Why I'm not renewing

[53mph]

I don't really want to rant about why I'm not renewing to Taxi after over 4 years or more as a member, but I do wish to put a case forward as to why the Taxi experience didn't work for me.
When I joined Taxi it was in response to moving away from London, where I had been gigging and releasing music for a few years with minor success (a small fish in a big pond) but I had some hope that my music would be able to cut it in Libraries or for film and TV pitches and as I was no longer in a capital city I saw Taxi as a good opportunity to try to get into this market. I quickly discovered that it did not have what it took. Even the tracks that I had mixed in pro studios were coming back with Engineering scores of 7 or less, so I followed the advice of each reviewer and started working on my sound. But then the songs which I had been popular on radio came back with reviews saying that the lyrics weren't universal enough (too intimate) or that there wasn't a hook in the first minute or so, or that they didn't follow the verse chorus combinations needed for the markets. So, I went away, I read the books, I tried working on the songs and lyrics. Then my singing which initially had received praise as being interesting in a Lou Reed way etc.. was said to be not up front enough...needed more energy...so I went away and worked on singing like the people in the listings...only my voice has its limits. Basically, to cut a long rant short, after 4 years and god knows how many submissions and rejections I realised that I had moved so far away from the music I wanted to make in responses to the reviewers that I no longer recognised my own music...in fact, the reviewers were correct when they told me that I do not have a well defined sound. I don't because I've been spending so much time trying to be like other people that I no longer know what my sound is. All the things which originally got me attention in London are not enough to cut it at this level. The main thing that the Taxi experience has taught me is my own mediocrity and I have decided to stop dreaming and start living. I won't say Taxi has done nothing for me. It has opened my eyes to the markets and systems that operate in commercial music, something which was totally alien to me coming from a DIY indie background. It has also helped me to grow up and think more professionally about music, but it has also taken something, and I no longer believe the idea that if I work hard at honing my sound, rewriting the tune until I have the killer track it will be enough. I know my limitations. I rewrote, I rerecorded, I restructured and they still came back. The most frustrating part though was that songs which I believed were special and which initially got forwarded with reviews saying they were memorable and stayed with the listener long after they heard them, started coming back with reviews saying they needed rewriting....I started to feel like the character in 1984...stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down. There never seemed to be a consensus amongst the reviewers....and yeah, I know that's the point, because that's real life, but I can no longer keep getting up and rewriting the same song in the beliefe that it will maybe pass next time. I know my limitations now. I am not going to be a star....I know that now. So I'm walking away and I'm going to go back to making music for myself and my family, which is how I started, and stop flogging myself. Not everyone has what it takes, and I now know that I am one of them. This is no fault of Taxi's...it is my weakness. I'm just sad that some of the reviewers didn't just say to me "you're never going to cut it with this material and that voice etc..." One big gripe I have though is that when a listing is asking for Elliot Smith or Pavement songs, they don't mean Elliot Smith or Pavement, they mean 'The song from that film with Matt Damon and that song about haircuts. Singer songwriters such as Elliot Smith are raw and faulted, they don't always sing perfectly in tune. Pavement have wonky guitars and unconventional song structures. When I see a fitness company looking for Pavement songs or Sonic Youth_esque I ask myself.....do these people even know what they sound like. Ok, so that was a lousy gripe at the end and yes I ranted, but as I've spent xxxxx dollars on my taxi ride I think I'm entitled to the odd gripe
To round off, I just want to say thanks to Taxi for some really good advice and some very professional customer care, but to sound a little like Obi Wan , I'm not the guy you're looking for.

[cardell]

Would it help if you collaborated with a singer (or used a session singer)?

Stuart

[53mph]

At this stage I don't know. I've never been given this advice by any reviewers in 4 years or more, if I had I might have tried. However, as I submit mainly to singer songwriter listings I kind of assume that the writer should be the singer (call me nieve). At this point I'm going to crawl back in my studio hole and work on material, submit directly to libraries and other sources and if (and it's a big IF) I ever put together a HUGE collection of generic songs I might consider joining taxi again, otherwise I think it would be a waste of time and money for me. I want to stress that this is not a fault of taxi but for the simple reason that the music which taxi is looking for is not what I'm able to make, on many levels.

[Casey H]

Hi 53!
Long time no speak! You are one of the long time members of this forum- we go way back.

There are singer-songwriter listings for film/TV all the time. Obviously it doesn't matter who the singer is for those tracks as long as you have master rights. A nice chunk of my forwards (not that I have tons of forwards!) are for a singer-songwriter song done by a hired gun.

I'm always open to collaboration, especially in the rock and s-s genres. When I think there is something good, I have no problem sharing any production costs. PM me anytime.

Best of luck no matter what route(s) you take!

Casey

[hummingbird]

Sorry to see you go..... but I hope you will still hang on the forum with us and let us know what you are up to

[coachdebra]

I think learning how to work with feedback can be a tricky thing. I also don't think that pursuing the TAXI route is for everyone. What I'd be interested in knowing from you going forward is:

When you return to writing your songs with your sound to suite your taste and vocal instrument - are the ones you're writing now, better than the ones you wrote before the TAXI experience?

Of course, I'm betting they are.

And remember - There is no ONE way to create success in the music business. There are many definitions of what success means and many different paths to get there. While this path may not be your path, I'm betting that the lessons you learned here will serve you on your next path.

No Failure - Only Feedback!

[53mph]

Thanks Casey and Hummingbird. you guys have been nice to me. I'll pop in here from time to time, but now I've got a young family I need to work and keep things stable for them. Take care.

[robsedge]

Hi 53mph, this was an interesting read as I am new here.

A "star" , why , it could be the media has one purpose,
to bring you up, only so they can throw you down, stay well away from it as much as possible. fortune but not fame I would say.

So If we have $200 spare then we dont mind losing it for the opp to get songs sent through and make some cash??
Once spent forget about it?
Im tring this out, otherwise songs would be sat boringly on a myspace page for eons.

Should never let a review or suggestion on what might be done to "better a song" compromise our fun of writing ?

(What do I know! .. nothing .. but I'm vocal and feel for where you are at, feel like I have been there, chasing something that actually is not real, or wanted even if we get it.

Maybe this year give up your dreams of fame, keep taxi running but dont pay any attention to the responses, write completely what you want, submit and forget, just make more great music, try that approach this year ?? From what I read you have not tried that yet.

We can't quit making music, we can quit bothering about all the other stuff around it, are the music makers!!
Always the darkest before dawn, re arrange your studio setup if you can, thats what I did, kind of erases the past memories, not looking at the same thing when you record/sing etc, put some pictures of up of things that make you smile in the studio.

feel free to shoot me down, just feel Ive been there too

Rob

[KIRBIE]

Just because you didn't have what it took for taxi doesn't mean you don't have what it takes to be an artist. And you are. And I am so glad you're continuing music for you. Because that's what it's really all about. Expressing yourself, getting out your feelings, and having fun. Just because you can't sell those songs in libraries doesn't mean they're useless.

Because being different is a good thing. Like you said, to be able to strike it big in this business you have to sound very commercial. But hearing something different....that's more exciting to other creative people. That kind of music is the music that inspires. And reading this really did inspire me. When I read the title I was like "oh, no. not someone else completely raggng on taxi." But it was actually like a breath of fresh air.

[53mph]

Thanks Rob and Kirbie,
Since making my decision to stop beating myself up I've felt alot more inspired. I'm still not renewing as I don't think any material I create in the next year will be taxi submission material, and that's the crux of it. My taxi ride has kind of taught me the difference between what sells (what I hear in films and as sound beds) and the music I listen to and love.
This is no criticism of Taxi as Taxi delivers exactly what they offer, but it has taught me which side of the fence I fall on. I am not able to make my songs sound like commercial songs, but the music I keep on my Ipod rarely is and the music my friends listen to isn't either, which means there is another market out there; not a very lucrative one, granted, but its alive.
You know when you receive the letter from Taxi with the verse/chorus structure explained; they're absolutely right. To break into the commercial music world you need to write music in this way. But then I realised that the majority of the songs I love to listen to don't follow that structure. Elliot Smith's Twilight or Needle in the Hay certainly don't follow that style yet they make me cry; there's a story, which isn't spelt out in black and white, there's pathos, feeling....but I've also got to accept that Elliot Smith was a fringe artist who would probably have not made it past the taxi screeners. But that's not a crit of the screeners, more a crit of Elliot...he had faults.
Unfortunately what you said Rob of making money from songs on your hard drive isn't as easy as it sounds. In my first year I did submit to scores of ads and ignored the crits, thinking 'what do they know' but, you have to listen to the crits and improve your music if you want to see those forwards turn into deals. I made one deal in my time at taxi; I've invested thousands in my taxi ride and seen nothing come back in the way of money. Sooner or later you've got to do the math and accept the inevitable.
This is not a bitch at taxi (I know Michael haunts these boards and knows my address ) it's a personal reality check...allbeit a very public one.