Taxi Country Cuts ?

[scottyrock]

as little as I know about the nashville machine I would have to believe the"players" there are looking everywhere for their next smash hit and would not shut out any smash hit songs even if they came from the moon or further. the point is there have been 2 # 1 singles from taxi relationships and that pumps me up way up here in jersey. I fully appreciate the fact that really the only genre that has listings for songs to be cut by major artists is country. they must be hearing something good if they keep running listings with us.

[claire]

We’ve had artists like Jenna Drey get singed to signed to an Indie deal (she had a dance hit), the band the Matches got signed to an Indie deal (their record didn’t do so well), Fisher got signed to Unviversal (the record stiffed), Bobgoblin signed to MCA (the record stiffed), Crossfade signed to Columbia and went Platinum, Elliott Park had a Number One with 'I Loved Her First,' Erik Hickenlooper and Jim Funk had a Number One, Daniel Holter had a song cut on Columbia (I Wanna Be) that was released as a first single with Emma Roberts, Jim Funk and Erik Hickenlooper’s ‘Buy Me a Rose’ was cut again by Luther Vandross and went top 10 (pretty sure about that), Brian Allen got signed to an EMI distributed Indie (the record wasn’t released), more than a dozen TAXI members have had cuts on or have been signed to label deals with Major Label distribution in foreign countries, Chuck Henry got signed to a New Age label, more than two dozen TAXI artists have had Major Label showcases and made it as far as the showcases or deal offers that didn’t come together, others have showcased for labels we set them up with, but ultimately signed with other labels, Adam Watts and Andy Dodd got a cut and had an international hit with Jesse McCartney’s (Beautiful Soul) and they each signed pub deals with Disney as a result of that, which has led to them having cuts on TONS of Disney hits that have resulted in their songs and productions on 35 MILLION albums (at last count) and tons of film and TV cuts… the list goes on… you can see them at:http://taxi.com/abouts/successdeals.htm ... 000002Cool - that's all I wanted to know. We all know about the thousands of tv and film placements that Taxi is responsible for - I just wanted to know more about songs that were sent to artists via Taxi and were recorded by those artists or about artists listing on Taxi that got artist deals. And yes, Michael, I understand what Taxi does and doesn't do. We’ve also been responsible for THOUSANDS of members getting songs signed to film and TV specific publishers, and in turn, they’ve had hundreds of film and TV cuts in major motion pictures and on every TV network you can think of. See above - I totally recognize how phenomenally successful Taxi is with tv and film. I was asking specifically about songs that were recorded by outside artists and became hit songs in any genre.How many times have you seen people here talk about indirect deals, in which they’ve collaborated their way to a cut/placement because they met co-writers through TAXI or pitched something they improved to another label/pub and got a deal there?Not in country, sorry. I used to look at the forum monthly forwards and placements and never did see a country forward turn into a deal. Maybe those folks just weren't talking about it, which is a shame because if songwriters were getting country deals through Taxi it sure would have been nice to know.How many people have made a connection through TAXI, then gone on to sign many more songs as a result of that first connection?I honestly don't know. How many?To give some perspective to the people reading this, would you mind if I asked you how many years you’ve been writing Country music?Sure. I've been writing since 1995. Started writing in Miami. Started writing alone. Started writing bad songs but through NSAI I learned how to write songs that became more and more competitive. Anything I wrote before moving here in 2001 was strictly practice. Anything I wrote before I started cowriting was practice. Nashville will tell you - anything you did before moving here doesn't count. So technically I started writing country in 2001 How many years have you lived and pitched in Nashville?Since 2001.How many major or top Indie cuts have you had so far?None.How many Number Ones have you had so far?None.I’m not trying to be snarky, but I too am sincerely curious? Maybe if you tell your story, it will show our members how long it takes, how much effort it takes, and how many links are in the chain AFTER you’ve had a hold or a cut before something goes to Number One.If you listened to the CD that Cam gave you in Nashville, you know the quality of my work. If you didn't, take a listen.We all know how long it takes. I'm one person working a day job and writing at night and on weekends, pitching through pluggers and by myself, a lot of people know me in town because of my last name and because of my songs. I pitch through RowFax. I pitch on the Row. I have two publishing companies (ASCAP and SESAC). I've worked with pluggers, generally wouldn't recommend it. I try to get as many sitdown meetings as I can. One of these days it'll happen but it takes a long, long time when you can't do it full time. Even if you live up the street from the industry. You don't need to ask me how long it takes for a song to go to number one. You know that. You also know that some of the biggest songs were passed on by every publisher in this town and took years to finally get cut and become hits. I've seen people who moved here when I did pack it in and go home. It's a tough business.Thanks so much for answering my question and for listening to my CD. Claire

[ontariolightning]

You forgot Crossfade! Their first cd was kickass. I still listen to it every week

[ontariolightning]

If It weren't for taxi I doubt we would have heard of Crossfade, Jesse Mccartney's Beautiful soul which is his best song, who knows what song or act is next

[ontariolightning]

Another thing I noticed is in the section where you post a song, a lot of the people don't know what genre their song is, like is this blues, country, rock?So they are putting their song to a listing that does not fit and then when they get it back rejected they wonder what they are doing wrong...Just focus on one genre of music and then get better at that until the time comes when you are good enough to write a song that taxi would forward and some top publisher would signthat's my advice anyway!

[heinsite]

thanks ML and Claire for both your inputs on this. Claire's question is a very good one, and glad she asked it. Is there any data about the total # of cuts? heck, i'm curious just on CUTS, and not necessarily #1's. all the best,warren

[ontariolightning]

People still don't understand why the bar is where the bar is?I remember reading a story about one of the writers of "I'M MOVIN' ON "by Rascal Flatt's, his name, D.Vincent Williams, he was just aboutito give up on Nashville and the whole thing altogether, he'd been there for years and was having difficulty getting cuts, same thing you're experiencing Claire and the rest of us, but he stuck it out and Rascal Flatts cut his incredible song that went on to win ACMA's song of the year... he then got to be a bigtime writer..his most recent hit being Joel Otto's Just got started loving youThere's nothing wrong with taxi's rate of success, that doesn't look bad on them, all it means is most people don't have or have YET what it takes to write a song in the same league as "I'M MOVIN' ON" They want undeniable here not just okay that amused me for 3 and a half minutesTrust me if it's an undeniable hit they will hear it and if it isn't then better luck pitching it on your ownRead about Vincent D Williams story herehttp://www.hofmag.com/content/view/305/29/

[jjktunes]

I asked this question because I haven't been with Taxi that long and just didn't know about deals or cuts that have been made because of taxi. Didn't mean to start anything. I am enjoying taxi big time, even if it's just to get opinions about my writing. Thank for the details M.L.

[ontariolightning]

you didn't start anything Jay, on the main page it tells you about all of the credentialshttp://www.taxi.com/abouts/successdeals.html

[jjktunes]

When I say this I am including myself too. I have heard country songs on here that could be on a major, but I have not heard a number one yet. I will say this, there are a few songs I have heard that if the right artist and producer got their hands on them they could chart. When we learn what touches, inspires and grabs the masses and we learn how to do that in a 3 min song we have as good of a chance as anybody. I also want to thank Mojo for reminding us what its all about in the first place. It's art at it's best, its a blessing and a gift to be able to tell a story in song that makes somebody feel something, and thats awesome. I'll shut up now.