contemporary !?!?!?

[Casey H]

Short answer: if it is "Billie Eilish" it's contemporary, if it's "Billie Holiday". It's not. I think

Ha! John Legend vs. John Lennon!

[VanderBoegh]

Another thing that's easy to overlook unless you're specifically looking / listening for it is the entrance & exits of vocal phrases. Are you bringing in vocal lines on the downbeat each time? If so, that might make you sound dated. Similarly, are your lines ending at predictable places? That could make you sound dated too.

Just give a nice hard & critical listen to the entrances & exits of vocals in contemporary music. Just spend 30 minutes or so skimming through today's Billboard hits, finding them on YouTube, and listening to the timing of vocals.

Without any of your music, we're all just guessing at possible causes for why your music isn't passing the "contemporary mark" according to the screeners. But you've got some good advice in these replies to run with.

For the future though, please consider posting some links to your returned tracks so we can hear what the screeners heard. Only then can we truly be of any real help.

Best of luck to you,

~~Matt

[funsongs]

Suddenly contemporary is really confusing me...

...and another thing: music keeps you young... musicians don't get 'old'... they become 'seasoned'...
and many session players are seasoned pros...
they've been playing contemporary music their entire career... and still doing so.

[SubRivers]

It is actually very straight forward - if you listen to it, you will know.

Doesn't matter the genre or era - Listening is the prerequisite.

[funsongs]

Short answer: if it is "Billie Eilish" it's contemporary, if it's "Billie Holiday". It's not. I think

Ha! John Legend vs. John Lennon!

If it's Roy Orbison v. Roy Rogers... well, ya might still have a problem.

[cosmicdolphin]

Contemprary music is like fashion, it changes every year and there is no knowing where it will head next. The best way is just to immerse yourself in current releases in your chosen genre. Then you'd just 'know' when you hear somethitgn dated sounding because you mostly listen to up to the minute music and anything dated sticks out like a sore thumb.

[Casey H]

A pattern I've noticed is people upset that their tracks aren't contemporary but if you ask them if they listen to current music at all or even in their preferred genre, they'll say no, sometimes even making a point of how much they hate current music. Reality is, if you refuse to listen to what's playing now, you are extremely unlikely to succeed in this business. Film and TV is mainly geared to a very young audience and songs that sound like current artists' are in most demand.

Some other things you can do:

Collaborate! Almost every library/TV placement had collaborator(s). I'd be the first to say I suck at writing contemporary sounding songs (even though I listen and study) but I've been able to take solid ideas to folks who could make it modern, especially the production/performance side. 99% of my collaborators were met on this forum or the rally. While I do pay for productions at times, I've done a lot where I did most of the writing, the other person made a few changes, and did the production/performance for the co-write split. Network with others! Don't be an island! Don't be afraid to approach others!

There are alternatives to sounding totally contemporary. Let's say your work sounds very 60s... or 80s, etc. Then go all the way with it, make it what we call a "period piece" such that every aspect of it sounds authentic to that time period, like it could have been on the radio back then. Movies and TV often have scenes that take place during those time-frames. I've got a bunch of 60s songs (collaborations) in solid libraries. https://s.disco.ac/dqplnynxdpia

Another alternative is to set a mood so well it doesn't matter. Maybe go for ageless and timeless. Robin Frederick talks about doing stripped down acoustics which are popular now. The more instrumentation you add, the more room to make it dated. Simple, acoustic covers of very well known songs are used on shows like Grey's Anatomy all the time now. Can you produce one of your songs like that?

Casey

[jerrybeirne]

Hi - in my first year at Taxi, have to say I really like it. Had a few forwards and plenty of spot-on feedback from Taxi. Not trying to take over the thread as this is related but, I have a question for Casey. So, hey, I'm just outside of Philly, in Berwyn. I have a question related to this thread's topic but it's specific to a song I'm finishing up called "I Need Ya", should be on here: https://www.taxi.com/members/jerrybeirne

I had submitted it last year, actually had a proper name in there (I knew that had drawbacks) but I had Taxi do that custom feedback (listener ID 19 rules BTW) on how to make it more "pop" or at least "indie pop", was really useful. So I reworked it but I suspect my years of listening to Steely Dan, Holdsworth and Metheny have my ears too twisted to not hear how outside some of my music is. So I fear it's not contemporary still, but wasn't sure what others thought. Like what should I submit it towards, indie pop opportunities?

But if I wanted to ask folks on the boards for feedback, would it be on the "shameless promotions" board (it's not really that) or just in here? Don't wanna get the big slapdown!

thanks,
Jerry

[Casey H]

Hi Jerry!
I'm practically your neighbor in Fort Washington! I used to work in Berwyn, Great Valley, and all around that area.

If you want feedback on a song, the place is the Peer To Peer section of this forum. If you are shooting for a particular listing, it's best to post the text of the listing with the song link (the text of the listing, not a link... links expire once the listing closes).

I'll check out your song later!

Best,
Casey

[jerrybeirne]

Very cool, nice area. I lived in LA when I went to guitar school but preferred back here to raise a family...well to afford to raise one anyway. I didn't do anything musically since 1996 when I quit the full-time band I was in but over the years I ended up with a few songs I had started, released a bunch of them last year and it has been fun. Just learning the ropes here on Taxi, seems super cool. Real pros doing the forwarding and I (sometimes) reluctantly agreed with almost all of the feedback they've given me. Biggest challenge for me, like I say, is categorizing my own music...and perhaps not sticking with the genre well enough. It's one thing to bring in certain elements from different genres, but I guess it's another to muddle different genres, which can maybe lose listeners.

Well I'll be happy to stay in touch with you and I'll of course be curious to hear what you think of my latest (I'm still tweaking it), and how best to use it here.

Thanks!
Jerry