Submit two to three?

[johnclavin]

When a listing says, "submit two to three instrumentals online or per CD", does that mean that you have to submit at least two in order to get a forward? What happens if you only submit one to a listing like this?

[Casey H]

It it says two to three, you should definitely do that. When a listing reads that way it means the listing party wants to hear a little bit of what your capable of, not just a specific track. You'll see that when the listing is looking for composers, publishers looking for writers, some label opps, etc.

I can't say with 100% certainty that if you submit only one you couldn't get a forward. That is if the one song is great, they might forward it anyway (not sure, ask Taxi). HOWEVER, not doing what the listing asked for is violating the most basic rule of submitting music-- follow submission guideless to a "T".... And if you don't have two tracks worthy of submitting to one of these listings, you really aren't qualified for what they are looking for anyway.

Good luck!
Casey

[dynamicalan]

I called Taxi and they told me that it's OK to submit one track if the listing is asking for 2 or 3.

[Casey H]

Good luck!
What listing was it?

Casey

[dynamicalan]

Casey,

It was a Pop Rock listing Y100812PR. I used acoustic piano with acoustic guitar and a flute lead. When I called they told me that sounded OK but then they told me no that won't work.

I am now working on Y100819DP. It's a Dance Pop listing. They said it's recent Britney Spears Ca$ha and Lady Gaga. For 3 it sounds like they are using Big Trance Now and oh man am I sorry I saw the lyrics. I thought that sound has been around a while.

How are you? Are your listings going well?

Take Care,

Alan

[davewalton]

I called Taxi and they told me that it's OK to submit one track if the listing is asking for 2 or 3.

Not to argue with Taxi themselves and I suppose that you certainly have a better chance submitting one track as opposed to zero tracks but there has to be a reason that the listing client specifically asked for two to three. It's like if I'm shopping for a car and I say (regarding the engine) "I'd like six or eight cylinders"... maybe I could be sold on four cylinders but it'd just be easier if the salesperson showed me what I wanted to start with.

[Casey H]

Hi Alan
I was thinking what Dave was. The reason I asked for the listings was to see if it was for composers.

The 2 listings you mentioned:

CONTEMPORARY POP/ROCK INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSERS needed by a Music Producer who has a new music library with Major distribution and already has several TAXI composers under his roof...... TAXI # Y100812PR

CONTEMPORARY DANCE/POP INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSERS needed by a Music Producer who has a new music library with Major distribution and already has several TAXI composers under his roof..... TAXI # Y100819DP

When a listing is looking for composers, I can't think of any good reason not to submit 2-3 tracks unless you are trying hard to save a few bucks. With listings like these, if you don't have 2-3 tracks I don't see how you could qualify (right now) to be a composer of this type. The listing party wants a sampling of what you can do. If you got the gig you would quickly be asked to generate a lot of output in a short amount of time and be able to produce tracks quickly on a short notice. The 4-6 weeks time from the publication of these listings to deadline is probably more time per track (e.g. 2-3 tracks in that time) you'd have than if you were selected as a composer.

So my take, unless I am missing something here, is it would be better to stick with non-composer listings where it's track by track.

If I AM missing something, please let me know.

Casey

[dynamicalan]

Hello,

thanks for writing back. I am most likely wrong but what I do is 4 listings one song each. I am doing it on a $20.00 budget per month. If I know what it's suppose to be I can usually write them pretty fast but with these listings I spend a lot of time trying to make it just like the selections I can get out of them so that it's the right one. It seems to be difficult while working on the dance pop listing.

Your comments are right on. I appreciate them a lot.

Have a Great Night,

Alan

[johnclavin]

The only reason I ask this question is because a Taxi listing deadline came up while I was on another project, and I only had one piece of music ready for that listing. What I hear is that Taxi won't reject the one if they ask for two or three, but if it is a composer listing it might not look good for you.
But as it turned out I had read the listing wrong and actually had another week to submit to that listing.

[Casey H]

John
Only YOU know what your capable of as far as productivity. My advice was general, not knowing you or your situation personally.

Best,
Casey