THIS is what TAXI Gets Before We Wrtie Listings

[admin]

We won't run the listing if we don't think we're clear on what they want. I just tossed one out about a week ago because it just wasn't clear. It had a big payout, but there were things about it that we felt would send conflicting info to members trying to hit the target.

And if you think, "Why doesn't TAXI just call the person running the listing and ask for clarification?" We DO, but many people just can't find the right words to explain what they need. A creative exec at an ad agency might have a $30,000 slot for a song, but he/she wouldn't know to say, "Don't send songs in a minor key," or "make sure the lyrics are emotionally upbeat," etc. They'll "just know it when they hear it."

Virtually every one of the companies that tries to compete with TAXI will run listings like, "Ad agency needs happy songs." They know that everybody thinks they've got a happy song, so they keep the listings very brief and general to get tons of submissions. Could it be a happy Heavy Metal song? Could it be a happy song about the day America won the Revolutionary War? People will submit stuff like that given the general request for "Happy."

We've had tons of compliments from the people who run listings with us when they see the listings we write from their briefs. They say stuff like, "Wow, you guys explained it so well... so much better than what I could have done." We've become quite expert at interpretation over 25 years. And if our confidence level isn't high, we don't put it out.

Most people looking for music expect that the musicians will be able to figure out what they need because they mostly deal with professionals who've done it enough that they know a happy song for a TV commercial wouldn't likely be Heavy Metal. TAXI brings talented musicians (who may not yet have that experience) together with pro-level opportunities, so we have to interpret the requests and spell it out, and educate our members vis a vis TAXI TV, feedback, the Road Rally, this forum, and our newsletter. The people who use all those tools seem to become successful more quickly than those who don't.

I hate to type this because it won't sound right in print: The people in the industry have no sense of "I need to make sure I get this right so each and every musician has a good chance of submitting the right music."

Music Supervisor Frank Palazzolo (who is VERY musician friendly because he IS one!) said this on stage at the Rally last year. "But it’s not the music supervisor’s job to tell you all the stuff we don’t want to use. It’s not my job to tell you when your song didn’t go in the cut after we asked you how much it would cost if we decided to. That’s just the game, because if I had to tell everybody all the songs that I didn’t use, that would be my job."

I hope this helps,
Michael