Anyone Actually Obtain Deals From Forwards?

[musician645]

Recently submitted a track to S200216CR. I’ve submitted this track before to one other listing but had it returned because it didn’t exactly match with the cue sheet requested but the reviewer deeply enjoyed the song with no notes or criticism or revisions.

Flash forward to today and the same song is returned with a laundry list of issues as the reason for the return. It was screener 226.

I’m a fairly regular user of this service with many submissions per month and do take revisions seriously to improve what I do, however after a year with only two forwards for instrumental rock and surf tracks, yet songs rejected here are being used in another library and in projects. I’ve had literally no deals from this service but mostly returns for the most debatable reasons. I’m beginning to think that this service has some serious flaws, including some of the wait times to hear feedback. While this recent song was almost instant, I’m still waiting for news about a track submitted and due well over a week ago.

I think this service could be way better if we had a chance to revise the track according to the feedback we receive with a chance to re submit for FREE. Music libraries that I work with right now outside of Taxi often ask for specific revisions and you do go back and forth a few times, or they just take things as is. I suppose Taxi doesn’t do this because most of the screeners have no idea what they’re really looking for as I imagine they have to screen a whole bunch of tracks daily, and I am quite sure they have people who aren’t as qualified as they’d like for us to believe, while they sprinkle big name people here and there to make good on their image.

Maybe I just don’t need to be wasting $200 plus dollars a year on something that is clearly designed to take advantage of people who make quality music.

So if you actually GOT A DEAL or SEVERAL from using Taxi, I want to know how long it took you, what style of music do you pitch/create, and is there a way to contest inaccurate reviews and returns for things like the reviewer mistaking your female gang vocals for males?

Drops mic - ends rant -

[ttully]

Hi,

I have had many many deals thru Taxi.
I have had music on countless TV shows and commercials....from Taxi Forwards leading to deals.
I have written many styles of music for different shows.. Orchestral, Rock, Tension. Hip Hop, Dramedy, Percussion, Ethnic...etc.

BUT I have also written over 2000 tracks.
And I have also had spells of over 200 forwards without a single deal offered to me.

To be successful in this business you need to be EXTREMELY prolific...you had 2 forwards.... out of how many submissions?

You will usually hear back on your submissions about 4 weeks AFTER the listing ends.

Here...you are up against the 'BEST OF THE BEST' .... and for many listings...good is not good enough.
Also...the Taxi screeners are EXTREMELY good at what they do..They ARE industry professionals...many times..they ARE the library owners!!!

So YES... Many people make a full time living from Taxi deals..... you have GOT TO BE VERY VERY GOOD to compete in today's marketplace.

My 2 cents worth,
Tim Tully

[cosmicdolphin]

So if you actually GOT A DEAL or SEVERAL from using Taxi, I want to know how long it took you, what style of music do you pitch/create, and is there a way to contest inaccurate reviews and returns for things like the reviewer mistaking your female gang vocals for males?

Yes several library contacts through Taxi, I have quite a bit of music in those Libraries directly now ...but guess what..they sometimes reject stuff as well...and sometimes that stuff they reject I have signed somewhere else and had a placement...so who's right ?

How long..about 2yrs to get into 3 Libraries but now I am in some others through co-writes as well from other people I met through Taxi

Style ? A few..here you go :- https://soundcloud.com/user-45178330/se ... eard-on-tv

No there's no right of appeal. Better get used to it as there isn't when the Libraries reject tracks either...no names but here is a screengrab of my hit rate with one such Library

https://gyazo.com/b171bdeb313fbe2e7da2fbf929ada357

Some of those rejections have since gotten placements via other Libraries..it's all subjective. Don't blame the system. If you want some honest critique post some tracks.

Mark

[ttully]

Hey Tom!!!

Your 2.5 cents is always welcome!

I figured it was time to get back to writing tracks again.... I almost forgot how to do it !!!



Talk to you soon,
Tim

[superkons]

It took me 1 year to get my first deal, after getting about 17 forwards. And this first 2 months of 2020 have seen 6 more forwards, but no new deal, yet.
It definitely is a number game. Sure, some get deals more quickly, and some need to wait forever. I think getting a deal after 1 year for me was a pretty quick amount of time.

[TheGillwoman]

Hi!

I've just passed the one year mark. During the whole first year I submitted a ton of songs and tunes to figure out what gets the best feedback in this world - 87 total submissions, though several of the songs and tunes have been repeats. Out of those, 33 were forwarded, 5 signed. I've also taken some time this year to significantly improve my DAW chops....so for me 2019 was the year of the learning curve. Now I'm submitting to a lot less opportunities and feel like I've begun to find my personal groove

I write mostly rootsy instrumentals and songs.

Jane

https://soundcloud.com/janes-garage/sets/instrumentals

[MBantle]

Hi,

I have had many many deals thru Taxi.
I have had music on countless TV shows and commercials....from Taxi Forwards leading to deals.
I have written many styles of music for different shows.. Orchestral, Rock, Tension. Hip Hop, Dramedy, Percussion, Ethnic...etc.

BUT I have also written over 2000 tracks.
And I have also had spells of over 200 forwards without a single deal offered to me.

To be successful in this business you need to be EXTREMELY prolific...you had 2 forwards.... out of how many submissions?

You will usually hear back on your submissions about 4 weeks AFTER the listing ends.

Here...you are up against the 'BEST OF THE BEST' .... and for many listings...good is not good enough.
Also...the Taxi screeners are EXTREMELY good at what they do..They ARE industry professionals...many times..they ARE the library owners!!!

So YES... Many people make a full time living from Taxi deals..... you have GOT TO BE VERY VERY GOOD to compete in today's marketplace.

My 2 cents worth,
Tim Tully

Over the course of last year I tried to write as much as possible to make progress in the 'numbers game' but all my placements thus far still come from a little less than 20% of the total number of tracks signed. We've already established that we're up against the 'BEST OF THE BEST' so I think the actual priority should be to try to increase the percentage of signed tracks to get placed as it were. I've got the impression that the threshold for broadcast quality/forward + getting a track signed seems considerably lower (depending on the library of course) than the bar for a track to get placed and I am inclined to say that quality should therefore come first (and by quality I mean the time spend on an individual track to make it as good as possible as opposed to focussing on getting as much stuff submitted as possible). What do you think?

[ttully]

Hi Matt,

Yes....I agree... Quality must come first!
A hundred ok sounding tracks may never get used...but a few GREAT sounding tracks could be used thousands of times.

I also completely agree about the 20% thing.
I have perhaps hundreds of tracks sitting in exclusive libraries that have never been placed anywhere...at least not in the last 14 years....

and yes..of course...numbers do matter...but as as you allude to... a few high quality tracks are better that a bunch of mediocre tracks!!

Again, my 2 cents,
Tim

[ttully]

Hey Tom,

Well ...I usually get called an 'Idiot Savant'..... without the 'Savant' part!
For some reason I don't think that's too good.....


My 5.7 cents worth,
Tim

[ttully]

Ha!!!
You need to go to bed.... It must be getting pretty late over there!

My 1 Euro worth,
Tim