Screening process?

[edteja]

Quote:When you finally get a face to face meeting with a publisher in Nashville, they listen to a verse and a chorus. That's it. On to the next song. If you ever get more than that, you have serious reason to believe in your song's potential.That's why you carry chocolates to face-to-face meetings, Hook. It isn't in case you miss lunch. Back in the days when you carried cassette tapes to those meetings I had an A&R guy at Capitol Records listen to a complete song. There were five songs on the tape and he only listened to a few bars of each of the others. He didn't really want the song he listened to either, but he said: "More like that," which at least told me something. I didn't have any chocolate with me in those days.

[tacksea007]

In response to AUB, we send hard copies when you get forwarded. Your photo and bio are printed out and a CD is sent.In response to J Chitty, if you read my post it says "at the very least" a screener listens to the bridge. To get super clear this is in the event that a song is setup with a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. I strongly believe that once you reach the bridge with this song structure that you know whether or not it is going to be forwarded or returned. I also think that you have all of the information that you need (accompanied with a lyric sheet) to write a thorough critique. sorry if I was at all unclear with my previous post.Best,Sebastian

[Casey H]

As Hook said, in the real world you get 60 seconds a the most to either hook 'em or "click". That being said, with TAXI if it is a yes/no listing, I certainly could see them (or the listing party if they are reviewing) only listening as far as needed. If they want a high energy track and they hear slow strings for 30 seconds, you would expect that review to be over right away. For an "S" listing on TAXI, part of what is expected is a full critique. So even though the decision as to forward or not may have been made half-way through the song (or even much sooner), they really have a responsibility to listen to at least most of the rest. I could see them only reading but not listening to the last verse. Once the melody is known, the only thing left to say for a non-forward is how the lyrics work.An aside... I think song reviews are a bit like job interviews. Statistics show that the decision whether or not to hire someone is often made within the first minute... The interviewer gets a first impression of the image the person projects as soon as they enter the room and that carries most of the weight. Inside or outside of TAXI, your song makes a first impression in the first 30-45 seconds which has a lot of impact. I once heard the expression, "Get to the chorus, don't bore us"... BTW, not that I suggest lyrical gaffes, but I think in rock and pop especially, if you are going to have a gaffe, it's best late in the song. Casey

[hookstownbrown]

You said it Casey. You have one minute to hook your target audience. Whether it be a job interviewer, a publisher, a radio listener or that luscious babe that makes your ego swell. One minute.So, that brings me to this ponderance...Taxi asks for five bucks and gives you the extra minute or two... Does that make them a musical hooker? No, Michael, I'm not sorry for that one. Hehheh!

[jsaras]

It would be nice if there was an indication on a critique that the song is good enough to be forwarded or not in general whether or not it fits the listing it was submitted for. If a song isn't good enough I don't want to waste a screener's time (and my money) submitting it again for another listing - OR should we assume if the song doesn't get all 10's we should either re-write it until it does get all 10's or scrap it?

[hookstownbrown]

I always paid attention to the personal nature of the critique.Early on, I would get all kinds of suggestions. From top to bottom. Suggestions in every category.Let me interject here... I never paid any attention to the line graphs. The scores on lyric marketability, production, etc.I gave them no weight, simply because the screener's words were so much more important.I figured that each screener's words carried so much more information. Those bar graphs werre nothing but a generic boil-down of their opinion. I didn't care about watered down easements. I wanted more of the real opinion.So that I could improve my craft.Anyway...I saw the critique as a lesson in craft.And after years of learning from those critiques, I finally started getting critiques that said everything was right with the song. It just didn't fit the listing.That is where you want to be. That tells you that your song is competitive, but maybe it wouldn't be a good choice for the particular artist. It tells you that it is time for you to expand your horizons. Put it in 3rd gear and visit Nashville. You are writing competitive songs? Go their, surround yourself with the best and challenge yourself to write better that those who blow your socks off!I could go on, but it's my bedtime. See ya...

[hummingbird]

Quote:It would be nice if there was an indication on a critique that the song is good enough to be forwarded or not in general whether or not it fits the listing it was submitted for. If a song isn't good enough I don't want to waste a screener's time (and my money) submitting it again for another listing - OR should we assume if the song doesn't get all 10's we should either re-write it until it does get all 10's or scrap it?All critiques include a check box that says "on target for this listing" & the screener will also give you feedback on the song within the context of that particular listing.Songs often get forwarded with scores of less than 10, anywhere from 7 to 9s.

[davewalton]

Quote:It would be nice if there was an indication on a critique that the song is good enough to be forwarded or not in general whether or not it fits the listing it was submitted for. If a song isn't good enough I don't want to waste a screener's time (and my money) submitting it again for another listing - OR should we assume if the song doesn't get all 10's we should either re-write it until it does get all 10's or scrap it?All critiques give the reason for being returned, so you'll know if it was simply because it didn't fit the listing (resubmit as-is for listings where it does fit) or because it's a song that needs further development (work on it or a new one like it to make improvements). In addition to some of the checkbox reasons, the screener will write out what the main issue was. Personally, if a song is generally on target but needs a little tweaking I tweak away. If it needs wholesale changes, I just start work on a new one. Generally if you're averaging 7's, maybe between 7 and 8, you're doing just fine. Getting all 10's is unrealistic. Some screeners give 10's away more than others but I think I was Sebastian from Taxi that said that a 10 in any category is really reserved for something extraordinary.Good luck with your stuff,Dave

[andreh]

Quote:Quote:It would be nice if there was an indication on a critique that the song is good enough to be forwarded or not in general whether or not it fits the listing it was submitted for. If a song isn't good enough I don't want to waste a screener's time (and my money) submitting it again for another listing - OR should we assume if the song doesn't get all 10's we should either re-write it until it does get all 10's or scrap it?All critiques include a check box that says "on target for this listing" & the screener will also give you feedback on the song within the context of that particular listing.Songs often get forwarded with scores of less than 10, anywhere from 7 to 9s.I've even had several songs with 6's forwarded! Not that I'm proud of those 6's, but I guess the songs were still on target, and a forward is a forward! Andre