In these past 16 years, I've been to 10 Road Rallies, plus the 2 online Covid-era Road Rallies. I've submitted hundred (perhaps thousands) of cues & songs to hundreds of listings over the years, have inked somewhere near 50 library deals, signed over 4,000 pieces of music, and have had the great honor of having my music placed in excess of 25,000 times on over 1,000 different TV shows. What a ride it's been!!!
Taxi made all of this possible, and for that I will be eternally grateful. If you would have told me 15 years ago when I was selling newspaper advertising and migrating into a professor position at Boise State University that some day I would be working in my underwear making music for TV shows as my full-time job, I would have been flabbergasted.
People are always dumbfounded when I tell them I'm STILL a Taxi member after all these years. To me, it's a no-brainer. No hesitation, no second-guessing. I mean, it's just $300 dollars for the 2-year renewal. I'm like, DUH!!! And I still submit music to listings, and still sign deals from the forwards. In fact, my most recent deal-signing was just a few months ago! So yeah, I'm still in the trenches, putting in the work, submitting tracks and expanding my net.
As a sidenote, I've recently started a gourmet popcorn business, and have been slinging popcorn that I make from home at various farmer's markets and events around my hometown. Do you know what I just paid to secure a vendor spot for a three-day Winter Carnival? $200. Let's put that in perspective.... $200 for the space alone. Plus another $200'ish in materials. That puts me $400 deep for a three-day event.
Now let's compare that to a Taxi renewal at a price of $150 for a YEAR, which includes a free conference (the BEST music conference in the world, by the way!), and for me has led to a substantial salary of royalties, buy-outs, license fees, and the occasional juicy sync fee. That has almost ALL come from Taxi! For anyone who complains about the cost of a Taxi membership or renewal, try starting any other business and you'll see how insignificant a couple hundred bucks is in the overall scheme of business expenses. And for all the payout that it can bring in, it really is the biggest DUH! purchase I could think of for any entrepreneur. It's the epitome of "low risk / high reward". How often do you find something like that?
So, take it from a guy who's risen to the top of the heap - not from talent, but from sheer tenacity - that a Taxi membership is the biggest no-brainer for anyone looking to make money from their music.
Thanks to Michael and everyone at Taxi - from the staff to the screeners to the volunteer Road Rally helpers - for making my dreams come true. And maybe in two years you can just auto-charge my company credit card rather than sending me the mailers
~~Matt
