Taxi is close to worthless for singer/songwriters

[kvnlnt]

Amen eo!

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.

[jh]

If you don't have an example, point me to somebody who has,

Here´s an example:
http://www.taxi.com/music-business-faq/ ... ooper.html

"Buy me a rose" was a #1 hit
http://www.taxi.com/abouts/rogersarticle.html

HTH

- JH

[jdhogg]

FACT is you can only prove taxi does not work if someone gives taxi a song that they say is crap...which ends up being a hit.

I have heard some very good songs here but I have never heard a GREAT one. Thus the test has not been performed and you are guessing.

Your songs are imho not GREAT....

I would agree that taxi is worthless for the poor or average singer/songwriters that will never get good enough through lack of talent, application etc then again nothing will get that artist to the top.

If you have in fact been reading this forum constantly you would know that I dont blindly agree with every single thing that taxi does ....it is far from perfect but you should be able to work out the short comings within your 1 year grace period.

Think about this....no one wants taxi to produce a big hit more than ML for two reasons.

1. It would be a massive advert $$$
2. He would not have to deal with people whose current skillset comes up short and blames their lack of success on taxi.

Hey...you have a good voice...you got fans.
Your making loads of money with your it skills.
If you think this song is so great....go cut that song in a pro studio , put it on itunes and see how many of your fans buy it.
If it sells well then you will have a great case for your original post.

Good Luck (and I dont mean that in a sarcastic way...I do hope you do well)

PS Also not a fan of rigid song writing rules
Much easier to succeed with library music...yup.

[wta]

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!

I wasn't going to waist anymore time on this thread but this reads like a 12 year old school boy who didn't get picked for the team... This is what you call professionalism? "There are no rules...that's the only rule." and you want to work in a industry with rules? This is were a good daddy would be draggin this boy to the woodshed...

[rnrmachine]

I am not even reading or responding to you any further Kevin,

If you think Taxi is worthless then go away. Good luck with whatever... I am getting out of this amateur hour thread. I did nothing but try to calm you down.. like you obviously needed before you commited polictical suicide.

Why not just have your TV producer wife play your "genious" music and lyrics on her show? Then go cry on someone elses board.

BTW, NOBODY HAS TO PROVE ANYTHING TO YOU!! DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH! LEARN YOUR OWN LESSONS. GO STICK YOUR FINGER THAT EMPTY LIGHT SOCKET AND FIGURE OUT ON YOUR OWN IF YOU SHOULD DO IT OR NOT.

I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU ANYMORE... at all, and I PROMISE TO NEVER EVER EVER TRY TO HELP YOU AGAIN.. DID I SAY NEVER? BECAUSE I MEAN NEVER!!!

see I can use caps lock too,

Rob

[kvnlnt]

jdhogg,

I'd like to address your quote here:

If you think this song is so great....go cut that song in a pro studio, put it on itunes and see how many of your fans buy it. If it sells well then you will have a great case for your original post.

I did get it cut in a pro studio by a pro producer with accomplished studio musicians and mixed and mastered by accomplished mixing and mastering engineers...it's also on itunes and has been paying for it's own spins on jango.com for 4 months by way of positive votes from complete unsuspecting strangers. What I don't have is the marketing muscle of mass distribution and advertising. I'm not even looking for that...I'm just looking to get the opportunity to be heard. I'm paying for that opportunity....and if this doesn't work, I find another way to approach my goals.

wta,

OK dude..please don't post on this thread anymore, you're just being spiteful...this is the peer to peer section where we are supposed to be helping each other, not dissing each other. Am I dissing anybody? Have I? There are like 10 people on here trying to microscope me and back me into a corner....but none of you are leveling any legitimate response...jdhogg...has made some good points as well as others....do you have any good points to contribute? If not then please stop your harassment, I don't feel like exchanging blows.

[2lane]

Man, this thread smokes.........AS THE FORUM TURNS.......
Kevin, liked your music, the website is cool as hell! Just don't let this black hole business suck up you soul!
This is just futile though Kevin...... resistence is futile. You can look back on the most popular, most successful people's posts on this forum, and you won't find a post where they were ever critical of a screener.....it's just not gonna happen!! Once a screener has returned a tune, it's fate is sealed, on this forum anyway.
I myself find it hard to believe that if your song was forwarded, someone was gonna lose their BMW, or Taxi a listing client, but
it's not my company. ML is entitled to run as he sees fit, and I might add, done it successfully for many years. I just wonder what is worse though, sending a song that might be 90-95% there, or never having anything to send the client? This I say within the context of the forum, because Taxi has many members that don't use it. But if someone has to drag up the "Buy Me A Rose" thing again ( don't know how many times I've seen that one on these kinda threads ).....well, therein lies the rub!!
I'd just let it go tho Kevin.....JMHO!
All the best
Steve

[wta]

jdhogg,

I'd like to address your quote here:

If you think this song is so great....go cut that song in a pro studio, put it on itunes and see how many of your fans buy it. If it sells well then you will have a great case for your original post.

I did get it cut in a pro studio by a pro producer with accomplished studio musicians and mixed and mastered by accomplished mixing and mastering engineers...it's also on itunes and has been paying for it's own spins on jango.com for 4 months by way of positive votes from complete unsuspecting strangers. What I don't have is the marketing muscle of mass distribution and advertising. I'm not even looking for that...I'm just looking to get the opportunity to be heard. I'm paying for that opportunity....and if this doesn't work, I find another way to approach my goals.

wta,

OK dude..please don't post on this thread anymore, you're just being spiteful...this is the peer to peer section where we are supposed to be helping each other, not dissing each other. Am I dissing anybody? Have I? There are like 10 people on here trying to microscope me and back me into a corner....but none of you are leveling any legitimate response...jdhogg...has made some good points as well as others....do you have any good points to contribute? If not then please stop your harassment, I don't feel like exchanging blows.

Now you're running the forum deciding who can post here? I'm not being spiteful in the least, just real and maybe your not used to that. Your not dissing anyone? Did you read your title for this thread and anything you've written? How bout dissing Taxi on their own site that they provide for your benifit for free? How much more proof of your lack of professionalism is needed here? You wanna throw up this big smoke screen and have us believe all you really want is someone to prove you wrong? Pubesent, period. A professional would have just asked for testimonials for singer/songerwriter success stories and I happen to know many who would have gladly invested their time to help you, including myself (which I really am at the present though you can't see that because I don't agree with you) but I happen to know that many if not all of those who would have helped you are NOT going to waste their time with someone that has posted as you have, hence the amount of replies. So not only have you got them looking the other way but also every industry professional that frequents this site (many music sups and library's check out this forum all the time looking for talent and also black list guys who start threads like this one. Don't forget if your going to go public like this with Taxi, what would you do if a music sup picked you up but didn't get you any gigs? What would you say about them publically? Sorry mate but you've formally "as they say" whooped yourself.) Add to that, do you really think Taxi and Michael are going to want to go out of their way to help you now that you have taken public shots at them? And your not "dissing" anyone right? Believe it or not I really do feel for you and you need someone to get real with you, that's why you've been shutting down your music goals, cause your frustated and can't make it work and what you need is someone to get REAL with you. Tough love is better than no love at all my friend, had I of ignored your rant then it would have ment I didn't care but instead I've invested time into you because, believe it or not I think you've got a shot with your music but not a hope with attitude. Take it or leave it, makes no difference to me either way but I hope you take it...

[Len911]

Kevin, if you think I drank the Koolaid, you are very mistaken, I took your points as being valid, and there were others also. Apparently you chose to overlook those in your self-pity tirade. There was a clue in the title, "worthless". I still gave you the benefit of the doubt.
I think you stepped way over the line on this one bud! Have you disrespected people here, very definitely!! If there are people out here that can feel your pain it is the people here, your peers, which have been treated not like peers but like peons, or those beneath you.
Ok, I'll be the first to say that maybe I'm not in your league on a musical scale, but I think I have a little more class from what I've read here. Nobody is trying to back you into a corner or put you under a microscope, and if they were I would think you could handle it better. If it seems like they are, then maybe you should review your own posts and see what precipitated that reaction. You have made some very serious charges here, with very little to back it up.
The bantering about of terms like "pro" this or that, and "accomplished" this or that, sounds like an amateur wishing to impress someone. I am impressed by your music, and as I said before, with a little work on the lyrics, I don't think you have to worry about mass distribution or marketing. I just hope your attitude doesn't get in the way, or hurt you. You are taking yourself way too seriously. This isn't really about taxi or your peers, it's something inside you, that you need to resolve.

[eeoo]

Wow, this thread's intense! Okay, at the risk of being ostracized by the mob I'm gonna say that nothing Kevin said in his original post offended me. The way I see it he's a passionate guy who was frustrated and venting and instead of talking him down people fanned the flames. Sorry, hope I'm still accepted here. Good luck Kevin...eo