How do you track your submittals: Spreadsheet or App?

[Paulie]

Starting to submit songs and wondering what I should be tracking. I work with spreadsheets a lot and know that the version I start with for a particular project looks nothing like the final production version. I usually find things to add that I need to track as time progresses. So, I want to track my Taxi listings: date submitted, category, cost, song information, etc...

Would anyone care to share a sample spreadsheet to help me know what I don't know yet?

[kclements]

I used to track all my submissions in a spreadsheet and do the numbers of how many submissions vs returns vs forwards and who they were forwarded to.... It became too much work for me. Now, if I want to know, I just log into my Taxi page and look at my history.

I guess it depends on what kind of info you are looking to get out of it. I would say figure out what you want to know and make it as easy as possible to enter the info and see the results. You can go crazy with this and spend a huge amount of time tracking and setting up a complicated system that really doesn't tell you anything in the end. At least that was my experience.

I would advise to not get too hung up on the numbers of forwards vs returns. It doesn't really matter in the long run, and takes you away from writing. It also leads you to compare yourself with other members ratios - which again doesn't really matter too much.

Cheers
kc

[hummingbird]

I like to know if something was forwarded as it gives me confidence that the track in question made it over 'the bar'. This information is stored on TAXI as mentioned above.

I have an excel spreadsheet. I list my unsigned compositions in alpha order, with notes next to them like genre & when and where it was submitted and if I got any response. When an opp comes up I can quickly check to see if I have something in the library that is appropriate. I then list the libraries/publishers I am signed with, and under the header for each library I list the tracks they have & what the deal is.

In the folder for each track (where I keep my audio files) I always have a text file with a list of the instrumentation, description etc in case I need it. I will title a new notecard with important information like "Signed exclusively to xxxx" so it can be immediately seen when I open the file on my computer.

I have tons of tracks on my drive, this helps me find them.

HTH

[DanLuedke]

Good question. It's an easy thing to get bogged down in. I agree with KC that it doesn't matter that much, but we all like at least some basic metrics, right?

Here's my system. I have an itunes playlist of all my compositions. If I get a forward, I copy that track to my "> 0 Forwards" playlist. If that tracks gets forwarded again, I copy it to my "> 1 Forward" playlist. And so on.

If a track is signed, I have playlists for that too. One for each library. The library playlists are broken into two larger folders (exclusive and non-exclusive). It's a pretty efficient system because it only takes me a couple seconds to drag the track to a new playlist when it is forwarded or signed. I can count my forwards by counting tracks on my forwards playlists. I suppose I could create an "unsigned" folder too.

The genre and other info shows up on the playlists because I fill out the metadata of the mp3 (time-consuming but it's a practice I recommend because it's organized and looks professional).

HTH,
Dan

[guscave]

I have over 350 tracks on a spreadsheet. I just bought this program and I'm hoping to be able to import the spreadsheet into the software.

http://www.composercatalog.com/

[keithl]

Hi Gustavo

This is Keith (I created Composer Catalog)...you are definitely able to import via a csv file. Be sure to check out the help section or the videos on the site (www.composercatalog)
Just save your spreadsheet to a CSV file. Be sure to follow the template supplied.

Thanks!