Taxi is close to worthless for singer/songwriters

[Ajetpackoperation]

Thought of another one

"I'll Be Around"

This, is our fork in the road
Love's last episode
There's nowhere to go, oh no

[rnrmachine]

This song has been #1 for a gazillion weeks.. (at least it seems that way) Note the rhymes!!

"Need You Now"

Picture perfect memories scattered all around the floor.
Reaching for the phone 'cuz I can't fight it anymore.
And I wonder if I ever cross your mind?
For me it happens all the time.


I couldn't resist!!

Dorothy

It's actually written well though... IS there NOT an obvious difference?

[rnrmachine]

The way I see it is, I tried to help, you shit on me for it, I am not pissed at you, I was offended by you and the way you turned your nose down at everyone including me, then blindly defended yourself, over and over. It became extremely difficult to believe you were telling the truth and you were rude. I have MY OWN personal opinion of your song and the more you blindly defended it, demanding proof of success, acting like no ones opinion mattered.. I tried to tell you how to better use Taxi.. at least MY OPINION of how to better use Taxi and you just didn't give a shit.

I should have never got involved and in the future I will not, I know better now. I will just ignore people when they go of on a tirade. You claim you weren't but... you were.

BTW "Smells Like Teen Spirit".. if you can't figure out what the rule breaking (or deviation form the norm, or standard) was there, I just don't know what to say anymore. I am done trying to be helpful and getting jammed into a wall for my efforts. I feel saddened by this experince.

Like I said, I know there are exceptions .. quoting myself...

Usually a bullet wound to the head is fatal, but I know of a few cases where the person actually lived.... wanna take a gamble you will live??

TY Kevin for your comment, and I did take a shot at you a couple times... I felt you deserved it though. Because of you turning your nose down at everyone that was trying to be helpful and tried to stop you from making an ass of yourself etc... and wanted to sit down with you and find out... IS TAXI worthless??? But the more you wouldn't sit down with us and discuss this about your song, the more you looked like the irrational person. You actually looked that way from the gate with the multiple posts and I truly regret trying to stop you... Then a few people chimed in who apparently had not taken the time to study the "art" of hit song writing only made matters worse.

Rob

[kvnlnt]

People...come on...seriously, finding rhyming intro lines isn't proving anything. We all know there are good ways to approach song writing in general...and we all know that breaking those rules can have great results. It's really a study in psychology. "picking the locK" of somebody's mind. Regardless, there are a lot of factors involved and they morph over time and I would argue even change per audience, genre, setting, etc... It's like building a software application....it needs to be crafted for a purpose....a software application can be crafted beautifully but have no practical application....it's "purpose" is what it should be judged against...not some other set of standards or application. If a song has a cool beat and vibe....it might be PERFECT for a car commercial...but might not stand on it's own two feet as a "song". Therefore it should be judged accordingly....not rejected because it lacks a bridge (this happened to me with my song "Another One Like You"). If a song is nothing more than a cool beat and vibe....then maybe it isn't the best choice for a "song listing". We can't go about mixing terms/definitions/rules etc...it's all relative.

[rnrmachine]

I agree, radio hits share many characteristics. But there have been many exceptions to this rule throughout history. But I've got to ask, if writing hit songs is as easy as applying a magic formula, how come everybody is cashing in on this thing?

Not everyone can write eloquently, with professionalism, some just get "one hit wonder" lucky. Some have potential and some do not. There are standards and rules in life for just about everything.

There are service manuals for cars, steps on how to do something. Sometimes someone will find a way to beat a step, streamline the process etc... should everyone work on their car just because you can get a book that tells you how? Imho, no! Will reading the book and following the steps to the letter, then get good at it before they try and stray from this "norm" so they can streamline the process? Hell ya. If you want to be a good mechanic.

I believe Taxi tries to hold a high standard, so they keep a more "cadalac" reputation. Could your song possibly make it elsewhere where standards are a bit lower? Perhaps

Rob

[kvnlnt]

Rob, Again, thank you, I fully apologize for the nature of our communication or how I came across...I'm honestly not out to make enemies. I'll say I "try" to be rational...not that I "am" rational...and I try to admit when I'm wrong and would never claim that I'm never wrong. And, I'm sorry if I came across as condescending...it wasn't meant as puffery or hubris....the reality is I hate status as it is. If you read my bio you'll see that I'm being very light hearted about it instead of name dropping. I could make it sound like I'm the cows tits, but why?....my songs should speak for itself and if they are great then a truly objective listener would recognize-it's my way of having self checks and balances. If I have "status" then I won't know if people really like my material. It works the opposite too...if I don't have status...everybody's a critic. Doesn't mean I don't listen to both sides...just that I'm constantly weighing both. They're like basketball shots, some are off the mark...doesn't mean the person shooting is'nt a great shot!!!

Also, I only went into what has is being deemed a "tirade" to show that I'm not simply somebody who just got rejected and decided to get on here and complain and feel sorry for myself at the drop of a hat...I did post out of frustration originally....I am human. But that doesn't mean I wasn't trying to get something valuable out of our exchanges once we started discussing or that I wasn't listening. I'm 100% honest when I say that I think your idea that not rhyming the intro line is usually a better approach...I think you're right and I'm not going to go find examples of the opposite and act like that proves you wrong or some crap...you are making great points...and you are demonstrating that you, like myself have spent a lot of time studying the craft.

[rnrmachine]

People...come on...seriously, finding rhyming intro lines isn't proving anything. We all know there are good ways to approach song writing in general...and we all know that breaking those rules can have great results.

That is just it Kevin.. I do not think we all know.. apparently you do to a point, but with all the other things that went on, instead of knowing your ability like I should by now... this many posts later... I still only know your ONE song and we have yet to discuss it. With you being open to anothers "opinion" and opinions should always be taken as such. They are just opnions UNTIL you have a bunch agreeing on a opnion then it gets difficult to treat it as just opinion now. It leans itself towards becoming more fact.. although I can find a lot of people that agree on crazy shit.. so that too needs to be taken into account as well.

I am sorry for the shots I took at you, I was offended... and they did have some truth, truth of my opinion, to them. But they were also meant to try to bring you down off your high horse, you SEEMED to be on and get you to talk with us, Rationally.

Rob

[kvnlnt]

Rob, fair enough...fact is, I've moved on from this (Author Of Change) song (you can hear the rest of my release from my taxi profile)....I wrote it 6 years ago now and it was professionally produced 3 years ago and has done well for me. Considering the success I've had with it so far, I'd just like it to get some bigger exposure. I would/do value everybody's opinion on here....and to prove it I posted a link to a song I'm working on this week!

Check it out here:
www.scarletworm.com

I'm going to track drums on it this sunday...right now there's just the basic drum machine I tracked to... What do you guys think? I'd love to hear your feedback. I think I'm going to change up the lead melody on the last chorus to make it sound bigger...and maybe change the words to the break down part to be different than the chorus line...what do you all think??? It's the first time I've ever used a wind instrument in my mixes....I think I'm in love with the trumpet now.

[Ajetpackoperation]

Not everyone can write eloquently, with professionalism, some just get "one hit wonder" lucky. Some have potential and some do not. There are standards and rules in life for just about everything.

There are service manuals for cars, steps on how to do something. Sometimes someone will find a way to beat a step, streamline the process etc... should everyone work on their car just because you can get a book that tells you how? Imho, no! Will reading the book and following the steps to the letter, then get good at it before they try and stray from this "norm" so they can streamline the process? Hell ya. If you want to be a good mechanic.

I believe Taxi tries to hold a high standard, so they keep a more "cadalac" reputation. Could your song possibly make it elsewhere where standards are a bit lower? PerhapsRob

I agree that there is a sort of codified system of stadards and practices in regards to making music in the sense that those guidelines are what Taxi and Major Industry types are looking for. No argument from me there.

I also believe - vehemently - that a song or album doesn't have to be a commercial hit to be good. Or great, even. And I'm a hopelessly obsessed rabid music fanatic down to the marrow. I'll look any and everywhere for my next "fix" - whether it's from commercial radio, listener supported non-commercial radio, independent music publications and MP3 blogs, or local clubs featuring live music.

And you're right, not knowing what rules "Smells Like Teen Spirit" are breaking shows my ignorance. But in my defense I don't really keep an updated database of songwriting rules on me. Nor do I think it matters when it comes to enjoying music.

[kvnlnt]

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" didn't break any of my song writing rules...especially when I was 13 years old...