Rejecting Rejection

[TimWalter]

Just got another return and it was hard. It didnt help that the email came while I was watching Taxi TV last nite. Richard's music is just so awesome in a genre that I would like to be able to do, but I suffer so much in comparison to where he is at (knowing it took his lifetime to get there). I need to get better and handling the returns, it is a skill set. that I need to develop (handling rejection, that is). So , I ran across the link to Michael's show last year about rejecting rejection. I watched it last nite in its entirety. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/72094506. If you are like me and struggle with the aftermath of a return, I highly encourage this show. I bookmarked it for the next time I need an intervention. ....lol. I also ordered the two books by Pressfield Michael recommended. I will read them pronto.

My frustration is that my forward rate is not going up, for some reason. Its still in the low single digits. Ive invested a lot of time and $$ in gear, training, etc, but still not hitting the mark.. But we are each on our own journey.

What I could love is a Taxi screener that I could hire as a mentor to skype with maybe once a month, who could listen to some of the stuff Ive done, and make suggestions as to what I should or could do to improve my success rate. Id pay for such a service.

Yes, I know posting on the forums is supposed to do that, but I think a focused pro screener who acts as a members mentor on an ongoing basis would have value, at least to me. I know the numbers would have to work from a business perspective , but it would be a service I would be very interested in. For example, NSAI has mentoring sessions. (you get two 1 hour sessions for each year's membership). Just a thought.

TIm

[VanderBoegh]

Hey Tim, have you tried Taxi's custom critiques? They're $20, and you get very detailed feedback from a screener on whatever issues you want them to discuss. I've not tried this yet myself, but everyone that's mentioned doing this here on the forums have said that it's unbelievably helpful. It's not a live Skype session or anything, but it's probably the next best thing, and might accomplish exactly what you're looking for.

~~Matt

[funsongs]

Hey Tim, have you tried Taxi's custom critiques? They're $20, and you get very detailed feedback from a screener on whatever issues you want them to discuss. I've not tried this yet myself, but everyone that's mentioned doing this here on the forums have said that it's unbelievably helpful. It's not a live Skype session or anything, but it's probably the next best thing, and might accomplish exactly what you're looking for.

~~Matt

Getchyer Taxi Song Spankings right here - only 20 bucks...?!
Seriously, though: I probably oughta look into this, too, before submitting stuff.

[TimWalter]

Hey Matt and Peter

Yes I have used the custom critiques. I have used them after getting returns trying to understand in detail what changes need to be made to be forwarded. They are helpful... with in the context of a particular song for a particular listing. I covet much broader advice, I think., and support. For example, I have submitted songs with vocals and got a lot of negative comments on my vocals from the songs I submitted. I came to a point last fall where I decided to get a vocal coach, and I skype with her 2x a month. She started from the first session telling me some positives about my voice, which I never had confidence in. Im still not a Bruno Mars, but the other week I got a comment on a song submission "great vocals" from a Taxi screener. The screener returned the submission for other reasons (theres always something lol), but it apparently wasnt the vocals. That was a small victory.

I get sometimes get positive comments on aspects of the submission, like "great guitar work" " more excellent musiciianship" , "great vocals" (as I mentioned above) but Im usually missing something or it just doesnt quite hit the a la, or even TOO close to the a la (had that last week). I feel like I am close to a number of forwards (some I just miss completely lol), but just cant figure out that last 5 to 10% to get over the top, on some submissons. I realize my consistency needs to be improved, probably. I would be happy to move up to 10% forward rate right now.... not hoping for the moon...lol Tim

[Len911]

Tim

Quit your whining, I just listened to several of your tracks and they sound awesome!!

I don't think you need more advice, just more self confidence.

I can think of many awesome artists who would have starved to death if they only relied on tv and film placements

[cosmicdolphin]

There must be a trend in all these returns...try pasting them all into a word cloud app and see if anything sticks out.

http://www.wordclouds.com/

I've also been having singing lessons for over a year now..my singing is quite a bit better but I know I'll never be a proper "singer" as I just don't have whatever the indefinable thing is that draws people in and I've sort of accepted I probably never will. My niece on the other is really good...not musical in any other way and never had a lesson in her life. I still keep on with the lessons though because I think they've also helped my general musical awareness. But the initial five year plan is based around instrumentals .

I had a listen to some of your stuff, I thought it was a mixed bag to be a fair. The majority of the Taxi listings seem to be for Contemporary songs/cues etc which is not something I hear in the music I listened to on your Soundcloud...I just went to the Taxi listings as of now and the word "contemporary" appears 53 times.... so if that's not your strength your already behind the curve in terms of opportunities. Many of us have struggled with this too so you're not alone, and almost every listing says something to the effect of not submitting dated sounding material unless it's a retro listing.

What can be done? Lots of things..Immerse yourself in today's music, find a collaborator, learn a new instrument, go through the forwards that Taxi now post on the blog...you can find some of the forwarded songs on Google..then compare to yours.

Mark

[TimWalter]

Thanks for all your comments and support on this journey.
Thanks and best regards,
Tim

[megeath]

Hi Tim, I have the same question as Mark: have you done an analysis on your rejections to see if there's a common thread, or items with a higher % you can address one at a time?

I think a mentoring session option would be interesting, even 1/2 hour for $20 looking at a specific listing, and having a screener review 3 - 5 pieces we were going to submit (this one won't work because the drums are xxx, this ones' good if you tweak the chorus sort of thing)

[TimWalter]

Hi Tim, I have the same question as Mark: have you done an analysis on your rejections to see if there's a common thread, or items with a higher % you can address one at a time?

I think a mentoring session option would be interesting, even 1/2 hour for $20 looking at a specific listing, and having a screener review 3 - 5 pieces we were going to submit (this one won't work because the drums are xxx, this ones' good if you tweak the chorus sort of thing)

Hi Megeath

Yes, I took James Kocian's suggestion from a recent road rally. I have a spreadsheet listing every submission i have made, the listing number, the result, who the screener was, who the customer was (like music library, direct to supe, ad agency, etc etc) and comments from the screener. I look at it a lot, there are some common threads but not overwhelmingly so,. Its interesting to see what different screeners say, and even comments from the same screener on different listings.

All the best.
Tim

PS. regarding current vs not current: I recognize this is a problem for someone of my age ....we all tend to like and reproduce music that was popular when we were in our late teens to early twenties, so unless I am in my late teens to early twenties, I have to work harder to try and be current. That said, I never try to hit the pop sounding cues, but do try to hit like modern blues rock (anything listing Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr, Black Rebel Motorcycle club, etc ), as well as singer songwriter, a few others, and I HAVE tried with minimal success retro country .....ones asking for songs a la George Jones, Ernie, Lefty Frizzel, really retro country stuff .. I play PSG, and hoped that might help me with these... I grew up with my ear to the am radio listening to country and thought I should have a chance at that , but so far all returns. both instrumentals and with vocals.

The radio in my car is almost always tuned to the current top 40 top station, and every tuesday morn ( and other times during the week) I spend probably and hour or more listening to the lateest top 10 on the Hot 100, so I am trying to modernize my outlook but so far not bearing fruit. But not giving up....

Tim

[DesireInspires]

Make background music.

Most music in music libraries is instrumental music. This music is used in the background of TV shows. There really isn't a need to do vocals and try to make contemporary music. You can just do simple instrumental pieces with easy drum patterns and bass guitar licks.

Keep it simple. More "training and gear" isn't needed.