not proud of this, but...

[pjlamberty]

I typically get 6-10 pieces of music forwarded per year, (about a 12% success rate). I have not heard back from a single one of them, be it publisher, music library, ad agency. Nothing! I've been told to not contact them, they will contact me if they are interested.

my musical style is more instrumental, not singer/songwriter. Am I wasting my time here?

[markjsmith]

How long have you been at it? My first deal happened about 9 months to a year into my Taxi membership. There's a lot of opportunity and it takes quite a while, but you have to decide if you have the chops. If you think that you do I would stick it out!
There's nothing wrong with reassessing your skills or engineering chops either. I know of a few here who did a year and took some time away from Taxi to get their studio together, or just get better. They came back and did well.
I do instrumental as well. I think the hardest thing that I had to learn is to target the listings better. When I started I would throw everything that I had that was "kind of in the ballpark" at a listing because I thought they'll just hear how great I am and want to sign me! I got a lot of returns.

[Russell Landwehr]

Hi Pete.

Kinda hard to assess this topic without hearing your music... so I searched back through your posts, then found Martians on Maui 2 on soundcloud. It's all Industrial Electronic, but by your other postings, I'm guessing you do more than IE stuff.

If you are getting forwards then it looks like you are on track and you gotta just keep plugging away. However as many people point out, TAXI doesn't have to be your only route to the industry. With a bit of research I'm sure you can find many Libraries to contact on your own. If you do this, I would suggest a "query" email or letter first. Introduce yourself and your music concisely and with as few words as possible. And ASK them if they are interested in considering your stuff. Then if they say yes, then you can send a "solicited" submission of music.

Russell

[kclements]

It can take a while. I got my first deal about 9 months into my Taxi Ride. I got the forward and a friend I met at the Rally made a call for me. The first deal I made without any additional, outside help was about 15 months along the ride.

You may also want to try a Custom Critique. They can be really helpful as you can ask the screener very specific questions.

Hang in there. If you are getting forwards, it is just a matter of time.

Cheers -
kc

[melodymessiah]

and in addition to the waiting game, it's also a numbers game; very few of the forwards actually ends up in any kind of deal. it's just the way of the game

[PeterD]

I'm in the exact same boat! Never once heard from anyone. Maybe mine take longer than 9 months?? Been a member since 2009 and getting a little anxious myself ...

[orest]

Well, I had around 10-15 forwards my first year.
I got 1 contract after 2 years.
This year I haven't heard anything from any forwards.

But, the friends from the forum have been very helpful.
Doing collaborations and getting contracts that way.
I have also been able to sign 8 contracts by direct contacts.

[TimWalter]

There are a lot of different rungs on this ladder, for whatever its worth.

Take me for example. I am about 1 month into my second 1 year membership at Taxi. I have submitted over 40 songs and have yet to get a forward. I seriously considering quitting, but have decided to redouble my efforts to improve where I am lacking (production, writing stuff that gets the "too retro" critique, etc). I've also greatly reduced my expectations, at least for the near term. I know that there are a number who have joined taxi who are in the same boat (I've seen people post that it took over 2 years before they got a forward, but eventually they started getting deals.) Others, start succeeding out of the gate.

Obviously I cant give you any advice on how to get deals from your forwards (since I've never gotten a forward let a lone a deal yet), but it seems that the common advice is keep moving forward and not giving up. At least that's my mantra.

Best of luck and best success going forward.
Tim

[ceedub]

For what it's worth, I've been a member for years and I've had hundreds of forwards. The majority of those forwards have not led to offers or deals. Some have. And some of the deals have been good. I'm guessing others have had similar experiences.

I think it's important to get specific about what kinds of deals you are looking for, and to pursue those via TAXI listings AND in other ways.

Most of the deals I sign do not come from TAXI listings, but I do think there are valuable opportunities in the TAXI listings, or I wouldn't still be a member!

Best of luck!

[allends]

my musical style is more instrumental, not singer/songwriter. Am I wasting my time here?

If you are who I think you are, your music is very enjoyable!

What I've learned about music library opportunities is that it doesn't really pay to be really-really unique or to specialize in styles that don't augment a wide variety of scenes for current film & TV. Because I'm not a young musician, I need to constantly double-check my musical instincts to stay up-to-date with what's hot in the music business. The best way I know to do that is to hang out with successful artists. I did that long enough to discover my own personal strengths that producers can use. Oh, and it goes without saying how important it is to keep honing those chops and getting better & better all the time.

Here's a test for you: I offer this to everyone here. Imagine hearing your songs on any of the shows and commercials you are watching today. What emotional impact does your most appropriate song have on the scene? Are you spot on? Now imagine you're a member of the target market for the show or commercial. Now are you spot on? If not, why not? Once you know why not, you know what to do next. Until then, music is only a wonderful creative experience that doesn't satisfy the needs of anyone but ourselves.

Good Fortune To You,
Allen