Singer/songwriter w/Male Vocals (S230808AD)

[irthlingz]

what do you think?

You Know You Know

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Thanks!
Michael & Sharon
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SINGER/SONGWRITER SONGS with Male Vocals are needed for an (up to) $500, Direct-to-Music Supervisor placement in an upcoming Digital/Online Ad Campaign for a big, national brand!

This Music Supervisor is looking for Mid-Tempo Songs with Male vocals that could fit in the general stylistic ballpark of the following references:

"I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz

"Say You Won't Let Go" by James Arthur

""Good People" by Jack Johnson

Please send top-tier Singer/Songwriter Songs with fun and upbeat summertime vibes! Your submissions should have light-hearted and catchy melodies, singalong choruses, and solid lyrics. Current-sounding Singer/Songwriter instrumentation in the general wheelhouse of the references will work best for this pitch – acoustic guitar, drums, bass, etc. Your productions should be polished, and any virtual instruments or samples you use should be high-quality and not dated-sounding.

Lyrics that avoid references to specific names, dates, times, brands, places and profanity will make your Songs easier to place. Please do NOT copy the referenced artists or songs in any way, shape, or form. Use it as a general guide for tempo, tone, and overall vibe. Do NOT submit any material with unauthorized samples of any other artists' music, sounds, or any other form of media. Broadcast Quality is needed.

Please submit well-crafted Swing Songs that could make listeners The license fee for this placement is (up to) $500, depending on the ultimate use. This is a Non-Exclusive, Direct-to-Music Supervisor placement, so you'll keep 100% ownership of your Copyright and Master Recordings, plus you'll also get 100% of the License Fee and any applicable performance royalties. You must own or control your Copyright and Master Recordings to pitch for this opportunity. Please submit as many Songs as you'd like, online or per CD. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, August 8th, 2023. TAXI # S230808AD

[Guitarhacker23]

cool song.

Listen to the referenced songs and pay attention to the clarity in the instruments and the vocals.

The production is one of the major factors in getting past the screeners.
It has to sound radio ready. Everything clear and the vocals and instruments in tune.

Personally, I think the production needs to come up a few notches.

But that's just my opinion. See what advice others give you.

[irthlingz]

Thanks for the feedback! It was a return. Here's what the screener said:

I appreciate the sincere delivery and progression idea.

A more breezy, free flowing energy is a thought along with a top line that ties closer to commercial/current singer/songwriter territory. Note "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz for review.

The song could be more current sounding for this request.

screener comments here

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Michael

[davidagates]

Right out the gate your vocals are too muddied. Are you using an EQ on the vocals at all? The most present thing in a track should be the vocal and at the moment it's sounding like it's out of the box. The marimba is quite synthetic sounding and the tune is quite repetitive. I'm not being a jerk, and I feel awful saying it, but there's work that you need to put in here.

I'm going to advise you and I want you to take it in a constructive manner as there is no ill will intended, you have to be honest with folk to be fair to them. It doesn't sound at all professional, which with Taxi will get you knocked back instantly. Your production needs to be professional standard to begin with, and then your tracks have to be memorable and also have hooks and be well crafted. By crafted I mean in the sense of structure. Your song is very much of the same melodic feel throughout, there's not rise, no fall, no real feeling of bridging two sections together. It sounds a bit like a demo done on a keyboard.

If you're serious about making a career in this industry (and Christ know I'm trying) you'll have to up your production chops, have a good listen to as much music as you can, with notebook in hand, noting how songs are constructed in a way to keep the listener interested. Familiarity will bore people, in any medium, so try different instrumentation, intonation, tempo, whatever you fancy, just try and keep it interesting to listen to.

At times as well it seems that you're holding your voice back, perhaps to not make too much noise. This, again, won't wash professionally. You'll need to sound like your in a world class studio, but you won't be. It's a weird situation being a musicians these days and you need to be pro level at almost every step of the way.

Again, this isn't to put you off, or have a go at you in any way, just completely honest feedback. I've had it in the past, sometimes it hurts, but it's how we improve. You'll get knock backs all the time, you've got to roll with them unfortunately.

I genuinely wish you the best of luck, and if there's anything you want some pointers with then do please feel free to send me a DM.

[irthlingz]

... and I feel awful saying it ...

I encourage you to feel wonderful about taking the time and effort to try to help us!

I'm going to advise you and I want you to take it in a constructive manner as there is no ill will intended, you have to be honest with folk to be fair to them.

Again, thank you David for listening and taking the time.

I genuinely wish you the best of luck, and if there's anything you want some pointers with then do please feel free to send me a DM.

That is a generous offer, and you better watch out, cause we are likely to take advantage of it!

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Michael

[Casey H]

It sounds like another re-purposed children's song. What about it sounds remotely close to the reference tracks? I can't find anything, TBH. Not the production, instrumentation, quality of vocal... nothing.

And pay attention to lyrics/lyrical style in reference tracks as well. For example, here are the lyrics to the Jason Mraz song:
https://genius.com/Jason-mraz-im-yours-lyrics

You really gotta stop wasting your time, energy, and money doing the same old thing. You know what they say, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results".

If this comes off mean, it's not meant to be. We know each other a long time and we've been down this same road before... A LOT.

Casey

[irthlingz]

Thank you, Casey. Totally get where you are coming from, and no doubt you are absolutely correct.

And yet ... and yet ... I am 75% to 80% sure that one day we will be posting farther up the forum ladder in "Success Stories". Watch for it!

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Michael

[funsongs]

To add to Casey & Graham's good advice: there's no shame whatsoever in finding, collaborating, working with (even for hire, if it's in your budget)
pro-level musicians, producers, singers who can take your good song concepts to the broadcast quality they MUST BE to get them to the success you seek.

It's done ALL THE TIME... example: watch "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown", if you have time.
Some of the biggest hits that came out of Detroit's Hitsville USA were written & produced by people who weren't even musicians at all.
YET: they brought their concepts to the those who HAD THE CHOPS.

The Collaboration Corner on these forums is your friend and a great resource.
HTH; good luck reaching your goal... just work the strategy that can get you there.

Cheers!

[irthlingz]

Thank you, Graham and Peter!

Graham, when you say "the only strategy is hope" I think you mean that you're not hearing any actual strategy from us, so it seems like our only strategy is to hope? Actually, at last year's Road Rally, we did the 15-minute sit-down meeting with a library owner, who made a specific suggestion for a submission they would like to see. It actually does require collaboration, and we have the collaborator, and we are collaborating! The library owner didn't, of course, promise to accept our submission, and it's a project which will take some time. But, I'm fairly confident that we will finish it and quite hopeful that it will be accepted. So, we actually do have more than blind hope!

Oh, also at last year's Road Rally, Sharon attended Tiamo de Vettori's session, in which he talked about creating custom songs. We've actually written a few custom songs in the past, but we had never thought about doing it for weddings. We've been doing music at weddings for years, and just last Saturday, we performed our first custom song, "Adventuring," at a wedding. You can hear the song (plus a couple of our previous custom songs) and read some of the reactions from the bride and groom here (scroll to the bottom right).

So, I guess the strategy is "GO TO THE ROAD RALLY!!"

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Michael