Screening process?

[sgs4u]

OMG, there's no &%*$) bridge!

[aubreyz]

Quote: We do not feel that a song can be properly critiqued unless it is examined to the bridge. --- note to self. From now on put all bridges at the end of song

[jchitty]

Quote:Hey All,Sebastian here, let me try to clear things up a bit. All the responses have been on target so I'll just sum everything up. "S" listings and listings that are "screened and critiqued" "Y" listings are critiqued "YES or NO" only and "D" listings are for dispatch and they too are screened on a "YES or NO" basis only. If it states that a listee will screen, this means that the screener is working for the company that is running the listing. In general they do listen to all of the submissions for that particular listing. If they are unable to screen every song than they will review the forwards before sending it on.NO screener only listens to 5 seconds of a song. We are trained here at TAXI to at the very least listen through to the bridge. If it is "screened by the listee" and it's a yes/no than we might cut it shorter. Obviously this is a situation where the screener knows exactly what they're looking for, so a decision can be made more easily. We do not feel that a song can be properly critiqued unless it is examined to the bridge. Lastly, the screening process is usually not tiered however on our higher bar listing's we do have someone review the forwards and make sure that everything is up to par. Hope this helps. Be sure to send any more questions my way.Thanks.Hope I don't across as negative, but if TAXI's policy is only to examine songs up to the bridge....this may put the country songwriter at a disadvantage where cohesiveness and 'development' of the story is one of the prime reasons that the songwriter might get a foward. Some songs after a bridge only go back to the chorus and end there, while other songs have another verse after the bridge and need that listen to the end so that the screener can fully determine if the song is truly foward worthy. In country music, it's very much about the story (the melody too) and I've gotten a few critiques which say, "your story needs more development' and this is the reason it was not fowarded. To be fair, I'm hoping that the screeners are reading the lyrics sheets that we send them and they can figure it out from there...yet, this still might put us at a disadvantage because many of us have our demoes professionally produced to achieve that nice fade, 'building up to the end of the story', etc. With melodies issues in particular, (if the screener says the melody didn't make the cut) many times, the full playing of the melody might give the screener a more favorable view of the song that he didn't have if he listens to it only to the bridge.If it's a matter of economy or time, I'd be willing to pay a ten dollar submission fee for a FULL listen....maybe TAXI could make that option available...I know they do with custom critiques, but maybe they could set up a screening process (on listings where we're trying to get fowards) where if you pay more you get a full listen....for folks that don't care about a full listen, they could pay the smaller five dollar fee.I realize that most of the music industry doesn't give things a full listen, maybe only 5 seconds, but since we can pay to have a listen, maybe TAXI could find some way to achieve listening to the song all the way through.Also, I am not trained to be a screener of course, so therefore, maybe you feel your screeners have had the proper amount of training and that your methods do work, but I really wish we could get a full listen....I hope I did understand your post correctly, maybe the high bars do full listens.

[jchitty]

Dang, sometimes I need to edit before I hit 'post reply!

[sgs4u]

Chits, you can easily edit an existing post. Just hit the modify button. It's right beside the delete button!And, our job as songwriters is to make our songs so freakin' good that screeners WANT to listen 'til the end of the song. But you don't have anything to worry about, because screeners will always listen 'til the end of your songs.Because you're good baby! Real good.

[jchitty]

Quote:Chits, you can easily edit an existing post. Just hit the modify button. It's right beside the delete button!And, our job as songwriters is to make our songs so freakin' good that screeners WANT to listen 'til the end of the song. But you don't have anything to worry about, because screeners will always listen 'til the end of your songs.Because you're good baby! Real good. Aww, that's sweet of you, Steve. I wonder though in times past, would A&R reps listen to the WHOLE song more than they do now....I once read that Paula Abdul's first song, (LOL, already forgot the name of it, but it was a hit) was really BAD. When she first received the demo...she couldn't bear to even listen to it, but she did give it a full listen anyway. Then she let a relative listen to it, and they said, "I think you should cut it.' It became a hit....wish I had that story handy.I dunno, I just think as country songwriters, we're really at a disadvantage not getting that full listen....it's really about the 'story' in this genre. Yes, in rock or other genres it can be too, but more so in country.Chits---New Devil's Advocate on the board. BTW, I guess everyone has noticed that my term of the day is "FULL LISTEN" hehe...whatever the hell that means.

[michael11]

Quote:Hey All,Sebastian here, let me try to clear things up a bit. All the responses have been on target so I'll just sum everything up. "S" listings and listings that are "screened and critiqued" "Y" listings are critiqued "YES or NO" only and "D" listings are for dispatch and they too are screened on a "YES or NO" basis only. If it states that a listee will screen, this means that the screener is working for the company that is running the listing. In general they do listen to all of the submissions for that particular listing. If they are unable to screen every song than they will review the forwards before sending it on.NO screener only listens to 5 seconds of a song. We are trained here at TAXI to at the very least listen through to the bridge. If it is "screened by the listee" and it's a yes/no than we might cut it shorter. Obviously this is a situation where the screener knows exactly what they're looking for, so a decision can be made more easily. We do not feel that a song can be properly critiqued unless it is examined to the bridge. Lastly, the screening process is usually not tiered however on our higher bar listing's we do have someone review the forwards and make sure that everything is up to par. Hope this helps. Be sure to send any more questions my way.Thanks.Obviously the Screeners are experienced industry pro's so if a submission was a no critique and not suitable eg Rock when you asked for Classical why would they listen to any more than five seconds or to be generous 10 seconds.

[jchitty]

Something I didn't think about....and in reading these posts again, I think Dave Walton made this point....even if I did pay ten bucks for a 'full listen' as I proposed in my initial post (yes, my favorite word of the day) and the screener loved the song because he got to listen to it more, that doesn't mean I'd get a foward. I think I'm starting to understand that a screener can love a song and it still won't get that elusive foward....it's ALL ABOUT what the client wants on the other end, and the screener knows this....it all boils down to being totally on target. Ah, I'll keep trying though.

[davewalton]

Quote:I think I'm starting to understand that a screener can love a song and it still won't get that elusive foward....it's ALL ABOUT what the client wants on the other end, and the screener knows this....it all boils down to being totally on target. Yup. (my shortest post yet)

[ddusty]

don't forget, just because the screener can turn a song off at the bridge, doesn't mean they CAN'T listen to the end.I would like to believe the songs that are turned off at the bridge are not close to the listing at all.As for the country song dilemma, if the story is that good, they won't be able to turn it off at the bridge, they will be dying to see how it turns out! Again, it feels like this rule is more to help the songs that are not close, then to punish the songs that are forwardable. (is that a new word! i may get an entry at wikipedia yet!)Rob