Picardster wrote: ↑Thu May 27, 2021 1:16 pm
with all this categorization and framework for listings going on here on Taxe I wonder if creative people who make music "out of the box", crossover stuff with new and creative sounds and tunes would be able to find deals in here, since such material would hardly fit into any wheelbase of any listing.
Any thoughts about that?
It probably goes without saying that this is just my personal opinion:
True artists -- i.e. the people who are out there doing something different -- would be unlikely to get through the categorized screening processes designed to look for specific forms in the wheelhouse of something that's already been done. But that's never been the way for true artists to break through. It's generally building an audience, in whatever way is applicable in their times, such that "the powers that be" smell money and "have" to get involved (or miss the boat).
The wheelhouse stuff, looking to fill catalogs for specific types of identified needs, tends to be more craft-focused than art-focused. Perhaps you could say its more like technical writing compared to novel writing. Someone who can write a best seller novel might well be able to do technical writing as a day job, but they're not going to get anywhere with it if they force their fiction-oriented styles on, say, a software manual.
Of course, the craft-oriented skills one builds trying to target the wheelhouse stuff could eventually help toward getting the art out to a wider audience. For example, production techniques learned in emulating one style could transfer to recording your original "artsy" stuff.
I suppose the big question would be what you, or I or any individual considering the question, is specifically trying to achieve. If we've just got outside-the-box "art" in us that wants to get out into the world, we're probably going to be better off putting it out there, trying to build a following (e.g. through social media), and trying to get to that tipping point where things start to happen. Of course, a nice sync placement could help with that, and perhaps there might be the occasional needle in a haystack TAXI listing that could even be applicable. (This can especially be a possibility in the area of original takes on cover tunes since there is often the opportunity for something very different.)
Of course, we can also inject some art into stuff we create trying to fit a wheelhouse. We just can't get too extreme if we want to get through the screening process for those needs.
My personal take is that, writing and/or recording for certain types of wheelhouse opportunities has led to my coming up with some songs that I'm really pleased with as an artist. Part of this is tackling opportunities outside of my comfort zone, such that they stretch me compared to what I might have done if I was just creating organically. But I also have to pick those opportunities carefully to avoid the "why did I even bother?" reaction when I don't get a forward from something that I really wasn't all that interested in doing in the first place. At least if it was something I was interested in, I end up with whatever I produced, and I can put it out into the world in some fashion.
Rick