Submitting for this one #S110803AP - feedback appreciated

[Mark Crozer]

So... been humming and hawing about whether to submit to this:

ADULT ALTERNATIVE POP a la the variety of Matthew Sweet, Crowded House, Barenaked Ladies, Beth Orton, etc., needed by an Independent Label with national and international distribution. The company is interested in artists who "draw from the Alt-Rock tradition of intelligent guitar Pop, acoustic Folk-Rock, and confessional Singer-Songwriter style material." Vocal and demo presentation must be top-notch! Please submit two to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics/photo and bio. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by the owner of the listing company and must be received no later than Wednesday, August 3, 2011. TAXI #S110803AP

I think musically it's right up my street, the sort of thing I do best but... after a ton of returns recently I'm not so sure.

The songs I'm thinking of submitting are:

Put Those 80s Records On
Sunshine and Sweetness
Brand New World

All are streaming on my Taxi page. Any advice, feedback etc would be greatly appreciated as always.

Thanks!

Mark

[sedge]

heyhey Mark!

'Put Those 80s Records On' was not viewable, maybe you have it set to private?

This is a great listing!

All submissions critiqued by the listing company and the alas listed show this company has a quality handle on this genre as they fit with each other very well

Late 80s - mid 90's 'ADULT ALTERNATIVE POP' with mention of Acoustic Folk-Rock - nice!

Matthew Sweet, Crowded House, Barenaked Ladies, Beth Orton, etc

'Barenaked Ladies' here being the only later possible odd era band in this mix, more clean rock pop right than accoustic folk-rock , but clearly drawing influence from Crowded House yeah?

I could hear all these on the same radio playlist. That makes a sensible ala list!

Looks like they are looking for Artists/Bands rather than Songs for media use ..

The company is interested in artists who "draw from the Alt-Rock tradition of intelligent guitar Pop, acoustic Folk-Rock, and confessional Singer-Songwriter style material." Vocal and demo presentation must be top-notch! Please submit two to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics/photo and bio

Listings looking for artists/bands makes me wonder what exactly they want from a band/artist, be nice to know what the deal was they are proposing to the winner!

Because of that Mark, I say submit all your strongest songs, to them, your either gonna be in the fit or not?

Please submit two to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics/photo and bio

2 - 3 songs indicates they are looking for if you have that sound in general all across your demos.
Look close to your visual representation too with your bio/photos/videos and website as much as the music itself if you are looking to become a signed / touring muso.

I would maybe query Taxi exactly what they are after if poss and if that fits what you personally want too.
.. could they be after a band/artist to be on stage in a scene in a film? or a band/artist to fit a tour or support tour, or to be promoted for the next No1 in the AC charts?

'Brand New World' is imo the strongest of the two tracks I heard.
'Sunshine' starts off strong but I felt "I never thought anyone could mean this much to me" was an easy lyric to guess for the listener and could be a negative as it is the first lyric of the chorus. Just my opinion though bro based on the alas, the alas all being very strong on lyrics and would imagine this is a key checkbox.

As for your sound, it feels Crowded House and even at times BareNaked - early stuff, rather than Beth Horton - and even now as I think of say "Something so Strong" by Crowded House, they have lyrics too there, imo, that I would say are an easy guess, so my earlier comment on your line "I never thought anyone could mean this much to me" could be thrown away here too.

Sorry if that is all allot to read and no help whatsoever,

with a listing asking for bands/artists rather than Songs I feel it is more about asking if it something you want, or finding out what they want to use a band/artist for and seeing if that fits your goals, poss?

Sedge

[Mark Crozer]

Thanks so much for taking the time to listen and for all this great, constructive feedback! My main concern with this listing I suppose is that I'm no spring chicken at 40. Positively grandfatherly in pop music terms. But there's no mention of age so I figured maybe it's not that important to them. I do have a little bit of a track record that might work in my favour... I dunno. I guess it's worth going for.

Thanks again!

Mark