Taxi is close to worthless for singer/songwriters

[ottlukk]

K:
Gotta admit, I have never ever seen someone so passionate in advocating their music. If I wore a hat, it would be off to you. This evening, I got another notice, that I got another Taxi review. You know what? It's not like a year ago, where I was waiting for the screeners to recognize my genius. Now, it's "what did they find wrong this time?". Maybe I'll check it out tomorrow, 'cause as a writer, I don't feel like another rejection this evening.
Fact is, they're looking for something that will sell. To a producer, a singer, whoever. There is no personal insult meant, a fact I have to remind myself of. It's a lottery of sorts, and only people with talent enter. And judging from what I've heard on these boards, there is a ton of talent you're competing against. And frankly, they're mostly very nice people.
You're not competing against Taxi screeners. You're competing against the people who are Taxi members. There's a bit of a difference there.
My best wishes to you, I hope your passion finds you success.
Ott

[rnrmachine]

Hey ott,

It's not so much that we are competing against each other for this sort of listing... if we all just happen to write a hit song at the same time, same submission, Taxi would send them all in. There are times when the bar is raised because of the talent but this is the sort of thing where the bar has always been high and will stay high, no matter how many they get that meet the level needed. If they got 5 hit songs all in the same submission they would send them all in. More likely is, they had a few compared to how many submitted that maybe came close.. close enough to warrant a forward.

EVERYONE has a hit song with in them, probably more then one imho... it's learning how to tell the tale that will separate you from the pack.

Rob

[rnrmachine]

Hey Kevin,

I want to point out a couple things here...

My mind is a raging sea
It's an ocean that terrifies me
Don't worry, that's what they say
'cause in time you're gonna be ok


When I am hungry
you feed me cause you are

You are the wheat fields
pure as snow

You are a fountain
to my soul
You are the whisper

You are the plains
You are a calm wind
Author Of Change

I'm like a train when I'm on that track
When I move, you just push me right back
This is something I can't explain
when I try it just sounds in vain

Damned if I do, Damned if I don't:
I also wanted to follow with one comment that doesn't fit anywhere else. It's true that artists want to write their own songs....so demand for other's material is low

[rnrmachine]

I just wanted to post that... now

First off, demand is not low, it is incredibly high, because most awesome singers, write one or two hits IF they are lucky then run out LONG before their vocals do, then the death spiral of their career happens unless they get some material from somewhere else.

Secondly, I understand you want to explain to us your imagery, BUT #1 rule, in conversational genre music especially, if you have to explain the lyrics then you have not written a proper song. All that explaining you did... find a way to make that the song. Chop it down, again and again until you have turn it into a song, with a start, a body, then a finish. Just like any story. I know there are exceptions, I can think of a few. BUT we can't afford to be the exception in our stage of the game. We need to learn the game and play it by the rules if we want to succeed. IF we happen to come across an exception along the way then... thank your lucky stars ya have anything, but avoid it... like the plague. The more properly you write, the eyes and ears you will attract.

Now, I am not claiming to be a great songwriter I am just going to help you the best I can... IF you take a look at your first 4 lines. You have broken one of the most basic rules of songwriting. The first 2 lines should NEVER rhyme. Then you have the 2nd two lines rhyme. This is really bad, no pro is going to want to sing this I don't care what the lyrics are, no one will sing that scheme of rhymes. Four line verses/choruses should rhyme every other line or no rhymes at all. The next thing I want to point out is, you said "sea" in the first line.. then in the 2nd you say "ocean". It's a waste of precious space to tell your story. We have so little space to convey our story to the listener correctly we need to use it as efficiently as possible. It's extremely difficult.. I know.

Re-write that to a more proper form, then post them here and USE TAXI the best way you can.... I can't make the rally either, I am stuck with a 15year old at my side.. which I didn't have the fun of making I might add... lol So I am going to try to use Taxi the best way I can. IF TAXI was only the Road Rally, then why would they have submissions at all? There is more then just the rally although I am going first chance I get.

Seriously bud, there is no justification for the way you acted... just understand we all know how you feel and, I can't speak for everyone else, but apology accepted. I am just glad it didn't go any further.

You have a good sounding instrumental there, well done, and well sung EXCEPT in conversational lyric style songs, we MUST, as listeners, be able to understand the lyrics without any straining. Try to sound more like you are telling a story when you sing in this style/genre... and less vocalizing.

You can do it dude, bring those lyrics up to par with your music and you have got something. Just understand, that is a genre where lyrics are EVERYTHING and melodies are a dime a dozen. Don't short change yourself.

Rob

[Romeo Diego]

I have had a read through this thread and all I see is Passion. Passion that demands recognition. People/Websites/industry execs can work away at passion but they can never take a good song away. At the end of the day you wrote a good song!..You... and it will always be yours. If you can write one great song you can write another. One will fit somewhere, some point but it wont make it any better a song, just right time right place. I'd focus on doing what you love and let everything else be what it wil be.

RD

[jdhogg]

Kevin.........do you own a remote controlled blackbird?

[jdhogg]

re 90% of songs you dont love straight away.

Yup, that is a problem with taxi's model but that limitation did not appear half way through your subscription.

Its a problem we all have........the problem is all the gatekeepers ie taxi, publisher, jnr a&r, snr a&r, artist will only listen to your track once unless something special pulls them in.

I agree with the screener...I dont think this song is special.
I listened to some of your other tracks and this is one of the weaker ones so its not all bad news.

Ultimately would you buy that track if you heard it? Thats the bottom line.

Good luck Amigo

ps I though your site was good as an "indie artist" type site.

[DorothyWallace]

Kevin,

I love your music AND your attitude. You're very honest. I also would like to know what songs got forwarded for this listing. My song "In The Palm of His Hand" was also returned.

I hope you can come to the Road Rally. Virgin America seems to have good prices. Maybe you'll have better luck in person.

Dorothy

[kvnlnt]

Rob,

This a complete joke to me....ya'll are drinking the kool aid. Before I took the trouble (a lot of trouble) to explain my lyrics I implied I DON'T WANT TO GET INTO SOME SUBJECTIVE DISCUSSION. Rob, the first thing you did was shoot back some rules on my lyrics. Who told you that crap about the first two lines not rhyming. You can't be serious. Rules are the worst thing any songwriter could adopt. There are no rules...that's the only rule. The song works or it doesn't. And the more it diverges from the norm and still works, the better!!!! It's like those guys who just keep buying gear thinking it's going to make their song better...collecting all these "rules" is just as bad....so don't make me go and find a million hit songs that have the first two lines rhyme. You absolutely refuse to treat me like somebody who has a valid point...so, interestingly, you have no option other than to conclude that my song wasn't good enough, I'm whining and that my lyrics are somehow sub par for this listing....AND THAT I HAVE A BAD ATTITUDE. Really? Are you sure you haven't boxed your own feedback toward me in. It's insulting....not helpful. In fact if any of you believe that I'm nothing but a whiner and have nothing to say, why bother responding to me? Aren't I hopeless? Aren't my points pointless?

I'd also like to add, have I slammed any of you on here personally? NO (well I might have just slammed Rob, don't take it personal, I just respectfully disagree with you)...but I've taken post after post after post that I'm unprofessional, I'm whining, etc...Do you have any idea how insulting that is? Some of you have layered on additional shot's at my bio, my website (which is hilarious, I'm a graphic designer/web developer who's been featured in graphic design publications and built a number of multi-million dollar ecommerce websites) etc....I'm sitting here laughing.... I made a falsifiable claim "Taxi is close to worthless for singer/songwriters". NONE OF YOU HAVE GIVEN ME 1 LITTLE TINY EXAMPLE OF HOW I'M WRONG. NONE!!!!!!!!! PROVE TO ME IT'S WORTH HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS. PROVE TO ME IT IS. SHOW ME A SONG THAT YOU WROTE THAT GOT PICKED UP AND YOU MADE SOME MONEY. If you don't have an example, point me to somebody who has, I'd love to have a conversation with them. Love to!!!! Are you all seriously going to sit around and just assume that somethings going to land in your lap...this whole attitude of "oh, didn't work, pick myself up and try again" is a defeatist attitude....sounds like some mental survival mechanism of false self reassurance. A reason to tell yourself to keep going. That's lame to me. As if I don't understand rejection is part of the game??? lol...come on....I mean really.

Lets' be objective here. How can all of you so confidently conclude that I'm somehow off base or just some whiner...I took the time to explain myself...I'm putting in the effort. It should be simple, prove me wrong. Or show me a way that it does have worth? Where's the falsifiability in your claim? By default you are arguing Taxi isn't worthless for songwriters....so show me!!! How does the first two lines of my song have to do with that? It doesn't. Almost none of you are even listening to what I'm saying...just shooting ad hominems....as least Dorothy can respect the fact that I'm not afraid to speak my mind....AND JUST BECAUSE I'M NOT WORSHIPING TAXI ON THE FORUMS DOESN'T MEAN I'M UNPROFESSIONAL OR HATE TAXI OR A BAD MOUTHER, ETC....STATEMENTS LIKE I MADE ABOVE ARE PRIME OPPORTUNITY TO PROVE ME WRONG. BUT ALL OF YOUR ARE CURRENTLY FAILING TO DO SO (INCLUDING TAXI). I HONESTLY HOPE TAXI FINDS THIS THREAD AND POSTS SOME RESULTS, SOME STATISTICS IN FACT. Fact is NONE OF YOU KNOW ME. NONE. If Taxi was working....I WOULD BE IT'S BIGGEST ADVOCATE...and I'm sure I'd be arguing with some of you one and the same about that as well!!!! lol!

[eeoo]

Kevin, I can't disagree with you. Seems like Taxi works best for people that can crank out instrumental cues for specific listings. I don't have any experience with trying to get artist deals through Taxi but it seems like a long shot to pitch existing songs that have been professionally recorded and payed for cuz you're not going to go back in and change a line or a word for a shot at getting a forward that probably won't lead to anything anyway, right? I suspect the folks who are having the most success are the ones cranking out several two minute cues a day and are good at nailing the ala's. I too would love to hear from someone who's having success writing actual songs.

As far as rules in songwriting, really? If I had to worry about breaking some "rule" in my songwriting process I'd be done before I started. Might as well create some songwriting software and be done with all of us. Sorry Rob, nothing personal but you've touched a nerve...eo.