What the %!? do TAXI screeners want?

[jonathansorensen]

Those successful songs in a bedroom on an 8 track are the exceptions. Not out of the question to mention it in an advertising but it is a little misleading. However, that wouldn't be any different than the thousands of other ads holding up the best case scenario to motivate people to buy.

However, it's not dishonest because they don't claim you can have less than pro vocals. In fact when Taxi says, you can have a simple production with just a piano and voice on an 8 track, they always add that the instrument performance and especially the vocal performance have to be out of the park; absolutely stellar.

It can be frustrating but please take it from someone who didn't listen and wasted a couple of years; better to figure out what it takes and make the changes now than to become frustrated over the fact that the reality is different than we expected or were even led to expect.

I would say, your very best chance to get forwards would come from a process involving:
no less than two pieces of professional feedback
no less than two serious rewrites on the song
A professional singer with amazing chops and chosen for the particular song and style
Professional musicians with amazing chops
whether a simple or complex production; extremely competitive (read professional) mixing and production.

But before you get discouraged, if you take time, get to know people here and in the industry, before too long, you can get all that stuff for very cheap if not sometimes for free. I exchange writing credits, publishing rights, gear, guitar performances, lyrics, songwriting, etc. all the time and get what I need for free or very inexpensively.

This is a situation of the exception vs. the rule. People have said at the Rally, don't bet your career on the exception. Yes, there are a few (rare) people who sat down with a guitar, their voice and a boom-box and got a forward, maybe even placement but if you try to go that route you're seriously stacking the odds against yourself.

If you're getting positive feedback on lyrics and composition, believe me, you're 90% of the way there, and you have something that some people may never have, for all their 1000 dollar productions.

Sorry I sound so preachy. I'm processing ideas for myself as well as responding to your post.

Best,
Jon

[psbelote]

Hi,
I've been a member for 9 months, and have submitted 8 with a solid 100% on the returns. I've got 7 songs now posted to 5 lstings I' m waiting for the results on. I went to the TAXI convention, got real motiviated, started writing differently, and playing and recording I upped everthing a notch. I've tried quick film/tv listings, country, rock, adult contemporary listings, and compared my stuff to those that got forwarded (reading the forums). My honest answer is I don't friggin' know squat! I'm still pluggin', thinking I'm learning and applying it. There's so much competition and so many many great musicians/writers, some has to be luck. Good luck. If you find a winning formula, you need to write a book, Laskow will sell it for you.

[shoodBworkin]

"Your song, although it might be excellent.... if the production is not up to par, will get turned down in favor of a nicely produced "good" song. "

Well, if true, that attitude is not only counter-productive, but senseless. Excellent songs getting passed over in favor of good songs? sheesh

[Casey H]

Hi,
I've been a member for 9 months, and have submitted 8 with a solid 100% on the returns. I've got 7 songs now posted to 5 lstings I' m waiting for the results on. I went to the TAXI convention, got real motiviated, started writing differently, and playing and recording I upped everthing a notch. I've tried quick film/tv listings, country, rock, adult contemporary listings, and compared my stuff to those that got forwarded (reading the forums). My honest answer is I don't friggin' know squat! I'm still pluggin', thinking I'm learning and applying it. There's so much competition and so many many great musicians/writers, some has to be luck. Good luck. If you find a winning formula, you need to write a book, Laskow will sell it for you.

The right way to go!! This is a winning attitude. One thing I always say is with Taxi, there are no secrets as to how to be successful, get forwards, deals, etc. Those who make use of the road rally and the forum to adapt and learn what works in today's market are successful.

At the Road Rally there are classes both by well known industry songwriters, producers, engineers, A&R execs, etc as well as panels and classes by your peers-- fellow Taxi members who are successful. It's hard to ask for much more!

And here on the forum, you get advice from Taxi members who are some of the best in the business!

Oh, and then there's those Monday live streaming broadcasts!

Casey

[t4mh]

After reading this thread here's my take... If you've only submitted a few times and been returned, don't get discouraged. There is after all, a learning curve and we should "learn" from our returns. My advice would be to hold off getting discouraged until you've submitted like 100 tracks. I don't really think anyone has true perspective until they've done it a lot! Lets say you get to track 100 and you've had a conservative forward ratio of like maybe 10% or 10 tracks got forwarded. At that point you can look at what you did correctly for those tracks as opposed to what maybe wasn't correct in the other 90. Thats perspective...

They say that the single biggest reason for returns is "Off Target". You might have 40 other tracks that are really killer but just weren't on target for the listings you submitted them to. Don't get discouraged here. Sooner or later your gonna get in contact with someone who will ask to hear more of your work. Slam em' with your killer tracks! Also, If some of your earlier tracks ( the other 50 )could have benefited from some production techniques or better sounds or better performances then you can go back and make the changes. At this point you can better recognize those issues. This done by having perspective!

After listening to lots of writers at varying stages in their abilities for 2 years now on P2P there is one thing that I can guarantee, the more you do the better you get! I have yet to hear someone stay the same or get worse! We all want to have our tracks be the best they can be and that should be your goal, along with writing a lot of tracks! There is nothing to be discouraged about in improvement! I had to realize that no one is trying to hold me back and no one needs to because I do a fine job of it myself! Also, there will always be time to look back and reflect on mistakes but its better to have perspective when you do this. So for now look forward and don't let yourself become discouraged!

Your goals should simply be, believe in yourself and write music, learn as you go and just keep doing it!
Good Luck!

[Eric Bolvin]

You're not the first one to take issue with this>

Q: How good do my demos have to be?
A: It's hard to imagine an A&R person saying, "Gee, I really love this music, but this demo was only done on a four-track, I think I'll pass." They're looking for hit songs and unique artists! One of the most successful songs to come through TAXI was recorded on an 8-track in a bedroom.

IMO Taxi should remove this from the site because so many people are being mislead by it.
If your recording isn't master quality it's gonna get rejected. It's as simple as that.

Eb

[shoodBworkin]

I concur. I find it equally hard to imagine that "Your song, although it might be excellent.... if the production is not up to par, will get turned down in favor of a nicely produced "good" song."

[evanmcgill]

The music industry is built on rejection. I joined TAXI 13 months ago because I thought I had a #1 hit teen pop song, but I was soarly mistaken, and yes I blamed TAXI. But when I compared the song to what was current, I realized the lyrics were poor, the song was out of date and a million other things!

HOWEVER, 13 months later I am an a MUCH BETTER writer than I was and I "get it" a little more. The bar is a set SO HIGH, but you will never get there without trying! Read the critiques, listen to members and it will all click together!

Best of luck!

Evan

[ragani]

In my own experience, the artist/label pitches have to be absolutely TOP NOTCH, and nothing less. If they decide to re-record, that's their choice, but in some cases they are looking for the song to use on their label as is. So you will definitely want to submit a top notch, impressive song.

A few TAXI TV shows ago, I learned that "Broadcast quality" recordings is a term coined by Michael Laskow to describe what will work for film/tv pitches. He wanted artists to know that songs don't need to come from a big studio to work for these listings, that they can be done with sufficient quality in a home studio. They still need to be good (or great) quality, but I've experienced that my label recordings are often a slightly higher grade that those that have been forwarded and/or accepted for film/tv use.

Cheers,
Raags

[DesireInspires]

Don't worry about that. What do you want? Once you figure that out, you will eliminate 99% of the barriers that hold you back.

Figure out what you want and tackle it. You have all of the answers that you need. Trust me.