Question on Listings

[John Mac]

Hi guys. I know this is probably a stupid question, but when a listing states "Please no guitar/vocal or piano/vocal demos.", I presume it means just that! Are Taxi looking for demo's with more instruments, ie drums, guitars etc etc than simply a piano / vocal combination?

Thanks for any advice.

J.

[Casey H]

For example:

MALE AND FEMALE COUNTRY BALLADS in the style of Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, etc. needed by a full service music publishing company that pitches worldwide for Movies, Television, Commercials, etc. Please no guitar/vocal or piano/vocal demos. Your songs must full recordings and be Broadcast Quality (excellent sounding home demos are okay). Universal lyrics are important. Vocal and Instrumental presentation must be top-notch! Deal is all monies collected from synch/master licensing fees will be split 50/50. Please submit one to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than Tuesday, December 22, 2009.
TAXI # S091222CB

This means they want fully produced, broadcast quality recordings with instrumentation and production similar to what you would hear from the artists mentioned. As with just about all film/TV listings, you are pitching the RECORDING not just the song itself. You either have something usable "as is" or no go.

A big part of the film/TV market is for "replacement tracks". The show would like to use a known commercial recording (they often even temporarily put it in for first edits) but the licensing fee is too costly. So they look for tracks with a similar all around feel from unknown artists which they can license very inexpensively.

HTH!
Casey

[John Mac]

Thanks for the response. That's really useful to know.