Question of number of Forwards

[nutotech]

Toss up question: we've had 23 Forwards over the past 1.5 years but not a peep from a music supervisor or ad agency. Is this a small number? How many Forwards did you experience before getting a placement?

[keithl]

Speaking from experience, it does take a while. Here's how I view it:

Even though you are not getting any bites, you are building your library. The fact that you are getting fowards is a great sign. It just takes time.
Because when you DO get a deal and build a relationship, they might like the other stuff you have already recorded. It's happened to me and others members.

Good luck and keep on writing!

[nutotech]

Thanks, Keith. Number went up to 24 forwards as of yesterday. We'll keep plugging away!

[BruceBrown]

I would think 24 forwards in a yr and a half is a good track record You must be doing something very right. keep up the good work. the calls and emails will come.
Bruce

[pedrocosta]

I agree!
Very impressive number of forwards.
I hear it can take a long time before hearing back from a forward.
Keep writing, submitting, and forgetting and the deals will come.
Good luck!

[niallyboy]

But how do we know if our music is being used without our knowledge?

[kclements]

Take a look at this topic.

I think it is different for everyone, but if you are getting forwards, you are on the right track. Patience and remember: write, submit, forget.

But how do we know if our music is being used without our knowledge?

Taxi only deals with reputable companies. They wouldn't be running the listings if they were doing this.

cheers
kc

[davewalton]

Toss up question: we've had 23 Forwards over the past 1.5 years but not a peep from a music supervisor or ad agency. Is this a small number? How many Forwards did you experience before getting a placement?

The "ratio" very much depends of what kind of listings you're submitting to. I think of various listings as having a certain number of "slots" available for our music. A direct ad agency listing has one (1) slot available for your music. It's the commercial. Only one person will be chosen for that. And of course they're getting music from a wide variety of sources (including Taxi of course) and so the competition (and number of competitors) is VERY high for a very desirable placement of which only one (1) person in the entire world will get the placement for that particular listing.

Listings for music libraries are different. They have lots of "slots" available for our music. They sign sometimes thousands of songs each year so the chances of being part of the "many thousands" group is obviously much higher. Plus, they're placing music mostly into television which has (literally) millions of "slots" available for our music. Every show in the entire world 24 hours a day uses music so the field is much broader than a single opportunity for an ad.

The other thing too... we can never draw any conclusions about anything hardly because of the timeframe of these kinds of things. Many of us (me included) have gotten deals but they came a year, two years or longer after the forward. It's not a "Taxi thing", it's just the way the whole industry works. Rarely does anything happen fast.

So to wrap up... it's good to submit to a wider variety of listings, library listings as well as the high bar record label/artist listings and the more focused ad listings. If you're getting forwarded on a fairly consistent basis, then you're doing things right and if it's for library listings then it's probably just a matter of time. As far as getting the nod for a single ad listing that's paying $50k... well, somebody is going to get the deal but that's just one chance so we can't judge anything by those types of listings/opportunities.

Hope that helps,

Dave

[Casey H]

Well said, Dave... +1

Casey

[Casey H]

But how do we know if our music is being used without our knowledge?

Nially
This is such an unbelievably rare thing with reputatable publishers, libraries, labels, music sups, agencies, etc. (as with Taxi clients)-- someone stealing your music and using it without your signed permission, that it's honestly not worth worrying about.

It's more likely that the world will really end at the end of the Mayan Calendar around Dec 21 then your song will get used without your permission.

Don't sweat it.

Best,
Casey