I need a little help from my taxi friends!

[thekman]

Hey guys!

So I just got a song returned that I had high hopes for and wanted a little feedback, if you'd be so kind. The song is called "I'm Smiling at That" and is on my taxi page. (link in signature) I tried to follow the listing the best I could. The reason for return was the "music" box. Thanks for your insight!!!!

It was for this listing: Y111118SS

Major New York Ad Agency U-R-G-E-N-T-L-Y needs Mid-to-Uptempo CONTEMPORARY, MODERN, HIP, POSITIVE, SONGS for a series of National TV Spots for a huge telecom company. Quoting the agency: "Please give us songs that are emotionally Upbeat and Feel Good. KEY LYRIC THEMES we need are: [being or getting] together, being happy, smiling/smiles, having fun, and making/having connections. Generic/Universal themes that are RELATED to those concepts are also in play." Give them FULL-LENGTH SONGS that are current-sounding ROCK, INDIE ROCK, SINGER/SONGWRITER, NEO-BLUES, or maybe even a song that's a LITTLE BIT quirky but VERY catchy. A simple guitar, piano, ukulele/vocal version COULD work for this. So could a full production. It's IMPORTANT that your submissions sound AUTHENTICALLY like an ARTIST/BAND and NOT like a production music library track. MALE and FEMALE VOCALS are both OKAY for this. The bar for this is going to be HIGH, so songs that sound like a one-man band using a stiff, obviously MIDI-driven band in a box rhythm track aren't going to work. Give your SONG a title that makes them think you're a cool Indie artist-DO NOT title it like you would for a music library pitch. Faded endings are needed for this.

[sedge]

Hey Kyle, my feeling (no expert of course) is that there is nothing wrong with your tune. Feeling, this must have come down to just the reaction of the screener as regard to melody and style for this listing.

Mentions of Rock / Indie / Blues in the listing, making me hazard a guess they were after something a little less clean than this.. just a guess though

Nothing to fix or worry over I'd say, just a no for the listing kinda thing : (

Hope I helped, Did anyone post up any forwards for this? I find that helps in the wondering.

Sedge

[thekman]

Thanks Sedge!

I appreciate your encouraging words. I think your right about the tune not quite fitting in with the listing. I hope to find a home for it!

I'll definitely check the forum for forwards too.

Cheers!

[Mark Crozer]

Nice tune. I'd say (and I'll preface this with the same words as Sedge that "I'm no expert") that there are perhaps a few elements in the instrumentation that could be spruced up a little... the mechanical hand-claps (for me) don't quite sit in to the mix as well as real handclaps would. There are points where the kick drum also doesn't seem to quite sit as tightly with the bass and everything else and therefore it's slightly distracting. I always find that aspect pretty damn hard to get right myself. I think overall it's a really nice track and I'm being incredibly nit-picky but then when you're going to be pitching something for this kind of high bar listing you really need to not only go the extra mile but the extra extra mile and make every aspect totally killer. That's something I'm starting to realise more and more... whatever we submit has just got to be outstanding in every way. It's a tough thing to achieve but it's great to aim for it!

Hope this helps.

Mark

[thekman]

Hey Mark-

Thanks for your insight! I believe you hit the nail on the head with your comments/philosophy. The competition is what you hear on your TV and is sounds great.

It's a high bar, but I love to try to reach it. I'm going to go back through and make this track more organic.

Thanks again!