Taxi should start membership screening program...s

[mazz]

Don't discount the value of peer review (here on the forum). It's as fallible as any other art critique but if you give the context (the listing) and what specifically you're looking for feedback on, you will probably receive something that you can at least consider.There are some pros here who have deals and experience and are generous with their time when they can. If you already have done this, I apologize, I've been away for a little while!Always learning!Mazz

[matto]

Mar 15, 2009, 7:44pm, trocat wrote:Michael, I do not direct this as display of your personal greed. I do however, believe it's big part of the company's bottom line (as far as percentage of where the companies profits are generated from). Of course, I do not know and there is no accusation of greed here. It's simply a business "bottom line" issue. And how that bottom line revenue is generated.An analogy perhaps is: I want to be a Nascar driver but I keep bringing a AMC Gremlin to the race. Nascar does not take my entry fee they tell me to get a new car. I come back with a 69 Camero. They say that's a great car but it's not race ready. After a few more tries then finally say, "If you want to race in Nascar you need a Nascar rated and certified race car. Until you have that don't ask to race again!" They could have taken my entry and other fees over the years then just watch me lose all the time but that does not benefit the sport or their sponsorships (taxi lister's and music buyers). So they decline until I have the car that's fit for the sport. After some work on my own I get the car, now I'm in the race without spending my money on previous race seasons only for them and me to know that I will be losing the races. Nascar saved me lots of time and money by flat out telling me that my car was not up to par. And that alone drove me to work furiously on building car that can compete and I was so driven I built it in faster time! Perhaps this is just a matter of philosophy but I don't believe it's a business' job to "save" full grown adult consumers from potentially "wasting" their money by buying the business' product or service.I believe it is their job to make a quality product and advertise it, and it is the consumer's job to research the product and decide if they want/need/can afford it.Taxi is easily researched: you can get the listings emailed to you without being a member and if you want to know where the bar is set for a particular type of listing, you can join this forum, again without being a Taxi member, post up a listing you're interested in and post up one of your songs, and longtime members will tell you what your chances of a forward would be.From a practical standpoint, it would be impossible for Taxi to prescreen all potential members without charging a pre-screening fee. No business could afford to listen to thousands of submissions and write detailed critiques for each one for free, and then turn a large portion of the potential clients away. And then rescreen them again 6 months later.So they would have to charge an application fee. Most members are miffed enough when a submission isn't forwarded; imagine how all those wannabe members would feel if they paid their application fee and then were told they weren't good enough to pay their hard earned cash to Taxi...and told they could come back in 6 months. I certainly don't think this would "improve" Taxi's reputation within the music makers' community.Btw, the main reason NASCAR doesn't allow people to race in Gremlins is because they would be killed; it's a liability issue, not magnanimity on NASCAR's part.Submitting a bad song on the other hand doesn't get you killed... Quote:I'm not “blaming” anyone I just feel that Taxi should make it a priority to ultimately let people know that their songs absolutely have to be “brilliantly written and recorded” to have any chance of getting the doors opened to this biz from Taxi. If that's clearly stated through out the marketing then Taxi would not get the criticism it gets on that side of the service. And if it get's this from 1000s before than perhaps there's something to this idea?Advertising is designed to attract business. If car companies ran ads that not only touted the advantages of their product but also said there's achance you might not like the car, tell you what percentage of consumers are having problems with a particular model, and that using their product might get you killed or horribly maimed in an accident, I think their dealerships would be in even worse shape than they already are.Taxi is a business, why would we insist on holding it to standards we hold no other business to?Quote:No, because many of them (that I had forwards to anyway) have no type of online presence or easy way to contact. Which is how most of us who are not in the music hubs make contacts these days! If the listing company does not have much of a business presence how big are they anyway? And is it wise to spend energy pursuing? I don't know...but it does make me wonder!As an example, most of the music supervision companies working on the biggest Hollywood blockbusters and the most popular TV shows have little or no web presence. They don't need to because no studio exec, producer or director is going to surf the internet looking for somebody to fill such an important position with. The studios work with people they've worked with before, or those that come highly recommended by people they trust.Having a website that "brags" about their successes would only cause music supervisors to be inundated with music from desperate musicians, most of which would be sub par. That's why many of those folks run Taxi listings.If you don't think it's wise to spend your energy pursuing those people, good for the rest of us! Quote:Of course, however, I don't think you need to spend money to know whether or not your song is on par with what the listing asked for.You don't. Anybody who wants to know is free to join the forum and ask.Quote:Although Taxi is a good resource, you don't necessarily need Taxi to keep on the pulse of the biz. There's a lot of resources online to keep in touch with what's hip and in demand....I didn't say that or imply that. I was merely pointing out to save your $5 if the track you are submitting is anything less than the quality of the artist/s mentioned in the listing. If it's even smidgen less in production or form it will not get forwarded. Only send tracks that are Top Notch. And in that case, if you are writing that good you'll more than likely fair well with or without Taxi. If and only if you are motivated to work the business on your own behalf.Look, I'm fortunate enough to make a very comfortable living writing and producing music. I could live off of just the money that comes in from companies Taxi hooked me up with, and that money increases every year. But Taxi didn't only help me with forwards, it helped me first by opening my eyes to the market I work in (like most people, and perhaps even you, I didn't know anything about the production music market before I joined), it helped me target and refine my submissions, and finally helped me make the connections and land the deals.I can confidently say that *I* wouldn't be where I'm at without Taxi. Now of course I'm not saying that Taxi is the only way to become successful. Even Taxi says, in their own advertising, that they are the second best way to land a deal.However, I believe Taxi is an excellent vehicle and would help most people speed up their journey to success in one way or another.I certainly wouldn't *need* to be a member of Taxi anymore at this point; now I *want* to be a member because I'm too busy writing music and maintaining existing relationships to go surf the internet or make cold calls to find or solicit more work. Enter Taxi, delivering countless opportunities to my inbox and making it as easy and time-saving as possible to take advantage of them.This is why I'm still here.matto

[Casey H]

When people ask me if they should join taxi, if I don't know much about their music, besides listening, I advise them to come here and get some feedback before deciding. It's good for people to take stock of "where they are". Also very important is what a person's real goals are. Pitching for Nashville artists is obviously very different than the film/TV world.I've also sometimes suggested that a person send 1-2 songs to a pro-critique service first, another way to evaluate one's music.Recently when a member posted here about his choice to renew or not renew, I mentioned this: If someone is making a lot of submissions and getting no forwards AND is not planning (for whatever reason) to make any changes to their approach, taxi may not be for them. Basically you either have to be able to get forwards -or- use the feedback as well as this forum to get to the point where forwards happen.Taxi does make it clear that part of what they offer is feedback to help members get better. So anyone who isn't "ready" but is willing to learn can get value. I also thought I'd mention that over the years I've seen a lot of competitive services do an "evaluation" before accepting a member. But, that policy did not mean that the company was necessarily honest & ethical or had the goods to truly help members. Been there, done that... Casey

[brindabella]

Re> Screening members.Not only Vikki wouldnt have made it. When I think of some of the "things" ( and that's what they were, things) that I submitted 2 years ago, I just want to bury my head in the sand. I got returns and returns and returns, some of my returns had critiques, others were Y/N. But like Mazz said, the forum is like a school, you get to learn a lot. I have forwards now, I dont submit much yet, but I even have 2 songs with a contract in a library!

[heinsite]

this is a great thread, with the taxi greats all submitting very good points.back to the "question" re: the screening of members. i NEVER 5 years ago would have passed some test to get in. period.and you know what? in taxi's eyes anyway, i STILL don't pass that test. i aint cryin', sulking, pissing and moaning.....it's just a fact. still don't believe it though. but as i've said, we choose to join, we are not recruited.i respect most of you deeply, by the way. and in all due respect, songwriters just don't do well here--and yep, i'm VERY aware that i just might not be good enough in taxi's eyes. that is life, that is why we either quit the craft or continue. i will continue, not with taxi in the near future, but perhaps when i'm "good enough". i trust that those of you that truly care, or have heard my tunes, know what i'm talking about. some have commented on peer. some don't. we are all busy people. i get it.again, very good thread, and as i've said many times, this forum is worth allot. all the best,warren

[flyingtadpole]

No education worth its salt is ever painless, or cheap. That said, Taxi as education doesn't cost much for visible progress compared to alternatives. Besides, I've had my formal music qualifications for years, the parchment's hanging on the wall somewhere with the other degrees, the PhD, the yacht racing cups, the share scrip etc.... If there were a membership screen, I wouldn't have made the grade. I think I've moved from the Ds (or Es or Fs!) into the high Cs or low Bs now, at least I'm getting some forwards but not yet deals. So you could say I still wouldn't make the grade.OTOH I am staring to pick up the odd deal outside Taxi, Wouldn't have happened without those gutwrenching "we're sorry but..." emails and critiques (and this forum, be it said). Nor would other music, not submitted to Taxi, be at a standard where professional singers are starting to pick it up.Simply, Taxi is the varsity. For me, discovering that I was no longer in "amateur hour" and needed to improve accordingly was a cold hard but necessary shock.Contracts via Taxi forwards? Almost incidental, because if I maintain the rate of improvement they'll come (at the cost of those gut-wrenching emails...) And others are starting to come now independent of Taxi but as a result of the Taxi varsity. Cheap at the price.I came because I thought my music was the tops. I stayed because I found out how much I needed to learn, and that I could learn it here. Don't discount the importance of the education.

[t4mh]

Excellent Thread!Personally, I have let myself be somewhat daunted by the size of the mountain that Michael speaks about and I really shouldn't. I've already retired from a 30yr career that I was successful in. I built that one up chipping away at it for a long, long time. I know what that is. In truth, everything I've been good at in my life I did a piece at a time. I think that we always want to see "the destination" instead of "the journey". The most true statement in my life is that "Life is what happens to you when you're making other plans!".Some things we have and should be thankful for. I know I have some talent and desire just like most of you. Trocat has some contacts but I don't and honestly, I wouldn't have a clue where to send music if it weren't for TAXI. I haven't been forwarded yet in 3 months but I am already a success as I am involved with music everyday and writing better and better all the time! For me, that is amazing!So my plan is to complete something at least once a week and submit every other week. So far I've been doing OK at that while learning from the rejections. I won't lie, some of those rejections were like "Oh WOW...". There haven't been many instrumental listings of late so I'm a bit off of my submission goals at the moment. I bet I can make up for it later. The whole 5 year plan thing is something that I haven't thought about until now because in the beginning I thought, "Of course I'll just rocket to the top, right!". Ugh-huh...I am enjoying being challenged to think differently about music and rethinking a lot of my perceptions. I am concentrating, focusing and thinking harder these days than I have in years at my old career. Can you imagine a formal college education costing the price of a TAXI subscription and submission fees? I don't think so but nonetheless, TAXI is teaching me! My scores so far in my critiques have been all 7s and 8s and I am told that is pretty good for a beginner so I guess maybe I would have passed a screening test. I don't know. I am sure though that TAXI will take me to the top as long as I persevere and continue to focus and improve. The day I get forwarded will be a milestone indeed! I just have to push myself along the path to get there. I guess this business model requires a lack of stupidity on my part and I'm working on that... My 2 cents.Keith

[hummingbird]

Good post Keith. You're talking about one of the most important ingredients to succcess - understanding that it's a process that takes willingness to learn, determination to grow beyond where we are at this moment, and a lot of 'rinse & repeat'.When I first started studying voice, I read that it took Luciano Pavarotti 7 years of training to become a good singer. I figured, if it took him 7, it might take me 10 (it took me 12). When Matto talks 5 year plan... I figure it might take me 7. And I'll get there. Because nothing (and no one) will dissuade me from my path. TAXI is valuable as a way of connecting to the industry, but it's worth more than that to me. It's a way of assessing my progress on my path. I am better writer today than I was 3 months ago. And hopefully, 3 months from now, I will be better than I am today. That's slow, steady growth. It's not how many times you fall down... it's how many times you get back up

[partyofone]

Yeah cool thread guys... I'll have to agree with Mazz's post and logic. Even though trocat's point is that people can use other methods or resources to determine if a song is competetive, including their own objective analysis, I disagree that most people are capable of this. My biggest take away from Taxi has been that one cannot create music in a vacuum and expect to achieve greatness. I am a pretty resourceful person and utilized many resources out there including peer review sites like Garageband.com but NEVER got the kind of useful feedback on songs that I've gotten from my critiques at Taxi and the panels at the Road Rally. I have now realized I simply could not be objective about my music.

[hummingbird]

Mar 25, 2009, 9:30am, partyofone wrote:Yeah cool thread guys... I'll have to agree with Mazz's post and logic. Even though trocat's point is that people can use other methods or resources to determine if a song is competetive, including their own objective analysis, I disagree that most people are capable of this. My biggest take away from Taxi has been that one cannot create music in a vacuum and expect to achieve greatness. I am a pretty resourceful person and utilized many resources out there including peer review sites like Garageband.com but NEVER got the kind of useful feedback on songs that I've gotten from my critiques at Taxi and the panels at the Road Rally. I have now realized I simply could not be objective about my music. Good post.