sportmac wrote:I see. And what of all those remarks from the screener1 that gives it 6s that says go and change this, modify that, work on it a bit here? Are we to take his word on that? After all, if it's for the listing then how can he presume to make such broad stroke suggestions when in two weeks screener2 for another listing may give it 9s and say great work here, nice job there, I really like this bit over here?mazz wrote:I think the ratings are also based on the listings, hence a song that's a 8 or 9 for one listing can possibly turn out to be a 6 or 7 for a higher bar listing. I don't think there's any empirical standard out there for a "good" song. You and I might listen to the same song and give it different ratings just based on our personal taste, but if we were asked if the song was a good fit for a particular purpose, we now have a basis to remove some of our personal bias in lieu of judging the song on the merits of the listing. The removal of personal bias to a great degree is what makes a screener for TAXI effective and why TAXI is so popular with many clients. It takes practice and experience to develop this skill and the TAXI screeners are pretty extensively trained in the process. I'm not making this up and TAXI will tell you the same thing if you do take advantage of their excellent customer service.
Yes, I do defend TAXI because it works for me. It works for me because I don't automatically think that my music is always perfect and I'm willing to learn and the critiques and peer review have really helped me learn and grow. Is the system perfect? Of course not, it's music we're discussing and a certain amount of subjectivity is always in the mix. But if one is open to learning, the system can work well, it has for me and if I can make it work, anyone can.
I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but TAXI did a video cast yesterday with one of the top screeners, did you avail yourself of that opportunity? If not it may help answer some of your questions.
Cheers!
Mazz
What if I've taken the first screeners words to heart and now the song is changed and the second screener now doesn't like it? What if I've just paid a couple of grand because screener 1 made suggestions and now screener 2 suggests changing what I just changed? Screener 1 give lyrics 6, screener two gives lyrics 9. What if I had listened to screener 1? Who's going to pay for this? Or should I ignore all of them and go with the hit and miss approach and hope that the personal bias you believe only exists in small doses is not brought into play?
It simply will not do. You, of course, see the conundrum, no? Or has success blinded you to critical reasoning?
Actually, I think you need to step back and see if there's a common thread amongst the reviews that you receive and see if there's some basic thing about your songs or music that could be improved across the board before you go spending a couple of grand to fix a song. It may turn out that you would choose to apply that learning to the next batch of songs you write and record.
Actually success has continued to teach me how much more there is to learn and also how to be patient and deal with rejection, of which I've experienced my fair share and continue to. It's not the rejection, it's how one deals with it, IMO, that can make or break one's success.
I think it's a hit and miss approach anyway, but you can vastly improve your chances by trying to see if there's a linkage between reviews. I don't know how long you've been a TAXI member or how many submissions you've made or how many songs you have in your catalog, but I can say from my experience that the longer I do it and the more I write and submit, the better I get at playing the game. With TAXI, the fact that you get a review at all on a cold submission is a nice bonus, IMO. I've submitted cold to other opportunities and either hear nothing (most of the time) or "not what we're looking for" other times. No feedback at all.
If you're a writer who has music produced and recorded by others or take a band into a studio, then you either have to make sure your songs are absolutely killer and as good or better than what's on the radio, or you need to be more cognizant of the strengths and weaknesses of your already recorded material and submit to listings accordingly. Many people have taken advantages of song screenings and song screening services to get their songs to the point where they feel good about investing the bucks into making a kick ass recording of the song. Because you're right, it sucks to have to go back to the studio to fix something, because it's not going to happen. There's always going to be some subjectivity and risk in any approach, it's not an exact science, no matter how much we wish it was.
But, as Dave says, without hearing your music and the listing in question, it's hard to go much further.
I wish you luck.
Mazz
Mazz has taken a lot of time in answered your questions. So have I. Taxi just did a video devoted to just this very topic, interviewing one of the screeners. Taxi members asked questions like the questions you're asking. Lots of info there... you should watch it. In addition to that, Taxi has a phone#. Give them a call. They will definitely answer your questions... always been very helpful with my questions. 
