why I will not renew my membership

[heinsite]

howdy claire--you are a great talent, but you're correct, great luck to you!all the best,warren

[simonparker]

well Claire - I've heard your country songs and they are awesome. And you're in Nashville I gather (or on most days I'm guessing), so you got two very good things going for you. Just keep pounding the street, go to the ASCAP/BMI stuff, join the songwriting clubs, get co-writes with some that have cuts, etc....I know Jennifer Adan was doing a group get together and write session before she got a song cut...there's plenty of ways to meet people without having to rely on a Taxi forward....At the Road Rally, Sherrill Blackman said that he's pitcing songs that are 8 years old... that means there's a lot of material out there being pitched. Got to be realistic too. Got to be aware of how good the competition's songs are. I still cry when I get a great idea for a country song and know exactly which artist it can be pitched to, and then compare my finished product to what that artist has already recorded and realize it's a step below and I need it to be a step above anything out there! Got to keep at it & good luck.

[Casey H]

I think a lot of people would like to have 66 forwards and 2 deals under their belt when it comes time to decide on renewal... Kind of a good problem to have... Best,Casey

[heinsite]

hey casey--that is IT in a nutshell, well said!warren

[ggalen]

I think Claire is a perfect example of the fact that real talent is necessary, but not enough by itself, to get enough country songs cut in Nashville to make a living.There is always that "lottery ticket" element to it....luck, if you will, even when you are doing everything right.So do it for the love of it, but keep a day job. No shame in that. None at all.

[Casey H]

Feb 28, 2009, 6:28am, ggalen wrote:I think Claire is a perfect example of the fact that real talent is necessary, but not enough by itself, to get enough country songs cut in Nashville to make a living.There is always that "lottery ticket" element to it....luck, if you will, even when you are doing everything right.So do it for the love of it, but keep a day job. No shame in that. None at all.There is no question that some luck is involved... But we also make a lot of our own luck, tilting the odds more in our favor (you can't to that with a lottery ticket) with very hard work on our craft, heavy-duty networking and marketing, etc. For example, you can't be in the right place at the right time if you sit at home... You can't have the right person hear your song, if it sits mainly on your shelf. And most important, we need to be honest with ourselves as to when the work itself needs to be better vs. it being a matter of luck. Obviously, with Country it's the toughest. Personally, I wouldn't even attempt it , but my take is Country writers should pitch though taxi to see what benefits they can get out of the critiques and try to get some forwards. At the same time, if the songs are really good (e.g good critiques, good pro-service reviews, and/or some forwards), they should be marketing the heck out of themselves to publishers. This is part of making your own luck. You can't improve the odds of a single lottery ticket winning. But you can (even if the odds are still very tiny) improve the odds of success with music. Casey

[jwebbinspired]

I'm sad to hear that you're leaving Claire, but I certainly understand. I really respect you and your songwriting and wish you and your parents the best. I said it in another thread somewhere, that I don't think Taxi is the best route to get a Nashville cut. But Taxi has been great for me in so many ways. For one it introduced me to people like Claire who write on a higher level than myself and it challenged me to write better. The critiques and returns and peer to peer review all helped mold me and I'm getting better everyday. Taxi isn't just a place to make money in songwriting, it's a place to learn more about songwriting. And I agree with Galen, there is certainly no shame in having a day job. If anything, I think it helps your songwriting because it's real world experience outside of the writing room.Andy

[ggalen]

Casey said: "You can't improve the odds of a single lottery ticket winning. But you can (even if the odds are still very tiny) improve the odds of success with music."I think the real question is: if you are really talented and work really, really hard, what are your odds of getting songs cut in Nashville?I agree with you, the odds are still very tiny. There are a huge number of talented people competing for a few slots.That point is missed when people talk about improving their odds with hard work.My motive in saying all this is not to be a wet blanket. My motive here really is to keep people from ultimately feeling like a failure because they got a false impression going in as to what they are really, really up against.

[Casey H]

Feb 28, 2009, 7:21am, ggalen wrote:Casey said: "You can't improve the odds of a single lottery ticket winning. But you can (even if the odds are still very tiny) improve the odds of success with music."I think the real question is: if you are really talented and work really, really hard, what are your odds of getting songs cut in Nashville?I agree with you, the odds are still very tiny.That point is missed when people talk about improving their odds with hard work.My motive in saying all this is not to be a wet blanket. It really is to keep people from being ultimately feeling like a failure because they got a false impression going in as to what they are really, really up against.I totally agree that the odds of a cut are infinitesimal. All I want to say is IF you want to keep after the dream, it's important to work on the part that isn't only luck. There are people who fall back on the "luck" thing and stop working at it. Casey

[ggalen]

Casey,I see your point. I wish the country music business had more slots in it for talented songwriters.Of course, if you write just for the pure joy of creating music, expressing ideas, sharing it with friends, and singing, there is always a "slot" available, and your odds of success are 100%.