The State of Music Nowadays

[SNOWMONSTER1]

As a Song writer and Professional Musican here in New Orleans all my Life.I think music sucks nowadays.It's the same ol Music just rehased no TLC In it
And I find it's that same ol sound that Tavi is Looking for.Where's The count Basie's and Beatles of Today.The biz is a big bloated Bureaucracy sucking the life out of Music. Music neither breaths or has life anymore.It's Really a sad situation/You can jeep the canned Music and the America's Got Talent mentality.I have placed music in 6 different shows around the Globe because i go Hustle and meet these People.No Thanks to any of the middle men they have never got me one Placement.When my subscription runs out i will be out of this.And my 2 forwards i got may never come back but guess what ill be still hustling.I wish everyone here the best of luck but im out.

[SteveBaruah]

Music is a wave that is constantly moving forward. There's no point in re-making old music. Why try and make something similar to the Beatles if you can just go and listen to them. They make better Beatles music than you do. It doesn't need to be re-made. Without the wave moving forward in the 60s the Beatles would never have existed. You can sit on the shore and shout at the surfers or hang 10 and try and make that wave bigger and better. Make it do something it has never done before. Maybe you think music isn't great at the moment but it's just moving forward to the next great thing.

As for Taxi, that is a separate issue. It's job isn't to make new innovative music, its to connect the music makers with the people who need the music.

[ochaim]

with love and respect, for folks who have a hard time reconciling the relevance of current trends in music...

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/09 ... s-20140209

[SteveBaruah]

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/09 ... s-20140209

+1

[harpfool]

With all due respect, I don't think you can blame Taxi if you:
1. Don't understand what Taxi is offering in the way of opportunities to get your music heard, and
2. Don't take advantage of the platforms Taxi offers to educate you on how to make your music fit with the opportunities out there.

I haven't seen Taxi promise to make anyone rich and famous in a month and a half. A lot of posts I've seen from successful members indicate a minimum 5 year plan for success. Furthermore, your music has to fit with the opportunities available in a given genre; if you feel the supervisors should see the light and recognize that what you write is way superior to what they were looking for, good luck.

The best investment I know of to get educated on whether the songs I write are marketable in a particular genre is the $20 fee for a custom critique. I may not always be happy with the feedback (though it is always put a positively as possible), but it is always on the money. And the payback comes when you submit a song for a critique and the reviewer loves it. Then you know you've got something to carry you forward, so long as you submit for appropriate opportunities (listening to the referenced tracks before submitting).

Bottom line I think is that Taxi offers us an opportunity to make money serving a market, but the market is not going to serve us. Like any form of employment (except here we get to do what we love/live to do), it only works if you understand and work within the parameters.

[Casey H]

As a Song writer and Professional Musican here in New Orleans all my Life.I think music sucks nowadays.It's the same ol Music just rehased no TLC In it
And I find it's that same ol sound that Tavi is Looking for.Where's The count Basie's and Beatles of Today.The biz is a big bloated Bureaucracy sucking the life out of Music. Music neither breaths or has life anymore.It's Really a sad situation/You can jeep the canned Music and the America's Got Talent mentality.I have placed music in 6 different shows around the Globe because i go Hustle and meet these People.No Thanks to any of the middle men they have never got me one Placement.When my subscription runs out i will be out of this.And my 2 forwards i got may never come back but guess what ill be still hustling.I wish everyone here the best of luck but im out.

Regardless of whether Taxi works for you or not, the reality of the world is **MOST** opportunities out there will be for contemporary sounding music since that is what's popular. For example, a TV show geared to a 17-25 year old audience wants music that would appeal to that demographic. That is not to say there aren't opportunities for music from other eras ("period" pieces, pure mood setting, etc.). There just may be fewer. But if you have a good niche in an older type of music (e.g. crooner songs), you can do OK with that-- it just might not be your typical Taxi listing or music publisher/library request.

Middle men (publishers & libraries) **DO** get plenty of placements for people. However, if you can get those placements directly on your own, go for it! More than one way to skin a cat! But I wouldn't dis Taxi over this. The represent the overwhelming majority of today's music industry, like that or not.

Best
Casey

[jdstamper]

The way I see it, in every decade there are a lot of great songs & artists, and a lot of "others" ... and it tends to happen because of, and in spite of, the state of the music industry.

My biggest concern about the industry now is its harder to get paid outside of live performances. This twisted business model mean the cost of concerts has skyrocketed out of reach for a lot of the fans, while non-performers (composers, producers, recording only artists, etc) have a harder time making a living ... bad for them and ultimately bad for the music industry.

Also, I don't quite get the appeal of over the top crude lyrics ... ear porn ... always sinking to new lows.

What's to like now? For me ... The Foo Fighters, Taylor Swift, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Drake ... and more ... plus decades of oldies which still seem to get streamed a lot .. The Beatles seem to be more popular now than ever

[SteveBaruah]

+1 Jim!
Just listen to how frickin good Redbone is!

[SNOWMONSTER1]

There all songs written by Two People .Ill venture to say Foo Fighters is the lone Band of the bunch you named But Adele and the rest are all in on the Formulaic type of Music. As much as i appreciate What Taxi is trying to do.All there different Catogories all sound like the same formuli.Bruno Mars Rap Country.Perfect Pitch and Perfect Tuning even if Vocals are terrible they just wanna auto Tune.Luckily i hustle on my own and have found Supervisors who like real music.The Nashville guys are into that formuli Crap.I'm from New Orleans and have been performing Music since i was 15 here and continue to Play 4 to 5 times a week .New Orleans is Real you can hear the f ups in the re4cordings but The Groove is There.Timber Thats what music has lost since the 60's.

[jdstamper]

There are lots of bands too, Little Big Town is another favorite, and Rascal Flatts. I've seen them both live at least three times. They don't need autotune.

I also like the song The Middle, best thing I heard during the Grammy's broadcast (it was in the Target commercial). They auditioned 17 great vocalists before going with Maren Morris ... so I guess they put some effort into it.

IMO songwriting has always been formulaic.

And Taxi doesn't claim to work for everyone. For me, Taxi provided the structure that led to placements.

It's great you've been able to find your own deals. One good thing about the industry now is you can roll your own ... go your own way, create your own art, and find your own audience.