Questions????Looking for your answers!

[mrholmes]

So you submit your compositions to a panel of screeners and one screener reviews it, 1. How does that screener know and interpret exactly what these companies are seeking?2. Do you or don't you feel comfort in one individuals interpretation of your music?3. Is this fair to you?

[hummingbird]

Quote:So you submit your compositions to a panel of screeners and one screener reviews it, 1. How does that screener know and interpret exactly what these companies are seeking?2. Do you or don't you feel comfort in one individuals interpretation of your music?3. Is this fair to you?1 - The screener is hired to review music for that listing because of their knowledge of the genre/style required. They also know who the listee is and have complete details on what is wanted. Competition can be fierce depending on the listing.2 - Taxi says it's only one person's opinion, given within the context of the listing. In other words, a great song sent to the wrong listing will still be returned. Screening & reviewing is of course subjective. If, however, you get several returns saying something similar then you know you need to rework.3 - That's how the industry works, Taxi or no. Assuming you got directly to the company involved, one overworked intern would likely listen to your unsolicited submission. You'd only be contacted if & when they wanted to use your piece.

[davewalton]

Quote:So you submit your compositions to a panel of screeners and one screener reviews it, 1. How does that screener know and interpret exactly what these companies are seeking?At the Taxi rally I met several screeners and listing clients (like music library owners). One thing that really struck me from comments from each side was that the screeners are VERY knowledgable and familiar with what the listing client is looking for - things that go beyond the text in the listings. It's a symbiotic relationship. The screeners know a lot about the listing client and the genres they screen for. The listing clients trust the screeners judgement in terms of providing them with the best selections from a large group of submissions.Quote:2. Do you or don't you feel comfort in one individuals interpretation of your music?No one questions the screeners when they're forwarding music, only when they're returning music. I don't obsess over every single Taxi result and/or critique. Taken as a whole, I've found the screeners to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful. The whole process has really helped me develop as a composer/musician.Quote:3. Is this fair to you?I live in a small college town in Southeast Missouri, not exactly the heart of the film/tv industry, and have music appearing on network television with increasing frequency as a result of Taxi. Even had some music on ABC primetime a couple of weeks ago. I've certainly had my fair share of returns that's for sure but I don't feel TOO cheated. HTH,Dave

[chrisbee]

Welcome to TAXI-land MrHolmes!! - my general feeling is that if (OK, "when" - not "if") you get a critique that is suprising (in a bad way) and you're not entirely sure the screener is right, send the song in again for another similar listing and get another critique. If you get 2 or more critiques saying genreally the same thing, then it's 100% true!Actually I have YET to receive a critique that I totally disagreed with. I've been a member for over 2 years and extremely active submitting tunes. I have found that some screeners point out the weak points that others didn't seem to notice or care about, but they've been right with their observations.

[anne]

I have had to say we only had one critique that seemed like, well, the screener was listening to something completely different (because he/she heard instruments in the song that weren't in there...)Otherwise, Taxi's critiques have been great, even if they may contradict eachother. We have one song that has been forwarded 3 times, gotten 8s and 9s from 2 critiques but it wasn't on the mark for the listing, and then one with 5/6 ratings. We are currently getting about 1/2 of our submissions forwarded (counting all the long shots we sent in just for the feedback). In 2 weeks we have a song that got returned from listings playing for 1:38 with no dialouge over it on network TV (NBC) during a highly rated soap, so what I'm saying is this - the song has to be right for the listing and interpreting the listings takes some practice. The screeners are listening to your music for that specific purpose so even if they like the song itself it still may get rated low or get returned. I was at the Taxi rally and was impressed with the comments by most of the screeners as they really really really knew what they were doing. I especially was impressed at how much I learned just by watching not only what they were listening for, but also HOW they were listening - some went off the overall vibe first, some listened first to the melody, some to the vocals etc - it was quite an experience that made me realize that the feedback I get is well founded. And most importantly remember, the critiques are definitely only one persons opinion. For any Passions fans out there, watch it on April 2 for our song during a long flashback sequence.