peril. The temp score may suck but it's a point of departure for discussion and a pretty darn good jumping off point and also a window in to the mind of the boss (AKA the director).I consider the "a las" in TAXI listings to be a form of temp score. The listing party may have a clear picture in their mind of what erotic means and in this case, we're fortunate enough they threw us a bone called "Zumanity" which pretty much narrows their definition of erotic down to something we can understand, a musical example. I think that's the most clarity we can count on and it's up to us to interpret it from that point.Another 2 cents from the peanut gallery.Mazz