That said, I'm interested in thoughts on this sort of listing from anyone who might have more insight into this area:
1) First, any recordings I have from prior to about 1998 will have their masters on cassettes, which means needing to digitize them and probably do some restoration work. Were I to be doing this "for myself", I'd almost certainly do some remastering, but is this okay in terms of the recording dates requirement? Is doing basic restoration-type work (e.g. trying to clean up tape hiss) even okay?
2) I do not expect my recordings to be up to snuff on the recording quality front with respect to any major label (or similar) recordings of whatever year the recordings were made, and they might not even be in styles of those years -- for example, something I made in the mid-80s (which is about where my earliest recordings start) might have been a song style that was more like something out of the 70s. Also, instrumentation on the front end would have been limited to electronic keyboards and drum machines, going into an 8-track reel-to-reel, then later (mid-90s or so) a rack of MIDI modules going into an ADAT. The listing mentions, "you can submit old masters OR old demos as long as the recordings are reasonably good." While "reasonably good" is obviously somewhat subjective, the demo reference at least makes me consider whether giving this a shot might actually be worthwhile. Or am I just trying to read hope into the hopeless given my notes on my recording quality back in those days?
Here is the listing text:
Lots of ORIGINAL, VINTAGE SONGS in ALL GENRES Recorded BEFORE the year 2000 are needed by a Music Library with a ton of credits in Feature Films, TV Shows, and TV Commercials.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE: Please include the Year your Songs were recorded in the LYRIC section of the TAXI submission form! The Listing company has asked TAXI to automatically return any submissions that don’t show the year in which they were recorded. Sorry folks, we can’t make any exceptions, per the company’s request.
We purposely avoided putting references in this request because we felt they could be more misleading or limiting, than helpful. If you’ve got well-written Songs that were recorded BEFORE the year 2000, this company wants to hear what you’ve got! Seriously, these folks LOVE older recordings and get tons of placements with them!
And it's notable that they're looking for a wide range of styles and genres right now! Jump on this if you've got what they need.
This Publisher is open to just about any popular genre you can think of – Folk, Country, Singer/Songwriter, Classic Rock, Soft Rock, Americana, Pop, Reggae, Disco, all types of Jazz, R&B, Big Band, Orchestral, Adult Contemporary, Punk, Soul, Hip-Hop, etc., etc., etc.! All (popular) genres are fair game for this opportunity, as long as the material you submit was written and recorded prior to the year 2000! This publisher is even open to submissions that are old, 4-track recordings. They love finding really good demos that sound like they should have been a hit back in the day, but never got signed or released!
The recording quality is NOT expected to be on par with today’s Broadcast Quality, and you can submit old masters OR old demos as long as the recordings are reasonably good.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This company does NOT want material that was recently recorded and made to sound old. They can ONLY use AUTHENTIC, ORIGINAL, VINTAGE RECORDINGS, and only if the sound quality is reasonably good. It doesn't have to be super hi-fi, but reasonably good, well-balanced recordings and mixes are needed.
This Company offers a NON-Exclusive, 50/50 deal. You’ll get 50% of any applicable sync fees and 100% of the Writer’s share. The Publisher will get 50% of any sync fees and 100% of the Publisher’s share. There is also a possibility that this Library could offer a buyout of the Masters and Publishing rights. You must own or control your Masters and Copyright to submit to this opportunity. Please send 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 (PST) on Saturday, March 9th, 2024. TAXI # S240309CA